- •Abstract
- •Acknowledgements
- •Table of contents
- •List of figures
- •List of tables
- •List of boxes
- •Executive summary
- •Absent a change in course, ammonia production would continue to take an environmental toll
- •Towards more sustainable ammonia production
- •Near-zero-emission ammonia production requires new infrastructure, innovation and investment
- •Enabling more sustainable ammonia production
- •Chapter 1. Ammonia production today
- •Ammonia and society
- •Nitrogen fertilisers: An indispensable input to our modern agricultural systems
- •Demand, supply and trade
- •Ammonia production fundamentals
- •Current and emerging production pathways
- •A brief history of ammonia production
- •Natural gas reforming
- •Coal gasification
- •Near-zero-emission production routes currently being pursued
- •Economic considerations
- •Ammonia and the environment
- •Non-CO2 environmental impacts
- •Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from fertiliser production and use
- •Impacts on water, soil, air and ecosystems
- •What will happen tomorrow to today’s CO2 emissions from ammonia production?
- •Chapter 2. The future of ammonia production
- •Three contrasting futures for the ammonia industry
- •The outlook for demand and production
- •The outlook for nitrogen demand, nutrient use efficiency and material efficiency
- •Nitrogen demand drivers
- •Measures to improve nitrogen use efficiency
- •The outlook for production
- •Technology pathways towards net zero emissions
- •Energy consumption and CO2 emissions
- •A portfolio of mitigation options
- •Innovative technology pathways
- •Overview of global and regional technology trends
- •China
- •India
- •North America
- •Europe
- •Other key regions
- •Considerations for the main innovative technologies
- •Dedicated VRE electrolysis
- •CCUS-equipped pathways
- •Readiness, competitiveness and investment
- •An array of technology options at differing levels of maturity
- •Exploring key uncertainties
- •Future production costs
- •Uncertainty in technology innovation
- •Investment
- •Chapter 3. Enabling more sustainable ammonia production
- •The current policy, innovation and financing landscape
- •Ongoing efforts by governments
- •Carbon pricing and energy efficiency measures
- •Support for near-zero-emission technology RD&D and early commercial deployment
- •Policies for improving efficiency of use
- •International collaboration
- •Encouraging progress in the private sector
- •Initiatives involving financial institutions and investors
- •Recommendations for accelerating progress
- •Framework fundamentals
- •Establishing plans and policy for long-term CO2 emission reductions
- •Mobilising finance and investment
- •Targeted actions for specific technologies and strategies
- •Managing existing assets and near-term investment
- •Creating a market for near-zero-emission nitrogen products
- •Developing earlier-stage near-zero-emission technologies
- •Improving use efficiency for ammonia-base products
- •Necessary enabling conditions
- •Enhancing international co-operation and creating a level playing field
- •Planning and developing infrastructure
- •Tracking progress and improving data
- •Key milestones and decision points
- •Annexes
- •Abbreviations
- •Units of measure
Ammonia Technology Roadmap |
Chapter 1. Ammonia production today |
Towards more sustainable nitrogen fertiliser production |
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as such requires handling and storage according to special regulations. Urea is not classified as a hazardous substance, although still requires attention to handling since it could be dangerous if exposed to high temperatures or mixed with other chemicals. The handling requirements for urea are, however, less demanding overall compared to ammonium nitrate, which can be a major factor motivating the selection of urea as a fertiliser in several regions.
Each year millions of tonnes of nitrogen fertilisers and other nitrogen-based products are safely transported, stored and used without incident. Over the years, however, a number of accidents have demonstrated the perils of handling these substances inappropriately. Some of the largest incidents include the Texas City disaster of 1947 and the Beirut explosion of 2020, both involving ammonium nitrate. Accidents in the past have been among the catalysts for the stringent safety regulations and guidelines that governments and industry have put in place in many countries and regions. Examples of such measures include: in the European Union the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation; in the United Kingdom the voluntary Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS); and in Canada the Ammonium Nitrate Code of Practice (AN Code). At the international level, the International Fertilizer Association’s Protect and Sustain programme helps to set standard global reference points for product stewardship, including for safe fertiliser handling.
Ammonia production fundamentals
Ammonia production involves two main steps: first, isolating hydrogen, and second, the Haber-Bosch process in which the hydrogen is reacted with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia. Currently close to 100% of ammonia production obtains the required hydrogen from fossil fuel feedstocks (together with the steam used to transform them in certain process arrangements). Process energy, comprising fossil fuels and electricity, is needed in addition to the feedstock inputs to generate the heat and pressure required for the production process, and to separate nitrogen from the air. In 2020 ammonia production accounted for 8.6 EJ of energy consumption, equivalent to 2% of total final energy consumption globally. Of this energy, 40% was consumed as feedstock and the remainder as process energy. Natural gas accounts for 70% of the ammonia industry’s total energy consumption, coal 26%, oil 1% and electricity the remaining 3%.
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IEA. All rights reserved.
Ammonia Technology Roadmap |
Chapter 1. Ammonia production today |
Towards more sustainable nitrogen fertiliser production |
|
Mass flows in the ammonia supply chain from fossil fuel feedstocks to nitrogen fertilisers and industrial products
IEA, 2021.
Notes: The thickness of the lines in the Sankey diagram are proportional to the magnitude of the mass flows. All numeric values are in million tonnes per year of production using production data for 2019. Only the fossil fuel quantities consumed as feedstock are shown; the diagram does not represent process energy inputs. MAP = monoammonium phosphate; DAP = diammonium phosphate; CAN = calcium ammonium nitrate; UAN = urea ammonium nitrate; AS = ammonium sulphate.
Sources: Production volumes sourced from the IFA. Process characterisations and yields from Levi and Cullen (2018).
Ammonia is the precursor to all mineral nitrogen fertilisers, which together account for just under 70% of total ammonia demand, including the downstream usage of its derivatives.
For the bulk of its eventual use, ammonia production is only the first step in nitrogen fertiliser production. Just over 2% of total ammonia demand is for direct application to pastures. The majority of ammonia is combined with other inputs to produce other nitrogen-based fertilisers and industrial products in subsequent transformation steps. Urea is chief among these. The production of urea accounts for around 55% of ammonia demand, which is in turn used directly as a fertiliser (around 75%) and to produce urea ammonium nitrate (5%), the remainder being for a range of industrial applications. The other major use of ammonia is for nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production. Around 80% of nitric acid is used to produce ammonium nitrate, two-thirds of which is used for fertiliser applications, including via further transformation into monoammonium and diammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate, calcium ammonium nitrate and, in conjunction with urea, to produce urea ammonium nitrate. Tracing all of these uses of ammonia downstream to their end uses reveals that just under 70% of ammonia is used for nitrogen fertiliser applications, with the remainder being used for industrial applications.
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IEA. All rights reserved.