green ammonia siemens oxford cardiff

.

Green Ammonia September 2015

Tim Hughes1, Ian Wilkinson1, Edman Tsang2, Ian McPherson2, Tim Sudmeier2, Josh Fellowes 2

Fenglin Liao2, Simson Wu2, ,Augustin Valera-Medina3, Sebastian Metz4

1 Siemens Corporate Technology, 2University of Oxford, 3 University of Cardiff ,4 STFC

March 2016

I Strategic Direction

II Green Ammonia Economy

III Carbon Free Ammonia Synthesis

IV Carbon Free Energy Conversion

V Ammonia Energy Systems

March 2016

The changing Energy Landscape Different solutions for different market stages

Past Today Mid-term Long-term

<10% 20+% 40+% 60+% 80+%

–  Efficiency –  LCC reduction –  Availability / reliability /

security

–  Decreasing spot market prices

–  Subsidized economy –  Increasing redispatch1)

operation

–  Power2Heat, CHP increasing

–  Demand side management

–  First storage solutions –  HVDC/AC overlay

–  Regional plants, cellular grids

–  HVDC overlay and meshed AC/DC systems

–  Power2Chem / –  Stability challenge

–  Complete integration of decentralized power generation

–  Storage systems/ –  Return of gas power

plants?

–  Fossil (coal, gas, oil) –  Nuclear –  Renewables (mainly hydro)

–  Fossil (coal, gas, oil) –  Renewables (wind, PV,

hydro)

–  Capacity markets etc. –  Predictable regional “area generation” (topological plants)

–  Interaction of all energy carriers

Traditional mix System integration Market integration Regional autonomous system

Decoupled generation and consumption

Fierce competition in traditional businesses, need to set benchmark in new or changed markets Profitable business for new technologies cannot be shown yet – today’s use cases are mainly niche or pilot applications

Energiewende 2.0

1) Corrective action to avoid bottlenecks in power grid

March 2016

Large Scale storage and demand side solutions will be required

March 2016

Energy storage indispensible in future ecosystem – enables customers to cope with arising challenges

Future power ecosystem and customer challenges and storage opportunities

Supply side management

•  On – off shore wind •  Photo-voltaics

Renewables Generation

Supply side management

•  Distributed generation <5MW

•  Multi-fuel capability – biogas, ethanol

CHP

Demand side management

•  High temperature heat pumps

Power – to – heat storage

Demand side management

•  Chemical feedstock •  Green Fuel

Power – to – chemicals Power – to – power

Supply & demand side management

•  Batteries •  Fuel cells •  Green Fuel

March 2016






March 2016

The chemical industry faces significant challenges

§ Growing carbon emissions

§  Finite resources

§  Security of supply for both energy and raw materials

The chemical industry therefore faces significant challenges:

These large challenges represent an opportunity through electrification of the chemical industry.

It is dependent on hydrocarbons for raw materials and energy for production.

The chemicals industry is a vital part of modern life – e.g. Fertilisers for food, steel processing, plastics and so on.

March 2016

The existing chemical industry emissions conflict with initiatives to avoid climate change

1) Chemical and Petrochemical Sector – IEA2009 2) Key World Energy Statistics – IEA2014

Chemical Industry Emissions

1255 MT/yr CO21

è 4% world total2

1.1TW 1

è 8.2% world total2

UK target of 80% cut in emissions by 2050

EU wide target of 40% cut in emissions by 2030

Climate Act Requirements

≠

Top 10 Chemicals / Processes: 1)  Steam cracking 2)  Ammonia 3)  Aromatics extraction

4)  Methanol 5)  Butylene 6)  Propylene FCC 7)  Ethanol

8)  Butadiene (C4 sep.) 9)  Soda ash 10) Carbon black

Ammonia: 1.8% of the world consumption of fossil energy goes into the production of ammonia. 90% of ammonia production is based on natural gas.

