What are the trends in the development of the ammonia synthesis industry?

Changes in Feedstock Routes:

Looking at global fuel reserves, coal reserves are approximately ten times greater than the combined reserves of oil and natural gas. Since the oil price surge in the Middle East in the 1970s, there has been a renewed interest in ammonia production from coal as a feedstock. However, due to the low investment, low energy consumption, and low costs associated with using natural gas as a feedstock for ammonia synthesis, it is expected that most of the world's ammonia plants will continue to primarily use gaseous fuels as raw materials until the end of the 20th century.

Energy Efficiency and Reduction of Consumption:

Energy costs account for a significant portion of the production cost of synthetic ammonia. Therefore, the focus of technical improvements in ammonia production lies in adopting low-energy processes, efficient energy recovery and utilization, and the development of better catalysts. Key directions include reducing ammonia synthesis pressure, exploring new methods for purifying raw gas, decreasing fuel consumption, and recovering and efficiently utilizing low-grade thermal energy. Several energy-efficient processes using natural gas as a raw material have been proposed, with a design energy consumption per ton of liquid ammonia reduced to around 29.3 GJ.

Joint Production with Other Products:

Ammonia production generates a substantial amount of byproduct carbon dioxide, which can be used for refrigeration, beverages, fire suppression, and as raw material for producing urea, soda ash, and ammonium bicarbonate. If these products can be co-produced during the removal of carbon dioxide from the raw ammonia feedstock, it simplifies the process, reduces energy consumption, and lowers costs. Processes like China's innovative direct production of ammonium bicarbonate using ammonia water for carbon dioxide removal and methods such as the transformation gas-based co-production of urea, developed in China and Italy, offer significant advantages in this regard.