Environmental impact assessment of plasma-assisted and conventional ammonia synthesis routes
| Autor: | Jürgen Erwin Lang, Aikaterini Anastasopoulou, Robin Keijzer, Volker Hessel, BS Bhaskar Patil, Gerard van Rooij |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Micro Flow Chemistry and Synthetic Meth., Elementary Processes in Gas Discharges |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0211 other engineering and technologies
Process design 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences law.invention Ammonia production plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis law 021108 energy SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy renewable ammonia production Process engineering SDG 2 - Zero Hunger Life-cycle assessment Hydropower 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science Hydrogen production Energy recovery process design environmental impact assessment business.industry Haber process SDG 2 – Geen honger General Social Sciences Haber-Bosch process SDG 12 – Verantwoordelijke consumptie en productie Environmental science business SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production SDG 7 – Betaalbare en schone energie Efficient energy use |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Industrial Ecology, 24(5), 1171-1185. Wiley Journal of Industrial Ecology, 24, 1171-1185 |
| ISSN: | 1530-9290 1088-1980 |
| Popis: | The importance of ammonia in the fertilizer industry has been widely acknowledged over the past decades. In view of the upcoming increase of world population and, in turn, food demand, its production rate is likely to increase exponentially. However, considering the high dependence on natural resources and the intensive emission profile of the contemporary ammonia synthesis route, as well as the rigid environmental laws being enforced at a global level, the need to develop a sustainable alternative production route becomes quite imperative. A novel approach toward the synthesis of ammonia has been realized by means of non-thermal plasma technology under ambient operating conditions. Because the given technology is still under development, carrying out a life cycle assessment (LCA) is highly recommended as a means of identifying areas of the chemical process that could be potentially improved for an enhanced environmental performance. For that purpose, in the given research study, a process design for a small-scale plasma-assisted ammonia plant is being proposed and evaluated environmentally for specific design scenarios against the conventional ammonia synthesis employing steam reforming and water electrolysis for hydrogen generation. On the basis of the LCA results, the most contributory factor to the majority of the examined life cycle impact categories for the plasma-assisted process, considering an energy efficiency of 1.9 g NH3/kWh, is the impact of the power consumption of the plasma reactor with its share ranging from 15% to 73%. On a comparative basis, the plasma process powered by hydropower has demonstrated a better overall environmental profile over the two benchmark cases for the scenarios of a 5% and 15% NH3 yield and an energy recovery of 5% applicable to all examined plasma power consumption values. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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