Site items in: Economic Modeling

Design Optimization of an Ammonia-Based Distributed Sustainable Agricultural Energy System
Paper

Design Optimization of an Ammonia-Based Distributed Sustainable Agricultural Energy System

Matthew PalysAnatoliy KuznetsovJoel TallaksenMichael ReeseProdromos Daoutidis October 31, 2018

Small-scale, distributed production of ammonia better enables the use of renewable energy for its synthesis than the current paradigm of large-scale, centralized production. Pursuant to this idea, a small-scale Haber-Bosch process has been installed at the West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) in Morris, MN [1] and there is ongoing work on an absorbent-enhanced process at the University of Minnesota [2], [3]. Using renewables to make ammonia would greatly improve the sustainability of fertilizer production, which currently accounts for 1% of total global energy consumption [4]. The promise of renewable-powered, distributed ammonia production for sustainability is in fact not…

The Investment Case for Sustainable Ammonia Synthesis Technologies
Paper

The Investment Case for Sustainable Ammonia Synthesis Technologies

Trevor Brown September 20, 2016

For 100 years, we have made ammonia with the Haber-Bosch process, almost always using a fossil fuel feedstock. Recently, though, government policy, academic innovation, commercial opportunity, and human morality have combined to spur the development of new, “green” ammonia manufacturing processes: sustainable, low-carbon technologies. These new synthesis methods augur a future in which, instead of the single, over-riding drive toward the economies of scale associated with Haber-Bosch, an array of different feedstocks, uses, and business models will support a multiplicity of competing technologies serving multiple markets. This presentation aims to introduce the factors affecting the appetite for commercialization and adoption…

NH3 from Renewable-source Electricity, Water, and Air: Technology Options and Economics Modeling
Paper

NH3 from Renewable-source Electricity, Water, and Air: Technology Options and Economics Modeling

William Leighty September 23, 2014

Our company, Alaska Applied Sciences, Inc. has developed a simple cost modeling tool based on capital recovery factor (CRF), for a client, to analyze, “Under what conditions will the technology in question produce NH3, at a plant gate cost competitive with NH3 from extant sources, from renewable-source electricity, water, and air?” We will report the results of several case assumptions based on Electrolysis plus Haber-Bosch technology. We will also present a catalog of apparently credible technologies for synthesizing NH3 from renewables-source electricity, water, and air.

Expanding the Market for Renewable NH3
Paper

Expanding the Market for Renewable NH3

Keating Willcox September 22, 2014

This report describes the market conditions for various projects using the Solid State Ammonia Synthesis (SSAS) Renewable NH3 process. We address the following activities: possible issues with the scale of the process, some schemes that induce a population to change fuel sources for their energy needs, financial requirements for the creation of new renewable energy sources and new SSAS plants. We discuss methods of monetization for producers, and some of the issues related to the risks of such monetization, and we suggest ways that Renewable NH3 can be a valuable investment as well as an energy source. The conclusion is…