Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of industrial production of ammonia via bio-oil conversion

This work assess the economic feasibility and environmental burdens of ammonia generation via distributed biooil production from corn stover and a central bio-oil reforming pathway or a central bio-oil partial oxidation pathway. The total capital investment is $1,254, 702, 937 for the reforming pathway and $1,273, 047, 866 for the partial oxidation pathway, respectively. The minimum selling price is separately $0.992/kg ammonia for the reforming pathway and $1.05/kg ammonia for the partial oxidation pathway, assuming a standard discount rate of 10%. A sensitivity and optimal analysis shows that the optimal minimum selling price could be as low as $0.39/kg ammonia for the steam-reforming pathway. Global warming potential is 1.11 kgCO2-eq/kg ammonia for the steam-reforming pathway and 1.66 kgCO2-eq/kg ammonia for the partial oxidation pathway, respectively. In this life cycle assessment study, other two categories including eco-indicator 99 and cumulative energy demand were also considered. Finally, the cost for buying or utilizing 1 MJ of biohydrogen contained in ammonia carrier is only 2% of that for buying or utilizing 1 MJ of biohydrogen stored in high pressure tanks. Overall, ammonia production via bio-oil conversion, especially bio-oil steam-reforming, could be more environmental-friendly than ammonia production via petrochemical synthesis, suggesting the economically attractive process in the near future.

Automated summary

This work evaluates the economic feasibility and environmental impact of ammonia generation using bio-oil production from corn stover. The capital investment for the reforming pathway is $1,254,702,937, and for the partial oxidation pathway is $1,273,047,866. The minimum selling price is $0.992/kg for the reforming pathway and $1.05/kg for the partial oxidation pathway.