Green ammonia provides a new path for coal power to reduce carbon emissions
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Action Plan for Low-Carbon Transformation and Construction of Coal and Electricity (2024-2027)"(hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which proposes to use surplus electricity from renewable sources such as wind power and solar power generation. Through electrolysis of water to make green hydrogen and synthesize green ammonia, coal-fired units are blended with green ammonia to generate electricity, replacing part of coal combustion. After renovation and construction, coal-fired power units should have the ability to blend more than 10% of green ammonia, and coal consumption and carbon emissions levels should be significantly reduced.
As one of my country's main sources of carbon emissions, coal-fired power generation generates carbon emissions accounting for about 40% of the country's total carbon emissions. Using new zero-carbon fuels such as green ammonia to replace coal is an important technology to achieve the "double carbon" goal., also provides a new path for the green development of coal and electricity. So, is there currently any conditions in my country to implement coal-fired units blending with green ammonia for power generation? What opportunities will this move bring to the green ammonia market?
It has been verified by ammonia mixed combustion tests
As a carbon-free fuel, ammonia is produced without elements that easily damage the environment such as carbon and sulfur in the entire process from preparation to application. It is a new zero-carbon fuel that is expected to replace fossil fuels on a large scale.
"Ammonia is an energy carrier with high energy density and is easy to store and transport over long distances. The combustion products are mainly water and nitrogen. Therefore, if green ammonia is blended, it can indeed be used as a zero-carbon fuel to reduce coal consumption in thermal power plants and reduce carbon emissions. Compared with other technical routes, the transformation of coal-fired power units with ammonia can explore the carbon reduction potential of thermal power plants through relatively low transformation investment." Huang Zhong, a researcher at the Department of Energy and Power Engineering at Tsinghua University, told reporters.
It is understood that at present, many companies have successfully carried out experimental verification of ammonia blended combustion in coal-fired units.
In April last year, Anhui Province Energy Group and the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center announced that the 300MW coal-fired unit of Wanneng Tongling Power Generation Company achieved smooth operation with ammonia blending of 10%-35% under multiple operating conditions. The maximum ammonia blending amount is more than 21 tons per hour, and the ammonia burnout rate reaches 99.99%, filling many technical gaps; In December of the same year, China Shenhua Guangdong Taishan Power Plant's 600MW coal-fired power unit successfully implemented the coal-mixed ammonia combustion test under high-load power generation conditions, becoming the largest capacity unit at home and abroad to complete the ammonia mixed combustion test verification.
"As a research and development institution for ammonia combustion technology, we believe that most traditional coal-fired boilers can achieve mixed combustion through technical transformation, and there are also many successful practical cases." Zhu Weiyuan, engineer of the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization of Zhejiang University and general manager of Hangzhou Hydrogen Peak Technology Co., Ltd., pointed out in an interview with reporters that the upgrading and transformation of existing coal-fired unit equipment is a technically challenging task and is currently the first step in many countries. In the technical field of development, the promulgation of the "Plan" will create a large number of practical application opportunities, which can greatly promote the development process of my country's ammonia-blended combustion technology and equipment, and put my country in a technological leading position in this field.
Economy is the key factor
In the eyes of industry insiders, the combustion of coal-fired power units mixed with ammonia has also brought new opportunities to the development of my country's green ammonia industry. At present, coal-fired units in the power industry alone need to consume more than 2 billion tons of coal every year, which is the primary replacement target for green ammonia fuel. Based on a replacement rate target of 10%, more than 300 million tons of green ammonia fuel with the same calorific value are needed every year., will greatly promote the development of the green ammonia industry.
However, my country's green ammonia industry is still in its infancy. At present, the overall production capacity is small, and many of them are in the early planning stage. Zhu Weiyuan told reporters: "According to public data, my country's existing green ammonia production capacity under construction and planned is about 10 million tons, which is still unable to meet the demand of the power industry's 10% coal replacement rate. The current production capacity is mainly concentrated in the" Three North "region. However, most of the major electricity-consuming provinces are concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, with long transportation distances. The logistics infrastructure between the dominant producing areas of green ammonia and the concentrated energy consumption areas is still relatively weak."
In addition to production capacity, the economics of green ammonia is also a key issue affecting whether it can give full play to its advantages in blended combustion.
"From a technical point of view, most coal-fired boilers have certain ammonia blending capabilities, but there are shortcomings in supporting ammonia source guarantee, road transportation, in-plant storage and other aspects." Huang Zhong said,"At present, the cost of green ammonia blending power generation is much higher than that of coal-fired power generation. Without supporting policies, ammonia blending will greatly increase the operating burden of power generation companies and restrict its promotion and use. This is an impact. The main factor for whether ammonia blending technology can be truly implemented."
It is understood that at present, domestic green ammonia units are all small-scale trial production, and no large-scale green ammonia synthesis units have been put into operation, so there is no reference market price for green ammonia. Recently, the global organization H2Global Foundation announced the preliminary bidding results for the first green ammonia contract under Germany's hydrogen derivatives import program. The price per ton of green ammonia won is about 811 euros (about 6400 yuan), taking into account transportation and other aspects., the import cost per ton is about 1000 euros (about 7900 yuan). Compared with the current average market price of traditional domestic synthetic ammonia of less than 3000 yuan, the premium exceeds twice.
Zhu Weiyuan pointed out that green ammonia production mainly consumes green electricity, and synthesizing 1 ton of green ammonia consumes about 12000 kilowatt-hours of green electricity. In the future, as the cost of green electricity is further reduced, the cost of green ammonia manufacturing will also decrease.
Safeguards need to be strengthened
Overall, ammonia blending combustion in coal-fired units has obvious advantages and huge potential for promoting low-carbon development in the coal and electricity industry. However, the current challenges of green ammonia in terms of production capacity issues, economic issues and supporting facilities issues cannot be ignored.
The "Plan" also provides specific safeguard measures for how to further implement the ammonia-blended combustion transformation of coal-fired units. The "Plan" clarifies that the amplification and driving effect of government investment should be given full play to and use funding channels such as ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support qualified coal-fired low-carbon transformation and construction projects. For projects included in the national list of low-carbon coal power transformation and construction projects, on the basis of coordinating comprehensive operating costs, actual carbon reduction effects and various market benefits, explore the establishment of an apportionment mechanism shared by the government, enterprises, and users, and give phased support policies.
Many experts interviewed also gave their own suggestions based on actual conditions.
Huang Zhong suggested: "We must strengthen collaborative innovation among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and select demonstration units. At the same time, corresponding policy guarantee measures should be formulated to avoid the situation that coal-fired power plants have 'no ammonia to mix' due to insufficient ammonia sources, and to avoid the situation that coal-fired power plants have 'changed but not mixed' due to cost factors."
"First of all, in the stage where the existing green ammonia production capacity is insufficient, it is recommended to allow the use of gray ammonia to verify the blending capacity during the technological transformation of coal-fired power units. Secondly, in the early stage of development of the ammonia energy industry, certain policy support needs to be provided to the application side; certain support needs to be provided to the fields of ammonia blending technology and equipment research and development, such as major special funds and government-guided investment funds. In addition, the safety and environmental protection conditions that should be met when ammonia is used as a fuel should be scientifically demonstrated, and policy convenience should be provided to enterprises that meet the use conditions in the project establishment process. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of infrastructure such as ammonia transportation railways, ports, and liquid ammonia pipelines." Zhu Weiyuan said.
