Solar electricity in Alaska

[TOM4CWB]

You should stick to ****tail recipes. LOL

So the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine in winter here?

New NH3 technology:


Tsubame BHB Launches Joint Evaluation with Mitsubishi Chemical
By Stephen H. Crolius on December 17, 2020
Last month Tsubame BHB, a Japanese developer of ammonia synthesis technology, announced the signing of a “joint evaluation contract” with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) that will focus on a novel ammonia separation membrane. The company, which started operation in 2017, is working on a method of ammonia synthesis that could allow economic production at scales 1-2 orders of magnitude below today’s plants.

A November 17 Tsubame press release identifies “zeolite membrane technology for selectively separating ammonia” as the subject of the cooperation with MCC. The term “zeolite” refers to a crystalized, microporous aluminosilicate material. Hundreds of zeolite varieties have been identified in nature or developed technologically. The MCC development effort resulted in a zeolite that can take the form of a rigid membrane that allows ammonia molecules to pass through but not hydrogen or nitrogen molecules.

The press release mentions the relatively small yields of ammonia that result from each pass of a hydrogen-nitrogen reaction mixture through a conventional Haber Bosch processing loop.

Therefore, the existing Haber-Bosch method … requires large-scale processes and expensive equipment. Therefore, if a reaction-separation type process can be developed where the produced ammonia is separated using a membrane, the conversion of raw materials in the reactor may significantly increase, which would reduce the recycling process and, in turn, reduce the size and cost of the plant.

Tsubame BHB, Realizing an Ammonia Production Process Using a Separation Membrane Conclusion of a Joint Evaluation Contract with the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation—Collaboration for Achieving Ultra-Small Ammonia Production Technology Begins, November 17, 2020

While the MCC membrane exhibits the essential molecular selectivity, the partners are now investigating parameters such as long-term durability that will determine its fitness for industrial applications, and specifically “for the realization of an ultra-small on-site ammonia production process.”

The MCC membrane complements the ruthenium-based catalyst system developed by the Hosono Laboratory at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT). The head of the laboratory, Hideo Hosono, is a Professor Emeritus at TIT. The catalyst system supports “high-efficiency ammonia synthesis under low temperature and low pressure conditions.” These “reaction conditions enable production in small-scale plants with annual output of several tens of thousands of tons or less.”

In October 2019 Tsubame commissioned a pilot plant with a nominal capacity of 55 kg per day (20 tonnes per year) at food producer Ajinomoto’s factory in the city of Kawasaki. According to an October 5, 2020 Tsubame press release, the fact that the plant has been able to “achieve continuous operation” represents “a major step toward commercialization.”


Click to enlarge. Tsubame BHB Technology / Business Introduction, accessed December 17, 2020
A company Web page sets the targeted range of plant capacities at 1 to 100,000 tonnes per year, with associated capital investments between $1 million and $80 million. Such small-scale ammonia production, in the company’s view, will allow the siting of plants at or near sites of ammonia consumption. The company projects that the resulting logistics economies will allow its plants to compete with ammonia producers whose distant manufacturing sites have lower production costs.

One target market will be fertilizers: “120 countries and regions did not produce ammonia in 2015. Therefore, these countries are unable to install large and expensive current ammonia plants and are purchasing expensive ammonia and nitrogen-based fertilizers from abroad.” An October 22, 2020 company press release describes an initial exploration of Laos as a potential host country for a plant based on Tsubame technology.

Green ammonia will be another target market: “There is much energy that cannot be fully utilized due to the lack of power lines, and we can propose a local production model for local consumption, which produces ammonia from water and air on the spot and uses it for various purposes such as chemicals and fertilizers,” or indeed as a “hydrogen carrier.”

An Ammonia Energy article from December 2019 described Tsubame’s intention to have its ammonia synthesis technology ready for licensing in 2021. The October 5, 2020 press release now frames the company’s goal as “achieving practical use next year.”

[TASFarms]

Where can I buy a ammonia plant? I don’t want the govt to know about it.

[TOM4CWB]

New NH3 technology:

Green ammonia will be another target market: “There is much energy that cannot be fully utilized due to the lack of power lines, and we can propose a local production model for local consumption, which produces ammonia from water and air on the spot and uses it for various purposes such as chemicals and fertilizers,” or indeed as a “hydrogen carrier.”

