Economically feasible decarbonization of the Haber-Bosch process through supercritical CO2 Allam cycle integration

Highlights: • Novel concept for supercritical CO₂-Haber-Bosch integrated process is presented. • Comprehensive process simulation in Aspen Plus of two distinct design cases. • Techno-economic analysis at scales of 1.5, 15, and 150 ton h⁻¹ NH₃ is performed. • Both cases of the integrated process show profitability at scales >5 ton h⁻¹ NH₃. • Significant gaseous CO₂ emission reduction of 68%-96% compared to conventional HB. The well-established Haber-Bosch (HB) process (industrial ammonia production) is a significant contributor to the world's carbon emissions as it is a major consumer of natural gas as well as being energy-intensive in general. This work addresses the challenge of decarbonizing the HB process in a novel way as it, for the first time, presents a conceptual process integration with a supercritical CO₂ Allam power cycle, therefore transforming gaseous CO₂ emissions into a valuable side product in a form of liquid CO₂. Detailed process design and flowsheet simulation using Aspen Plus ® was used as a basis for scale-up and techno-economic assessment of two cases (electrical grid dependent and independent). The results indicated that using this process design NH₃ production reaches profitability at scales larger than 2 ton h⁻¹ to 5.4 ton h⁻¹ and at current global NH₃ prices, the cost of manufacturing decrease, due to scale-up stabilizes at ∼ 30 ton h⁻¹. Finally, this novel process integration achieves a significant reduction in gaseous CO₂ emissions (compared to conventional HB process) of 68 % to 96 %, which indicates great potential for economically feasible green NH₃.