Opportunity: carbon – free synthesis of chemicals powered by renewable energy

March 2016

Ammonia is an important chemical with a commodity market value of EUR100bn/year

Source: World Fertilizer Trends and Outlook to 2018, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Global fertilizer nutrient consumption

161.829

161.659

170.845

176.784

180.079

183.175

186.895

190.732

193.882

197.19

200.522

150 160 170 180 190 200 210

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Mill

ion

MT

§  A gas, produced by the chemical industry. Over 80% of ammonia is used in the fertiliser industry.

§  Demand for fertiliser, as shown in the graph (including projected growth to 2018), is growing at +3%pa1.

§  Current production levels of Ammonia are about 180m t/year. The commodity value is €600-€700/t, leading to a commodity market value of over €100bn/year

§  Production today uses the Haber-Bosch process and relies on natural gas as a feedstock.

Ammonia

March 2016

Ammonia is also a viable fuel – or hydrogen carrier

March 2016

With renewable energy, the ammonia cycle is carbon free

Electrochemically Produced Ammonia

+ + Water N2 from air Renewable Electricity

=

March 2016

Opportunity exists in technology for ammonia synthesis and power conversion

Ammonia Synthesizer Technology

Ammonia Power

Conversion Technology

Ammonia Storage Technology

Electrochemically Produced Ammonia

+ + Water N2 from air Renewable Electricity

March 2016

Ammonia Innovation Landscape

Innovation Landscape Map Source: Harvard Business Review, June 2015

Leverages Existing Technologies Requires New Technologies

Leve

rage

s Ex

istin

g B

usin

ess

Mod

els

Leve

rage

s N

ew

Bus

ines

s M

odel

s

DISRUPTIVE

ROUTINE RADICAL

ARCHITECTURAL

Develops Flexible Ammonia System based on membrane technology

Flexible bi-directional Ammonia Systems supply energy, fuel or chemical on demand

Develops Electrochemical Ammonia product

All electric membrane based electrochemical technology for the direct production of ammonia for the existing fertilizer and

chemical industries

Develops Ammonia Energy System based on gas turbines

Ammonia used as an energy storage medium for grid scale chemical energy storage over long time

periods

Ammonia used as a fuel for Mobility

Develop Agile Haber Bosch

based product: Electrification of thermochemical production

route to service the existing fertilizer and chemical industries

1

2

3

4

March 2016

Green Ammonia – Carbon Free Flexible Asset

Ammonia Synthesizer NH3

Distributed Chemical Industry

Grid Scale Energy Storage


Emission Free Transportation


Turbine

March 2016

Chemical Industry: Ammonia as a commodity; for

instance, use in fertiliser

Energy Storage at Grid level

Ammonia as a Transport Fuel

Business potential for 3 markets, based on common technology platform

March 2016






March 2016

Typical ammonia plant today1

Ammonia Production Today

Ammonia conversion and separation here!

Gas preparation: significant portion of plant exists to produce H2

1) Courtesy of Johnson Matthey

N2 + 3H2 à 2NH3

March 2016

Typical ammonia plant in near future

Ammonia Production 2020

Ammonia conversion and separation here!

Gas preparation: ultra pure Syngas from water electrolysis and air separation unit

Hydrogen

Electrolyser

Air Separation

Unit

H2O H2

air N2

N2 + 3H2 à 2NH3

March 2016

Ammonia Production 2030

Direct electrochemical synthesis of Ammonia from water and nitrogen

Ammonia

Electrolyser

Air Separation

Unit

H2O NH3

air

N2

N2 + 3H2O à 2NH3+3/2O2

March 2016

Electrolysis of Ammonia – 4 focus areas

March 2016

Molten Salt Approach

Stability of N3- in metal halide salts allows direct reduction of N2 to N3- at ambient pressure Applied voltage causes migration of N3- from surface of negative electrode to surface of positive electrode Facile dissociation of H2 occurs on positive electrode to generate surface H Surface N and H combine to produce ammonia Equivalent to high pressures used in thermal route

March 2016

Challenges for molten salt approach

Providing correct ratio of N and H at the surface of the positive electrode to ensure: •  N,H combination outcompetes N,N recombination

