INNOVATIVE METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF AMMONIA FROM BIOMASS

The world today has a persistent need for ammonia, which sustains its agricultural and mining activities. There is also a need to bring down the dependence on fossil fuels and in turn limit global warming. Unlike the majority of ammonia produced around the globe which relies on fossil fuels mainly natural gas, this study investigates biomass gasification, where the syngas provides a source of hydrogen. The ammonia process reported for biomass as a feedstock is often similar to the steam methane reforming process except that the methane reforming is replaced by biomass gasification. Unfortunately, the associated economics tends to prohibit the use of biomass, because of the much lower scale of the biomass plants. This paper proposes a new process that takes inputs for an already developed natural gas based ICI process specifically designed for small scale ammonia manufacture. The simulations performed in ASPEN Plus highlights the economic and environmental benefits that could be derived for small-scale ammonia from biomass plant. Furthermore the flowsheet was optimised to provide a wider insight.