A Multi-Objective Multi-Technology (MOMT) Evaluation and Analysis Framework for Ammonia Synthesis Process Development

Abstract

Abstract Chemical engineers are facing more challenges in process development today to meet the requirements in three aspects: (1) multiple process objectives have to be considered along with the development, such as product quality, profitability, energy efficiency, environmental impact, sustainability, safety, etc., (2) various traditional and novel process technologies should be assessed and compared according to the multiple objectives with consistent criteria and traceable procedure, (3) the short development time requires sound screening and evaluation should be made at early stage of the development. To help designers address the challenges, a systematic approach named Multi-Objective Multi-Technology (MOMT) evaluation framework is proposed to facilitate the evaluation and analysis procedure. The approach streamlines the traditional Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA), while introduces new evaluation factors in the areas of life cycle analysis, green house emission, sustainable goals, logistics, manufacturing, etc. Therefore, the proposed framework would provide comprehensive evaluations especially for the novel sustainable processes with the environmental or social merits, and compare with the traditional ones under the same platform. To show the efficiency of the approach, three process technologies are evaluated including (1) traditional Haber–Bosch ammonia synthesis, (2) large scale water electrolysis for ammonia synthesis, and (3) distributed wind-based water electrolysis for ammonia synthesis. An insight evaluation and analysis have been provided with sound comparison and optimal design under the proposed MOMT framework.