Ammonia can play a key role in decarbonization as a fuel and hydrogen carrier – MAN ES is very much at home with this chemical base material.
As a carbon-free medium, green ammonia is attracting a great deal of attention – in addition to fertilizer production, it is also used as a future fuel in shipping and as a hydrogen carrier. “MAN Energy Solutions has decades of experience and represents the entire value chain for manufacturing ammonia in terms of turbomachinery,” says Markus Schürmann, Sales Manager and Project Developer Green Ammonia. “The processes are tried and tested. Switching from fossil fuels to green hydrogen is changing the boundary conditions, however. We’re seeing a lot of interest and a great need for advice on the part of customers, with forecasts assuming a trebling of global capacity.”
What is MAN ES’s contribution
to ammonia production?
Nitrogen (N2) is obtained on an industrial scale by means of air separation, for which various compressor types are used, including isothermal (RIKT) and integrally geared (RG). In future, green hydrogen (H2) can also
be produced by electrolysers from H-TEC SYSTEMS. When it comes to further compression of the hydrogen, screw and centrifugal compressors (RG/RB) are also used. The nitrogen and hydrogen are then compressed to a high pressure in an RB/RH synthesis gas compressor and turned into NH3 in the reactor. An RH/RG refrigeration compressor then cools the hot ammonia. MAN also offers other solutions that could be used to boost the efficiency of processes, such as expansion turbines for energy recovery, heat pumps for process heat generation and energy storage systems. Oxygen compressors (RIKT/RG) can be used to exploit the oxygen generated by the process.
“Ammonia offers advantages for shipping and power generation: it’s CO2-free when burned and can also be used as a comparatively cheap carrier for large quantities of hydrogen. The infrastructure for ammonia transport already exists, and blue ammonia (ammonia produced from hydrocarbon feedstock with carbon dioxide capture by means of CCUS) is already seeing rapid expansion. NEOM, the first commercial green ammonia plant, will be followed by others in the medium term,” says Andreas Kramer, Business Development Manager.
MAN Energy Solutions has decades of experience and represents the entire value chain for manufacturing ammonia in terms of turbomachinery.
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