Technical-economic analysis of the electrosynthesis of ammonia

The European Union (EU) has set itself a long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by 80-95% by 2050 in comparison to 1990. Hence, the use of renewable energies is mandatory in order to achieve this goal. In order to avoid this problem, it is essential to move our energy matrix towards to a sustainable and renewable one. Hydrogen is anticipated to be one of the best candidates for carbon-free fuels. It is a clean fuel, and its burning causes no harmful emissions. However, the cost to produce, storage and compress it is very high. Ammonia appears to be a potential solution as a hydrogen storage. Ammonia has very high energy per volume density and its combustion does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2). Furthermore, it can be transformed into hydrogen by cracking itself, which is why it serves as hydrogen storage. In this thesis a simulation conducted in Aspen Plus was done in order to simulate a green ammonia production process, where ammonia will be produced by a Haber-Bosch process, although replacing the steam methane reforming process to obtain hydrogen with an electrolyser integrated with renewable energy resources to produce hydrogen. Finally, a technical-economic analysis will be done in order to compare this process with the conventional one produced by steam reforming, with and without carbon capture and storage.