We published the National Renewable Ammonia Architecture Spring 2009 update on May 15th. There is some additional action happening regarding the publication which I can’t talk about at this time, but I am free to share some less technical, more visionary pieces on the future of ammonia and our civilization.
Futurescapes, three in all, will help the curious envision a future writer’s take on a world powered by renewable ammonia. These are less technical (OK, non-technical) than the norm, but I hope they give folks an idea of what might happen due to the situations we face regarding energy, economics, and the environment.
Let’s have a look at the plains around Oahe Dam in South Dakota.
The first renewable ammonia plants went into areas that were already moderate users. The heaviest corn production areas were still served by the pipelines and fossil fuel powered plants, but the margins where it was already truck and train delivered proved to be the right place to begin.
South Dakota, 77,000 empty square miles with only 780,000 people, hosted the first renewable system. The great Oahe Dam in the middle of the state was in decline due to a drying world, but the massive wind resources in the area meant that the river could be run at the minimal flow for ecosystem health with wind providing a large slice of what used to be hydroelectric power.
The plant itself was sized for a hundred megawatts of continuous input, yielding a hundred thousand tons of ammonia annually. Colocated with a large ethanol facility the final outputs were both plain anhydrous ammonia, ammonium nitrate, and urea made using the carbon dioxide from the fermentation process. The wholesale prices for ammonia upon completion of the $225 million dollar facility were in the vicinity of $650 a ton that far from the nearest pipeline. The plant rapidly paid for itself.
Waste heat, ever haunting industrial processes, was put to good use. The high quality heat directly from the reactor made steam and the vast quantities of low quality heat fed greenhouses and aquaculture operations, reducing local food miles and providing many local jobs.
As the first full scale renewable ammonia facility built in almost seventy years the plant generated much curiosity, which led to grants for university researchers to pursue expansion of what could be done with ammonia.
There were already spark and compression engine studies and demonstration systems; the small developers flocked to the region to display their systems and services next to the highly visible facility. Cooperative diesel machinery was converted to hybrid ammonia/diesel, spark engines ran at first on an ammonia/propane mixture, and then later on ammonia using hydrogen reformed from the onboard ammonia supply as the combustion accelerant. An excellent hydrogen bond carrier, ammonia is slow to start burning, so there must always be a bit of something fast burning included in the fuel/air mixture.
Some of the largest conversions were the backup diesel generators in the small towns of the region. Widely spaced rural locations had run on diesel powered electric systems until the slow spread of the grid eliminated the need for their continuous function during the 1960s. The generators were left in place for backup and peak generating capability during the summer, a job done by much larger natural gas systems in more populated areas.
It wasn’t necessary given the relatively small volume of output from the plant, just 10% of the size of the large natural gas fueled producers on the Gulf Coast, but a twelve mile demonstration pipeline was built to feed an ammonia dispensing terminal. The site included a hydrogen reformer fed with ammonia that provided fuel for a few large SUVs that served as school buses. When a graduating class has twelve students from three different towns and there are four feet of snow a year a six seat four wheel drive is just the thing for transporting students.
The greenhouse operation, fully hydroponic to maximize production and minimize staffing, caused a bit of a culture shock. The region’s high school students, long underemployed as highly mechanized agriculture became more so, promptly laid claim to the five hour evening shift, and people were needed for the day shift. The area never had much of a Hispanic population but one promptly sprouted when fifty good paying day shift jobs opened up.
The foundation of hydroelectric backed wind power led to regional exports of grain, beef and pork, eggs and chicken, vegetables, and both ethanol and biodiesel. The expanded tax base for the county stabilized the school system and social services. Not everyone directly benefited from employment in the operation but an employer of that size in such a sparely populated region kept the doors open on main street, benefiting all. The century long decline of rural America driven by fossil fuel powered machinery began to reverse and the future seemed bright.