A profitability study for catalytic ammonia production from renewable landfill biogas: Charting a route for the next generation of green ammonia

This study introduces a novel techno-economic approach to renewable ammonia production using landfill biogas. The proposed process involves bio-hydrogen generation from landfill biogas, nitrogen production via air separation, and the Haber-Bosch process. Building on our prior research, which demonst...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: González Arias, Judith, Nawaz, Muhammad Asif, Vidal Barrero, Fernando, Ramírez Reina, Tomás
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:idus________::d48ca8bbdd5187cb9c743748fa8318b7
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/185408
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2023.130584
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Green Ammonia production
Landfill biogas
Waste valorization
Renewable chemicals
Profitability analysis
Descrição
Resumo:This study introduces a novel techno-economic approach to renewable ammonia production using landfill biogas. The proposed process involves bio-hydrogen generation from landfill biogas, nitrogen production via air separation, and the Haber-Bosch process. Building on our prior research, which demonstrated the economic competitiveness of renewable hydrogen production from landfill gas, we extend our investigation to analyze the feasibility of producing renewable ammonia from biogas-derived bio-hydrogen. However, the economic analysis for the baseline scenario reveals the current lack of profitability (net present value of −18.3 M€), with ammonia prices needing to quadruple to achieve profitability. Major costs, including investment, maintenance, overhead expenses, and electricity, collectively account for over 70%, suggesting the potential efficacy of investment subsidies as a political tool. Only cases with subsidies exceeding 50% of total investment costs, under current ammonia market prices, would render the green ammonia route profitable. Our findings underscore the significant techno-economic challenges in realizing renewable ammonia production, emphasizing the need for innovation in process engineering and catalytic technologies to enable competitive and scalable green ammonia production.