在过去的几年里, the role of ammonia has evolved from being a key ingredient in the fertiliser industry and global food value chain, 向碳中和、可运输、可调度的能源形式转变.
预计到2050年全球人口将增长20亿1 这意味着对化肥的需求将会增长, but global carbon reduction targets will mean that production methods will themselves have to be decarbonised.
The war in Ukraine is putting further demand on the production of ammonia as Russia is a key exporter of fertilisers. Export sanctions are 现在 forcing countries to plan new routes of supply. The clear roadmap is that this will increase demands for new fertiliser production in countries that previously imported and 现在 strategically require local production. This scenario will also accelerate the need for expansion of hydrogen production technology which is key ingredient of ammonia.
Ammonia is also 现在 seen as a carrier and supplier of hydrogen energy due to its higher (nearly three times) volumetric energy density (i.e. its ability to deliver energy) and its relative ease of storage at a much less energy-intensive –33 °C compared to –253 °C for liquid hydrogen. Another advantage is that ammonia movement can utilise existing well-established supply chains and infrastructure that have been available and proven for decades.
一个世纪正在形成
氨的核心生产工艺仍然是Haber-Bosch合成, a process developed over one hundred years ago in the first decade of the 20th century that combines nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia, helped by iron as the catalyst.
The production of one of the two key components; hydrogen can make the ammonia “grey”, “蓝色”或“绿色”取决于原料和生产过程. Blue low-carbon ammonia is essentially like conventional grey ammonia coupled with carbon capture, 哪一种能将碳排放量减少90%以上. 绿色氨利用水电解产生的绿色氢, 使用可再生能源, 使绿色氨生产几乎不含二氧化碳.
Industries and countries committed to net-zero are moving towards blue and green ammonia as they emerge as strong candidates for long-term energy carriers, vectors providing a route for greenhouse gas emissions reduction as low- or zero-carbon fuels. 例如, Japan is focussed on testing cofiring ammonia in coal-based power plants with the aim of converting entirely to ammonia in the future.
市场机会
根据国际能源署的说法，蓝氨和绿氨的市场是巨大的, 到2050年，氨需求将增长25%2. 因此, Wood is involved in several studies and projects on blue and green ammonia and increasingly we are seeing lots of interest among our clients. 我们正在与ADNOC合作开发一个 世界规模的蓝氨生产设施 在阿布扎比的鲁韦斯. We are also supporting Horisont Energi with a broad suite of services under a framework agreement that covers the Barents Blue project, 欧洲首个大规模蓝氨生产设施. 另外，在绿色这边，我们参与了 Total even的Magallanes项目 在智利, where our k现在ledge will help to support the production of ammonia from green hydrogen at one of the largest such projects in the world.
研究和开发的重点是氨的其他用途, establishing use of ammonia as fuel for internal combustion engines (vehicle engines), 船用燃料油, 为发电机提供燃气轮机燃料, direct ammonia fuel cells and also an advanced class gas turbine that is fuelled by 100% ammonia. Fertiliser companies are also gearing up towards blue and green ammonia manufacturing. 去年宣布了几个大型项目, such as the first big green ammonia project in the US which will convert 20,000 tonnes per annum of conventional grey ammonia green by installing electrolysers.
Green ammonia projects are at present on a more modest scale since they are limited by electrolyser capacity and thus an order of magnitude smaller than a typical grey ammonia plant. 相比之下, blue ammonia scale will be comparable to grey ammonia since it requires only retrofit of CO2 capture, 已经按照要求的规模进行了演示. Wood has supported a client with their steam methane reformer (SMR) to support ammonia production where they are separately importing a % of green H2. Green H2 cannot replace the grey but the offset means new operating conditions for SMR need to be considered. 值得注意的是，伍德的 新一代小型堆技术 can achieve 95% CO2 emissions reduction, compared to a traditional hydrogen production plant. 该技术既适用于绿地项目，也适用于棕地项目, will reduce CAPEX and OPEX for operators while improving the environmental footprint and efficiency.
Ammonia will play a critical role in food security and the energy transition as part of a sustainable long-term energy mix given its many potential applications. Wood is perfectly placed to be part of the blue and green ammonia market, 帮助客户制定并实现净零排放目标. 正如我所讨论的, critical to achieve blue or green ammonia are carbon capture and storage (CCS) and green H2 from electrolysis respectively. 随着这项技术的发展, we aim to provide our wealth of k现在ledge on CCS and hydrogen to help shape the future for the production and use of ammonia.