Decarbonising ammonia production is an environmental imperative given that it independently accounts for 1.8% of global carbon dioxide emissions and supports the feeding of over 48% of the global population. The recent decline of production costs and its potential as an energy vector warrant investigation of whether green ammonia production is commercially competitive. Considering 534 locations in 70 countries and designing and operating the islanded production process to minimise the levelised cost of ammonia (LCOA) at each, we show the range of achievable LCOA, the cost of process flexibility, the components of LCOA, and therein the scope of LCOA reduction achievable at present and in 2030. These results are benchmarked against ammonia spot prices, cost per GJ of refined fuels and the LCOE of alternative energy storage methods. Currently a LCOA of $473 t⁻¹ is achievable, at the best locations the required process flexibility increases the achievable LCOA by 56%; the electrolyser CAPEX and operation are the most significant costs. By 2030, $310 t⁻¹ is predicted to be achievable with multiple locations below $350 t⁻¹. At $25.4 GJ⁻¹ currently and $16.6 GJ⁻¹ by 2030 prior combustion, this compares favourably against other refined fuels such as kerosene ($8.7–18.3 GJ⁻¹) that do not have the benefit of being carbon-free.

中文翻译：

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孤岛绿色氨作为无碳能源载体并替代常规生产的技术经济可行性

氨气脱碳生产对环境至关重要，因为它独立地占全球二氧化碳排放量的1.8％，并为全球48％以上的人口提供食物。最近生产成本的下降及其作为能源载体的潜力使人们有必要调查绿色氨气生产是否具有商业竞争力。考虑到70个国家/地区中的534个地点，并设计和运行孤岛式生产工艺以最大程度地降低每个级别的氨（LCOA）的平均成本，我们展示了可实现的LCOA的范围，工艺灵活性的成本，LCOA的组件以及其中的范围目前和2030年可实现的LCOA降低量。这些结果以氨水现货价格，每GJ精炼燃料成本和替代储能方法的LCOE为基准。^-1是可实现的，在最佳位置，所需的过程灵活性将可实现的LCOA增加了56％；电解器的资本支出和运营成本是最重要的。到2030年，$310吨^-1被预测为具有低于$350吨多个位置实现^-1。目前的燃烧价格为$ 25.4 GJ ^-1，到2030年燃烧前为$ 16.6 GJ ^-1，这与煤油等其他精炼燃料（$ 8.7-18.3 GJ ^-1）相比却无碳无益。