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ARPA-E solicits technologies for nitrogen extraction from seawater using seaweed
Article

ARPA-E solicits technologies for nitrogen extraction from seawater using seaweed

Trevor Brown May 09, 2019

NEWS BRIEF: On Monday, May 13, the US Department of Energy ARPA-E will close its request for information (RFI) regarding Quantification of Effectiveness of Nutrient Bioextraction by Seaweed. By using environmental remediation (nitrogen removal) as a mechanism for ammonia production (nitrogen recycling), this novel research area could connect together two phases of industry: production and end-of-life management. Rather than saying that this addresses both ends of a value chain, it might be more appropriate to say that this holds promise for the circular economy of ammonia energy.

If green ammonia, whence urea? Stamicarbon's Innovation Agenda
Article

If green ammonia, whence urea? Stamicarbon's Innovation Agenda

Trevor Brown May 03, 2019

One of the most interesting unanswered questions surrounding green ammonia is this: what about urea? Last month, a major announcement by Stamicarbon ("the world market leader in design, licensing and development of urea plants") implies an answer: in the long-term context of climate change, urea as a fertilizer may simply need to be phased out. Stamicarbon announced its new Innovation Agenda at the company's "Future Day" event in Utrecht in April. Its Innovation Agenda covers three areas: speciality fertilizers, digitalization, and "Renewable production of fertilizer (using wind or solar energy to produce fertilizer)."

ARPA-E request for information: Pre‐pilot and pilot projects to scale, mature, and advance technologies
Article

ARPA-E request for information: Pre‐pilot and pilot projects to scale, mature, and advance technologies

Trevor Brown April 17, 2019

ANNOUNCEMENT: The US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) has published a Request For Information (RFI) focused on supporting scale-up demonstrations of ARPA-E technologies. Unlike normal ARPA-E funding agreements, which typically provide 5%-20% of the financing for bench-scale projects within laboratories, this RFI is geared towards industrial pilot projects, for which ARPA-E would provide "at least 50% cost share."

Call for Abstracts: Ammonia Energy Conference 2019 submission deadline
Article

Call for Abstracts: Ammonia Energy Conference 2019 submission deadline

Trevor Brown April 04, 2019

ANNOUNCEMENT: Call for Abstracts closes next week - Deadline April 12! Our 16th annual Ammonia Energy Conference is tentatively scheduled to take place on November 13-14, 2019, as part of the AIChE Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. If you wish to make a presentation, please submit your abstract via the AIChE website, making sure to select the Topical Conference: Ammonia Energy.

HIAlba-IDEA: think tank launches in Scotland to deploy CSIRO technology, become green energy exporter
Article

HIAlba-IDEA: think tank launches in Scotland to deploy CSIRO technology, become green energy exporter

Trevor Brown April 04, 2019

NEWS BRIEF: A new policy think tank was launched last month that will focus on "why and how Scotland could benefit from being an early adopter of renewable hydrogen." Its "core starting point" is CSIRO's hydrogen-purification membrane, which enables ammonia to be used and exported as an efficient hydrogen carrier; for this use, green ammonia would be produced from offshore wind. According to the founders, this could lead to "Scotland becoming one of the largest global energy exporters in the world ... it could be the country’s main source of energy and create a knowledge economy."

Green ammonia: Haldor Topsoe's solid oxide electrolyzer
Article

Green ammonia: Haldor Topsoe's solid oxide electrolyzer

Trevor Brown March 29, 2019

Haldor Topsoe has greatly improved the near-term prospects for green ammonia by announcing a demonstration of its next-generation ammonia synthesis plant. This new technology uses a solid oxide electrolysis cell to make synthesis gas (hydrogen and nitrogen), which feeds Haldor Topsoe's existing technology: the Haber-Bosch plant. The product is ammonia, made from air, water, and renewable electricity. The "SOC4NH3" project was recently awarded funds from the Danish Energy Agency, allowing Haldor Topsoe to demonstrate the system with its academic partners, and to deliver a feasibility study for a small industrial-scale green ammonia pilot plant, which it hopes to build by 2025. There are two dimensions to this technology that make it so important: its credibility and its efficiency.

Ammonia plant revamp to decarbonize: Yara Pilbara
Article

Ammonia plant revamp to decarbonize: Yara Pilbara

Trevor Brown February 15, 2019

This week, Yara announced major progress toward producing "green ammonia" at its plant in Pilbara, Australia. Its new partner in this project is ENGIE, the global energy and services group, which last year made a major commitment to developing large-scale renewable hydrogen projects. I first reported Yara's plans for a solar ammonia demonstration at its Pilbara plant in September 2017. This week's announcement means that the Pilbara project has moved to the next feasibility phase. However, major elements of the project have already been designed and built: during last year's scheduled turnaround for plant maintenance, the hydrogen piping tie-in was completed - meaning that the Haber-Bosch unit is ready to receive hydrogen directly, as soon as an electrolyzer has been built to supply it with renewable feedstock.