An Ammonia Energy article from December 2019 described Tsubame’s intention to have its ammonia synthesis technology ready for licensing in 2021. The October 5, 2020 press release now frames the company’s goal as “achieving practical use next year.”

The biggest end user of ammonia is agriculture (consumes about 80% of global production), an industry that is sensitive to changing costs and that doesn’t require a high purity product – C-grade ammonia is therefore the cheapest, most readily available form of ammonia around the world.


So is C-grade ammonia sufficient for use as fuel? Can potential ammonia fuel customers take advantage of a readily-available, cheap product? The answer is a resounding yes. Later on in the panel session Dorthe Jacobsen outlined MAN Energy Solution’s preliminary marine fuel standard for ammonia that is based on C-grade product. Speaking for power generating customers, Rob Steele even welcomed the supply of ammonia with 2% water content – they’ll be happy to burn it as fuel! There is also demonstrated use of C-grade ammonia in fuel cells and cracking applications.

But there’s still much more work to do. We need a fuel standard that reflects a wide range of end uses and anticipates the direction the industry wants to go in. Will storage be in a vapor or liquid form? Will storage be refrigerated or pressurised? What level of impurities are end users willing to deal with? Even details like how we measure those impurities and whether we need new units of energy measurement for ammonia fuel (like BTU) are important. We need to know all these basic details from a variety of end users to get this standard right, and David and the Committee welcome your feedback.


Rob Steele, Low-Carbon Fuels for Power Generation, Ammonia Energy Conference, November 17, 2020
The panel then moved onto three different stakeholders for a perspective on a potential fuel standard. Rob Steele’s organisation EPRI is a newcomer to the ammonia space but represents over 90% of the electric power utility business in the USA, including a well-established gas turbine industry that has spent decades fine-tuning its machinery to produce the lowest possible NOx emissions. Any future fuel standard for ammonia needs to address the biggest concern on the minds of power generators: emissions. There’s currently more focus on hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel, but ammonia is at the top of the list for low-carbon fuel solutions in the crucial stretch between 2030 and 2050 when deep, bold decarbonisation steps will need to be taken. The power generation industry is particularly interested in ammonia-hydrogen blended fuels (90:10, 80:20 and 70:30), and the sooner we can develop world-class fuel standards and proceed with testing the better.


Eric Smith, IIAR Standards and Guidelines, Ammonia Energy Conference, November 17, 2020
The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) has been advocating for and developing the highest quality standards for ammonia refrigeration for half a century, and Eric Smith is a firm believer in the wider industry controlling its own destiny on the issue of a fuel standard. The IIAR’s set of nine ammonia refrigeration standards is well-regarded by both the US EPA and OSHA, and demonstrates how industry and regulators can work together for a better outcome. IIAR has recently changed its standard to lower purity requirements for refrigeration clients, who have discovered added benefit from the improved safety, handling and storage associated with lower purity ammonia.


Dorthe Jacobsen, A marine fuel standard for Ammonia – an engine designers perspective, Ammonia Energy Conference, November 17, 2020
Dorthe Jacobsen closed the panel from the perspective of a marine engine designer. The last decade has seen rapid development in dual-fuel marine engines capable of burning a wide range of fuels, even though IMO and ISO have lagged behind with developing the applicable fuel standards. Ammonia is clearly a potential fuel for the marine industry long-term, though hard work is certainly required – the technical challenges for burning ammonia in marine engines need to be resolved in the next year or so for demonstration vessels to be ready by 2023-4. MAN ES has based its preliminary ammonia marine fuel design on the cheapest, most widely-available ammonia source (C-grade) and is eager to get moving – everyone’s efforts are needed to cut the shipping industry’s GHG emissions at least 50% by 2050.

[oneoff]

The article is like a non peer reviewed medical report. On the right track to seek the truth and develop a better solution. Consider this analogy.....For instance not repeatedly building totally new town swimming pools three times in a 40 year period is not ideal in my books. Or schools and hospitals replaced that many times in a lifetime not yet over.

Is that "Carbon Neutral" or conserving resources or an example of good planning. But bright ideas that have potential merit; should not be allowed to extrapolate into that which they have yet proven workable whilst relying on that which they actually depend upon ; and when not all the known defects and potential side efforts have yet been properly considered and investigated. It is folly. Will it work well in the next "ice age" The Alaska experience might suggest its futile in the effort to fight glaciers even though the panels might benefit from reflected light. Just don't forget the problem of keeping the panels above the snow and ice; and the long distance transport of electricity to the land edge at Missouri. Maybe if its true that sea levels can rise in a matter of decades; its also probably just as true that an ice age could begin in as quickly as a year or so. And remember the last 4 ice ages each lasted 100,000 years or so and maybe just 15,000 or so years as interglacial periods.

