Ammonia as a hydrogen carrier: An energy approach

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of ammonia as an energy carrier by simulating and analysing the energy consumption and production of an integrated ammonia-to-power system. It involves ammonia synthesis, purification, conditioning to meet the storage requirements, ammonia decomposition, membrane hydrogen separation, and the power generation through either a proton exchange membrane fuel cell or a hydrogen combustion process. The two different integrated systems were simulated using Aspen HYSYS® and Aspen Custom Modeler® to generate 105 kW of electrical power for a residential application (twenty homes). The energy feasibility was assessed by comparing the total energy consumption with the energy produced by the two integrated options. Due to the initially high energy consumption, Aspen Energy Analyzer^TM was employed to design a heat exchanger network for heat integration. The obtained results based on the heat integration network significantly improved energy efficiency for both alternatives of hydrogen exploitation, demonstrating the feasibility of a circular hydrogen economy.