Sustainability Assessment of Green Ammonia Production To Promote Industrial Decarbonization in Spain

Abstract

This article investigates the economic and environmental implications of implementing green ammonia production plants in Spain.To this end, one business-as-usual scenario for gray ammonia production was compared with three green ammonia scenarios powered with different renewable energy sources (i.e., solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, and a combination of solar PV and wind). The results illustrated that green ammonia scenarios reduced the environmental impacts in global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, and fossil resource scarcity when compared with conventional gray ammonia scenario. Conversely, green ammonia implementation increased the environmental impacts in the categories of land use, mineral resource scarcity, freshwater eutrophication, and terrestrial acidification. The techno-economic analysis revealed that the conventional gray ammonia scenario featured lower costs than green ammonia scenarios when considering a moderate natural gas cost. However, green ammonia implementation became the most economically favorable option when the natural gas cost and carbon prices increased. Finally, the results showed that developing efficient ammonia-fueled systems is important to make green ammonia a relevant energy vector when considering the entire supply chain (production/transportation). Overall, the results of this research demonstrate that green ammonia could play an important role in future decarbonization scenarios.

How to Achieve Flexible Green Ammonia Production: Insights via Three-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

“…Green ammonia produced from renewable sources is a clean fuel and green energy and holds promising prospects in energy production, heavy transportation, and clean and distributed energy storage. − Derived from renewable energy through the electrolysis of water, green ammonia has emerged as a pivotal strategy for achieving carbon neutrality in ammonia production. , However, owing to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, the green ammonia synthesis process must accommodate frequent adjustments to match the varying production loads. This dynamic and nonlinear engineering challenge presents a significant hurdle to maintaining stable operation within the green ammonia synthesis system .…”

Down-streaming Small-Scale Green Ammonia to Nitrogen-Phosphorus Fertilizer Tablets for Rural Communities

“…One strategy for facilitating the transition to a more sustainable fertilizer supply chain is to internalize the environmental effects of ammonia production and account for the implications of transportation, storage, and by-product use. Owing to the high cost of natural gas and carbon, green ammonia adoption has become the most cost-effective choice [16]. Green ammonia could play an important role in future decarbonization scenarios [16][17][18].…”

“…Owing to the high cost of natural gas and carbon, green ammonia adoption has become the most cost-effective choice [16]. Green ammonia could play an important role in future decarbonization scenarios [16][17][18].…”