Leveraging the Ammonia Industry for Solar Energy Storage

The Paris Climate Agreement aims to limit the human-induced global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Meeting that goal will require a global energy system with net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and photovoltaics (PV), will help make a zero-em...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChemical engineering progress Vol. 113; no. 7; p. 36
Main Authors Lovegrove, Keith M, Lavine, Adrienne S, Aryafar, Hamarz, Chen, Chen
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers 01.07.2017
Subjects
Aerospace engineering
Alternative energy sources
Ammonia
Ammonia industry
Chemical engineering
Design
Electricity
Electricity pricing
Emission
Emissions
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Energy resources
Energy storage
Engineers
Gases
Heat exchangers
Human influences
Hydrogen
Mechanical engineering
Molten salts
Natural gas
Nitrogen
Photovoltaic cells
Potassium
Radiation
Raw materials
Reactors
Renewable energy sources
Renewable resources
Researchers
Sodium
Solar cells
Solar energy
Temperature
Thermal energy
Wind power generation
Los Angeles California
United States > US
California
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Summary:The Paris Climate Agreement aims to limit the human-induced global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Meeting that goal will require a global energy system with net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and photovoltaics (PV), will help make a zero-emission energy system a reality. However, the variable nature of these energy sources limits their practical use for electricity generation. Integrating energy storage with energy production is the key to a zero-emission energy system future. Energy storage can be built into a concentrating solar power (CSP) system, without increasing the cost of the delivered energy. The standard industry approach of producing electricity with energy storage is to heat a molten mixture of potassium and sodium nitrate salts to high temperatures using the solar concentrations. This article introduces the concept of leveraging the Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis process as a potential lower-cost energy storage alternative to molten salts in CSP plants.
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ISSN:0360-7275
1945-0710