Full Title: Low-Carbon Ammonia Technology: Blue, Green, and Beyond
Author(s): Elina Rodruiguez
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: January 30, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
As the world intensifies efforts to combat climate change, several industries are focusing on the development of sustainable manufacturing processes for high-impact products like ammonia. Primarily used as an agricultural fertilizer, ammonia and other ammonia-based fertilizers are essential for providing nitrogen to crops. Conventional ammonia production methods are carbon-intensive, relying heavily on fossil fuels, and thus, alternative low-carbon pathways to produce ammonia are under development, offering promising solutions to decarbonize ammonia production.
Ammonia production technologies generally fall under two categories: those that utilize the Haber-Bosch (HB) process, and those that are more novel. The Haber-Bosch process is the method by which hydrogen and nitrogen are converted into ammonia (NH₃) through the use of a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor and a chemical catalyst. Utilized in industry since the early 1900s, HB is already a mature technology. However, while nitrogen is sourced from the air, hydrogen is conventionally sourced from natural gas (methane) through a process called Steam-Methane Reforming (SMR) which releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂), accounting for over 1 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By capturing the carbon emitted or by sourcing the hydrogen from other feedstocks like water (H2O), the ammonia production process can become much less carbon intensive.