Published: 4th Mar, 2024
Context
The quest for sustainable agriculture and energy solutions has ushered in an era of innovation, with companies worldwide striving to produce green ammonia.
Dimension 1: Opportunity for India
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With the existing non-fossil-fuel capacity at around 186 GW, of which approximately 179 GW is renewable, India aim to add 50 GW of renewable capacity capacity annually, targeting 500 GW by 2030. |
- In 2023, India is about 60 MMTPA fertilizer consumption nation. This will grow to about 135 MMTPA by 2050.
- The concomitant requirement of ammonia will also balloon.
- The demand, therefore, is massive. The opportunity to reduce the carbon-footprint is enormous.
- India is gearing up to establish about 5.8 million tonnes of green ammonia manufacturing across various regions.
Dimension 2: Challenges
- High cost: The cost of making green ammonia is very high today compared to brown ammonia due to two major cost-components: a) electrolyzer and b) green power.
- Storage issues: Storage of hydrogen, separated using electrolysis of water, is also a challenge today leading to disruption of a continuous supply of feedstock to the ammonia plants.
Dimension 3: Usage & Potential of Green Ammonia
- It is also known as renewable ammonia.
- To produce green ammonia, green hydrogen must first be obtained through a process of water electrolysis.
- That is, water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, using electrical energy generated from renewable sources.
- The hydrogen is then combined with atmospheric nitrogen through a process known as Haber-Bosch synthesis, which allows hydrogen and nitrogen to react at high pressure and temperature in the presence of a catalyst to form ammonia.
- The end result is the production of green ammonia using green hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen.
- Main uses of green ammonia
- It is used in production of agricultural fertilisers
- It is also used as a raw material in the production of a variety of chemical products, such as nitric acid, synthetic fibres, explosives, dyes and pharmaceuticals.
- Other potential usage: as a fuel for ships, as a fuel in boilers, turbines or enginesto generate heat and electricity
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Green ammonia |
Grey ammonia |
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Formation
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It is a form of ammonia that is produced using renewable energy sources |
Ammonia, or NH3, is nothing more than nitrogen and hydrogen, both highly abundant elements. |
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Co2 emission |
Green ammonia does not emit CO? in its production process. |
Ammonia’s production process, emits 2 tonnes of CO? for every tonne of ammonia. |
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