Anyway...Those seem to be facts and we are probably on edge of and due for the next long term ice age (and not of human cause I would suggest)



In today's world solar is premature to be a replacement; and needs to be able to prove exactly how we all will benefit and provide a long term solution for what we think we are striving for. That requirement should apply to every potential solution that can't presently stand on its own and certainly hasn't yet proven its full replacement value; and won't admit its shortcomings or provide the appropriate miitigation plan.

All being in place and accepted well before deliberately destroying forever what we currently depend upon.

Can you think of some apparent good ideas that have had unexpected disastrous side effects; or do we only look at the euphoria angle?.

What is the overall solar plan agenda and who is going to guarantee and take responsibility?.

This just for the history buffs: What well known project document concluded (from memory) with the statement "while the cost to benefit ratio is less than unity; when the non financially quantifiable benefits are included; the project is well worthwhile"

And a search is beginning right now to see how close a 35 to 40 year older memory is to what actually was printed on that document.

Sure some things unexpectedly turn out better than anticipated....but its always wiser to have a truly well thought out plan. Also any unwelcome observation shouldn't be allowed to be dismissed without a valid counterargument. That's only a convenient distraction to keep attention focused on current popular thoughts that are gaining critical mass through the repetition of catch phrases and only basically repeated propaganda.

[chuckChuck]

Climate scientists say there are no imminent ice ages coming unless we are hit by an asteroid or a super volcano erupts.

Never say never, but in terms of probability scientists are saying the exact opposite, extended and possibly out out of control global warming without cuts to greenhouse gases.

What do you think of the King Island Hybrid power system with 65% renewable production and all the stabilizing features?

https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/hybrid-energy-solutions/success-stories/king-island https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/hybrid-energy-solutions/success-stories/king-island

[TOM4CWB]

Where can I buy a ammonia plant? I don’t want the govt to know about it.

Grin: Starting with 'Pulse Crops' they are the most efficient N fixer 'plants' and energy producers... the small scale NH3 production units are some time in the future...

If we can produce a number of Vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year...if we worked as diligently on producing NH3 from water, air, and electricity... much to overcome as it would be transformative to the industrial manufacturing complex in devolving economic power to farmers instead of multi-transnational mega companies...

As the good book says... 'they can do anything they set their minds to...'

We are created in the image of the greatest creative force in the Universe; God... surprises and innovation in creativity [IE: the virgin birth... which is much more likely and probable than believing the 'Big Bang' created us from nothing] are his specialty!! Merry Christmas!!

[burnt]

Where can I buy a ammonia plant? I don’t want the govt to know about it.

Why what a coincidence - I happen to have one for sale.

Bring your manure spreader and you can transfer it to your field from my barnyard.

And you can trust me with our secret.

[oneoff]

Climate scientists say there are no imminent ice ages coming unless we are hit by an asteroid or a super volcano erupts.

Never say never, but in terms of probability scientists are saying the exact opposite, extended and possibly out out of control global warming without cuts to greenhouse gases.

What do you think of the King Island Hybrid power system with 65% renewable production and all the stabilizing features?

https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/hybrid-energy-solutions/success-stories/king-island https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/hybrid-energy-solutions/success-stories/king-island

First impression was that if this was such a world changing game changer; why hasn't absolutely everyone already heard about such a raving success.

Maybe if Brooks Alberta or Saskatoon were showing similar results it would be worth more serious attention. But something I can see within an hour's drive; and deal with people who are completely forthcoming; know the weakness; capabilities; possibility to replicate; not have overlooked subsidies and other undiclosed advantages not commonly (or ever will be) available or with actual future availability.................then I'll patiently wait until that essential data becomes widely available.

Still...Where's the storage component or practical multi time zone crossing electrical grid etc. And it may come....but not today. Let it be more than a dream or belief before the excitement gets carried away.


Dare it be said; its almost never wise to let the bugs NOT get worked out before making life changing changes

A whole lot like Tom's NH3 production. There's may more chance of creating grasses with Nitrogen fixing ability. But that would invite theories about Frankenstein crosses that only infrequently happen in Nature.