Greenhouse gas emissions are produced during the production of ammonia, a key ingredient in fertilizers. Scientists have quantified methods for reducing carbon footprints in this process. Scientists are looking into ways to make ammonia production more sustainable. Have you ever considered the carbon footprint of growing your own food? Scientists have just devised a new method for calculating a portion of it.
According to a new study, ammonia, the world’s major ingredient for food production, is now being scrutinized for its potential environmental impact in the future. Ammonia production, which also contributes to the use of fossil fuels, has skyrocketed in recent years. This places it in the top ten list of climate-damaging gases.
In the study, scientists from the United States government recently developed a method for detecting the environmental impact of ammonia production from various sources. The research team simulates the projected coast if people use more environmentally friendly methods that emit less carbon while still producing ammonia.
Ammonia, a key ingredient in the production of fertilizers for the world’s food production, also contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use. Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory recently calculated how much it would cost to produce ammonia using more environmentally friendly methods that emit less carbon.
Scientists recently developed a method for detecting the environmental impact of ammonia production from various sources. The ultimate goal is to produce it using renewable or nuclear energy and clean hydrogen. The research team simulates the projected coast if people use more environmentally friendly methods that emit less carbon while still producing ammonia.
Amgad Elgowainy
Ammonia is primarily produced by reforming natural gas, a process that contributes to both carbon dioxide and methane emissions into the atmosphere. “The ultimate goal is to produce it using renewable or nuclear energy and clean hydrogen,” Argonne senior scientist Amgad Elgowainy said.
Elgowainy and his colleagues used Argonne’s Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET®) model to estimate the environmental impact of ammonia production from various energy sources. They then used a technoeconomic model to compare the costs of two different methods of producing ammonia more sustainably.
The first way avoids some of the carbon release by capturing a certain percent of the carbon produced and then storing it in geologic formations. This technology pathway can be implemented at relatively low cost, as the total cost to produce the ammonia increases by only about 20%.
In the other near zero-carbon pathway, water is electrolyzed to produce hydrogen, which is then paired with nitrogen to produce ammonia. ”Using renewable or nuclear energy to split water via electrolysis gives us a way of producing ammonia with almost no carbon impact,” Elgowainy said. ”That said, the cost of doing so is currently higher than the carbon capture pathway.”
Ammonia production is primarily achieved by burning fossil fuels, including reforming natural gas. Such procedure is also being used for other greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, which contributes to the greenhouse effect and global warming of the planet.
While measures requiring the reduction of greenhouse gases appear simple, previous reports and studies indicate that a number of countries are challenged, owing to the critical use of the gases in their respective industries.
The United Nations-led 2015 Paris Agreement, to which a number of countries have signed on, primarily advocates for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the use of fossil fuels. Recent UN reports, however, indicate that some criteria for reducing global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius are not being met.
According to Elgowainy, there is significant room for electrolysis technology cost reduction, which could eventually make the water electrolysis pathway more cost competitive. “Research in this area has the potential to significantly alter the market, but it will require investment in developing and scaling up the production of electrolysis technologies,” he said. “With cost reductions and efficiency improvements to meet DOE’s target of $1/kg of clean hydrogen, the electrolysis pathway could enable a carbon-free and cost-effective method of producing ammonia.”
