Abstract
Ammonia has been produced over the last centuries in several ways, with the Haber–Bosch process leading current production due to its efficiency and feasible deployment. However, previous to the leading positioning of the Haber–Bosch process, ammonia used to be manufactured using coal-based gas works. Coke, a remnant of the process, has been widely used for steel production processes, thus making reasonable the integration of these gas facilities into the production of steel for better economic profiles. Although this ammonia production process is currently used only in a minor share of the total ammonia market, there are locations where it is still employed to obtain the chemical for fertilizing applications. This chapter is dedicated to the production of ammonia from such steelworks, detailing some of the history, fundamental and current trends behind the process that set the foundations of ammonia as one of the main global chemicals. Steel, which will still be produced over decades, can indirectly provide a chemical that supports a more sustainable agenda if better process integration is achieved, minimizing emissions and energy losses.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Travis AS (2018) Nitrogen capture. The growth of an international industry (1900–1940). Springer, 410 p
R.D. Wood and Co. Philadelphia (1903) Mond gas. [Online] https://archive.org/stream/mondgas00woodrich#page/n5/mode/2up. Accessed 14 Feb 2019
CLAIRE (2014) “Gasworks profile D: produced gas plants” supported by National Gas Grid and Parsons Brinckerhoff. Available Online https://www.claire.co.uk/component/phocadownload/category/9-other-cl-aire-documents?download=433:gasworks-profile-d-producer-gas-plants. Accessed 9 May 2019
Vroomen H (2013) The history of ammonia to 2012. [Online]. By The Fertilizer Institute. Available in www.firt.org/sites/default/files/2Vroomen.pdf. Accessed 20 March 2019
Dierschke A (1955) “Development of the coke oven industry”[Online]. By the JSTAGE. Available in https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jie1922/35/3/35_3_157/_pdf. Accessed 20 Mar 2019
Vasant G, Krishnamurthy VN, Gowariker S, Dhanorkar M, Paranjape K (2009) The fertilizer encyclopedia. Wiley, 860 p
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (1998) Fertilizer manual, 2nd edn. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 619 p
Kolay AK (2007) Manures and fertilizers. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, Weinheim, Germany, p 55
BioAge Group. ThyssenKrupp produces ammonia from steel mill gases; Carbon2Chem. Available in Green Car Congress [Online] www.greencarcongress.com. Accessed 14 Feb 2019
Wright K (2005) Coke oven gas treatment. Tar, liquor, ammonia. In: The coke oven manager’s year book, pp 221–257
Caillat S (2017) Burners in the steel industry: utilization of by-product combustion gases in reheating furnaces and annealing lines. Energy Procedia 120:20–27
Uribe-Soto W, Portha J-F, Commenge J-M, Falk L (2017) A review of thermochemical processes and technologies to use steelworks off-gases. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 74:809–823
Hewlett SG, Valera-Medina A, Pugh DG, Bowen PJ. Gas turbine co-firing of steelworks ammonia with coke oven gas or methane: A fundamental and cycle analysis. In: Proceedings of the ASME turbo expo 2019, Phoenix, USA. Ref. No. GT2019-91404
Razzaq R, Li C, Zhang S (2013) Catalytic methanation of CO and CO2 in coke oven gas over Ni-Co/ZrO2-CeO2. Fuel 113:287–299
Sweeney MP (1953) Coke oven by-product recovery process. Patent US2943911A. Available Online https://patents.google.com/patent/US2943911. Accessed 23 May 2019
Ratnayaka DD, Brandt MJ, Johnson KM (2009) Water supply, 6th edn. Butterworth-Heinemann, 744 p
Kunz A, Mukhtatar S (2016) Hydrophobic membrane technology for ammonia extraction from wastewaters. Engenharia Agricola 36:377–386
Zhao ZP, Xu L, Shang X, Chen K (2013) Water regeneration from human urine by vacuum membrane distillation and analysis of membrane fouling characteristics. Sep Purif Technol 118:369–376
Udert KM, Wächter M (2012) Complete nutrient recovery from source-separated urine by nitrification and distillation. Water Res 46:453–464
El Bourawi MS, Khayet M, Ma R, Ding Z, Li Z, Zhang X (2007) Application of vacuum membrane distillation for ammonia removal. J Membr Sci 301(1–2):200–209
Valera-Medina A, Xiao H, Owen-Jones M, David WIF, Bowen PJ (2018) Ammonia for power. Prog Energy Combust Sci 69:63–102
Masons P. The port talbot steelworks (Power Generation Enhancement) order. TATA Steel, Report MAH1.01, p 211
Fatla OHM, Valera-Medina A, Robinson F, Cichuta M, Beynon N (2018) Development of convection in high temperature coil annealing furnaces using rotating cylinder technique. Appl Therm Eng 129:1392–1402
Acknowledgements
Cardiff University gratefully acknowledges the support from the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) through its programme “Flexible Integrated Energy Systems (FLEXIS)”, project no. 80835. REFERENCES NEED TO BE AMENDED. - REF 3 HAS "COMMAS", AND INSTEAD OF HAVING [ONLINE] IT SAYS -AVAILABLE ONLINE-, REF 5 ONLY 1 "COMMA".
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Valera-Medina, A., Roldan, A. (2020). Ammonia from Steelworks. In: Inamuddin, Boddula, R., Asiri, A. (eds) Sustainable Ammonia Production. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35106-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35106-9_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35105-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35106-9
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)