Published August 2024
As the world strives to meet the increasing demand for clean energy in a shift toward decarbonization and with long-term net-zero goals in mind, the significance of the emerging technologies that enable the transition toward a hydrogen economy continues to grow. Ammonia cracking to produce hydrogen is one such technology that has gained increasing attention in recent times. In regions where renewable energy is scarce and hydrogen production via electrolysis to meet sustainability goals can be challenging, importing low-carbon ammonia, a well-known hydrogen carrier and a globally traded commodity chemical, and cracking it, provides an alternative route for producing low-carbon hydrogen.
In this report, we review the current industrial status of large-scale hydrogen production via ammonia cracking. A brief technology overview of various processes to produce hydrogen from ammonia is presented, covering aspects such as process design, catalyst performance, hydrogen efficiency and the overall technology readiness. A more in-depth analysis including techno-economic evaluations is presented for the following three processes:
- Topsoe’s ammonia cracking process
- Ammonia cracking process with feed recycle
- Thyssenkrupp Uhde’s ammonia cracking process
This report serves as a valuable resource for industry professionals, researchers, and policymakers seeking to understand the current landscape and the prospects of ammonia cracking technologies for large-scale hydrogen production.
The production economics assessment in this report is based on a US Gulf Coast (USGC) location. An iPEP Navigator tool is also attached with the electronic version of this report. The interactive iPEP Navigator module provides an economic snapshot for each of the processes, with options to choose from different units as well as regions of interest. Apart from the technical and economic analyses, we have also included material balance tables, a sized equipment list and process flow diagrams for each of these technologies.
The technological and economic assessment of the process is the Process Economics Program (PEP)’s independent interpretation of a potential commercial process. Each of these is based on the information presented in the open literature, such as patents or technical articles, and may not reflect in whole or in part the actual plant configuration. We do believe that these sources are sufficient to represent the process and process economics within the range of accuracy necessary for the economic evaluations of the conceptual process designs.