Chemical looping ammonia production in IJHE

The work on chemical looping ammonia production has been accepted and published in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Congratulation Firman!.

Abstract:
Ammonia (NH3) is one of the most valuable chemicals due to its multipurpose utilization in many applications. Beside major application as fertilizer in agriculture, NH3 is a promising hydrogen (H2) carrier because it has a high content of H2 and technically available storage and transportation systems. At present, most of NH3 is synthesized from a series of steam reforming process to the feedstock of H2 and nitrogen (N2) production, followed with the catalytic Haber-Bosch reaction. In this study, an integrated system of N2 production system, NH3 synthesis system and a power generation process is proposed to produce NH3 efficiently. Thermochemical cyclic process of an endothermic reaction of Al2O3 reduction by carbon in N2 atmosphere, is coupled with oxidation/steam-hydrolysis of aluminum nitride (AlN) back to Al2O3, producing NH3 without catalyst and the need of H2production system. The thermal energy required for reduction reaction is covered by the heat generated during exothermic reaction and combustion process, and the remaining heat is utilized in power generation. Heat circulation optimization is carried out by applying the enhanced process integration, resulting in a highly efficient system. The proposed system is analyzed through an adjustment of the main parameters: oxidation temperature, steam turbine inlet pressure, and temperature, to observe their effect on system performance and efficiency. The proposed system can reach a very high system efficiency of 69.3%. The oxidation reaction temperature is observed to play major role in determining the system performance due to temperature dependent NH3 yield.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.05.110