Coupling Solid Oxide Electrolyser (SOE) and ammonia production plant

Ammonia is one of the most produced chemicals worldwide and is currently synthesized using nitrogen separated from air and hydrogen from natural gas reforming with consequent high consumption of fossil fuel and high emission of CO2. A renewable path for ammonia production is desirable considering the potential development of ammonia as energy carrier. This study reports design and analysis of an innovative system for the production of green ammonia using electricity from renewable energy sources. This concept couples Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE), for the production of hydrogen, with an improved Haber Bosch Reactor (HBR), for ammonia synthesis. An air separator is also introduced to supply pure nitrogen. SOE operates with extremely high efficiency recovering high temperature heat from the Haber-Bosch reactor. Aspen was used to develop a model to study the performance of the plant. Both the SOE and the HBR operate at 650 °C. Ammonia production with zero emission of CO2 can be obtained with a reduction of 40% of power input compared to equivalent plants.