•  Formation rate is not slowed down waiting for H

•  High energy barrier for N2 reduction to N3-

•  Excess voltage over thermodynamic value required for appreciable rates

•  Solubility of NH3 in molten salt/stability of LiNH2

March 2016

Molten Salt Experimental Program Temperature and Gas Flow Control

Furnace

Outlet gas analysed by gas chromatography

Reactor

Gas supplied to porous electrodes (orange and green tubes) 100 mL molten salt

held in crucible

March 2016

Solid Electrolyte Ammonia Electrolysis

Anode •  Oxidation of hydrogen •  Electrically conducting •  Proton conducting

 Electrolyte ◦  Proton conducting ◦  Electrically insulating

 Cathode ◦  Reduction of nitrogen ◦  Formation of ammonia ◦  Electrically conducting ◦  Proton conducting

March 2016

In order to be a viable product – Green Ammonia must be cost effective vs Conventional Ammonia

Green Ammonia

March 2016






March 2016

Ammonia as a fuel possible due to key properties of energy density and logistics

Ammonia has a power density similar to fossil fuels, with zero carbon in it.

NH3 can be transported easily at low pressures.

Ammonia is a good energy vector

March 2016

There exist several routes for Ammonia as an energy vector

Ammonia

Ammonia

Combustion

Ammonia

SOFC

Ammonia

Electrochemical

Ammonia

PEM Fuel cell

Ammonia

Internal Combustion

Ammonia

Gas Turbines

March 2016

Ammonia as a Fuel

Ammonia combustion has the following challenges •  Slow chemical kinetics

•  Unstable regimes when burned

•  High NOx emissions

•  High toxicity for humans and living organisms

A new program of research has been started to use ammonia as fuel for power generation at large scale. The aim is to develop a highly efficient – ultra low emissions gas turbine combustor fuelled by ammonia.

March 2016

• Evaluation of current reaction models to determine accuracy and restrictions.

• Modelling of generic swirl burners through CFD studies to study combustion and emission patterns.

• Recommendation of first ideas for technology improvement: stratified injection.

Comparison between models and trials. Generic burner, high pressure.

Ammonia Gas Turbine Development

Lab combustor. Thermoacoustics. CFD model using NH3-CH4 with GRI-Mech

March 2016

•  Retrofitting of gas turbine combustion facilities for ammonia tests.

•  Experimental evaluation of methane-ammonia blends to understand NH3 injection challenges.

•  Recognition of unstable combustion with ammonia blends.

•  Recognition of low NOx emissions from high equivalence ratio conditions. A)OH*chemiluminescence,meanvaluesoutof200images.

B)Normalizedintensityofmeanvaluesusingresultsat0.8E.R.-1Bar.

Ammonia Gas Turbine Development

March 2016

•  Development of new stratified injection techniques for H2-NH3 injection.

•  Development of new reaction models for H2-NH3 blends at high temperature/high pressure.

•  Thermoacoustic studies for flame stability (OSCILOS – FFT).

•  Thermodynamic characterisation of GT cycle using H2-NH3 blends.

•  Gas turbine combustor development using 3D Printing. GT Cycle comparative (CH4)

Ammonia Gas Turbine Development – Future Work

Thermoacoustic analysis (OSCILOS –CH4)

March 2016






March 2016

•  Being built at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, UK.

•  Project 50% supported by Innovate UK (UK government funding agency).

Decoupling Green Energy: “green” ammonia synthesis and energy storage system demonstrator

•  Evaluation of all-electric synthesis and energy storage demonstration system by Dec 2017.

March 2016

Site layout

Nitrogen generator

Hydrogen electrolysis and ammonia synthesis

Combustion and energy export

Gas store, including ammonia tank

Control room Wind turbine and grid connection

March 2016

Harwell Ammonia energy storage system demonstrator

NH3 H-B Reactor

(Bespoke)

March 2016

System demonstrator technology development

Ammonia combustion studies Haber-Bosch synthesis catalyst

Energy management system

Control system

March 2016

Contacts

Tim Hughes [email protected]

green ammonia siemens oxford cardiff

Engineering