Improving resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions through low-temperature, low-pressure ammonia synthesis

通过低温低压合成氨提高资源效率并减少碳排放

• 批准号: 10079866
• 金额: $ 90.61万
• 依托单位: WE ARE NIUM LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10079866
• 关键词: Improving; resource; efficiency; reducing; carbon

Ammonia is the second most commonly produced industrial chemical worldwide, reaching an estimated global production of 176 megatonnes/year (2022). Approximately 80% of ammonia is used for fertiliser production, playing a critical role in increasing agricultural output and supporting the growing global population. Indeed, it is estimated that ammonia in fertiliser now supports approximately half of the global population.Ammonia synthesis currently relies on the 110-year old Haber-Bosch process, which reacts nitrogen and hydrogen over fused-iron catalysts under high-temperature (?400 degC), high-pressure (?200 bar) conditions.This process faces two key resource efficiency issues:(i) Materials: Operating reactors under high-temperature, high-pressure conditions requires significant materials investment and high CAPEX costs. Notably, a large-scale 850,000 tonne/year ammonia plant requires an estimated 225 tonnes of stainless steel for the synthesis reactors and costs an estimated £0.8BN in CAPEX.(ii) Minerals: The Haber-Bosch process relies on a fused-iron catalyst, which is typically prepared by melting natural magnetite from Sweden with various promoters, cooling the melt, and mechanically granulating the melt into small particles, which are then screened to obtain the target particle size. A large-scale 850,000 tonne/year ammonia plant requires an estimated 74,520 kg of fused-iron catalyst, with a lifetime of approximately 10 years. Since even pre-reduced, stabilised fused-iron catalysts require 30-40 hours for activation, the Haber-Bosch process is operated under "always-on" conditions, limiting production flexibility and precluding the use of intermittent renewable energy as a power source.Underpinning the resource efficiency challenges associated with the Haber-Bosch process are the high energy requirements and carbon emissions. The Haber-Bosch process consumes approximately 2% of the global energy budget (8.6 EJ/year) and contributes around 1.8% of global carbon dioxide emissions (500 megatonnes/year). With demand for ammonia projected to rise nearly 40% by 2050, largely driven by fertiliser requirements, business-as-usual ammonia production is incompatible with global net-zero targets.Innovate UK funding through Resource Efficiency for Materials and Manufacturing call brings together a world-class consortium spanning industry and academia to improve resource efficiency and reduce carbon emissions through developing a low-temperature, low-pressure ammonia synthesis process.

氨是全球第二大最常生产的工业化学品，2022年全球产量估计达到1.76亿吨/年。大约80%的氨用于化肥生产，在增加农业产量和支持不断增长的全球人口方面发挥着关键作用。事实上，据估计，化肥中的氨现在支持大约一半的全球人口。目前，氨合成依赖于已有110年历史的Haber-Bosch工艺，该工艺在高温(？400℃)、高压(？200bar)条件下在熔铁催化剂上使氮气和氢气反应。该工艺面临两个关键的资源效率问题：(I)材料：在高温、高压条件下操作反应堆需要大量材料投资和高昂的CAPEX成本。值得注意的是，一座85万吨/年的大型合成氨厂需要约225吨不锈钢用于合成塔，资本支出估计为8亿GB。(Ii)矿物：Haber-Bosch工艺依赖于熔铁催化剂，通常是在各种促进剂的作用下熔化来自瑞典的天然磁铁矿，冷却熔体，并将熔体机械造粒成小颗粒，然后对其进行筛选，以获得目标颗粒尺寸。一座850,000吨/年的大型合成氨厂估计需要74,520公斤熔铁催化剂，使用寿命约为10年。由于即使是预先还原的、稳定的熔铁催化剂也需要30-40小时才能激活，因此Haber-Bosch工艺在“始终在线”的条件下运行，限制了生产灵活性，并排除了间歇性可再生能源作为能源来源的可能性。与Haber-Bosch工艺相关的资源效率挑战是高能源需求和碳排放。哈伯-博世工艺消耗了全球能源预算的大约2%(8.6 EJ/年)，贡献了全球约1.8%的二氧化碳排放量(5亿吨/年)。由于对氨的需求预计到2050年将增长近40%，这主要是由化肥需求推动的，一切照旧的氨生产与全球净零目标是不相容的。通过材料和制造资源效率呼吁创新英国资金将一个世界级的财团聚集在一起，跨越行业和学术界，通过开发低温、低压氨合成工艺来提高资源效率和减少碳排放。