Shawn Rana is a corporate executive and board advisor. He has extensive experience in the fertilizer, agrochemicals, and oil and gas sectors. He believes that Green Ammonia-based “batteries” or Green Ammonia as a green hydrogen carrier will revolutionize the energy industry and help meet environmental goals.

Companies currently produce $60 billion in ammonia every year, or 180 million tons. Much of this is used for fertilizer because it increases crop yields.

One ton of conventional ammonia creates two tons of CO2. It also uses natural gas in production. The fertilizer industry relies heavily on ammonia.

Green ammonia emits no carbon if it is made with water hydrolysis that uses renewable electricity and It’s believed that if green ammonia is used as a fuel and energy storage, billions of tons could be produced and utilized every year to reduce the carbon impact of our society.

Thus the reason why Green Ammonia is a battery is that, for example, in the middle of the night when the wind is blowing, but very little electricity is required, the wind turbines are sitting idle. 

This lost renewable electrical renewable energy can be utilized to produce ammonia and thus this lost renewable energy would be “captured” and “stored” in the form of ammonia, which is really a liquid energy source.  Therefore, this ammonia is now Green Ammonia and it has stored renewable energy and thus it has become a “battery” for renewable energy that would have been lost.

Ammonia will be the energy of the future as companies move to greener energy sources and production methods to meet CO2 emissions regulations.

Ammonia shows promise as an energy source, but the traditional production methods create lots of carbon emissions. Green Ammonia is a battery and energy source with zero carbon emissions, making it a completely clean and green source of energy.

Ammonia as a battery is a storage vehicle for green hydrogen from water and nitrogen from the air. The entire process runs on renewable energy. Put simply, Shawn Rana says ammonia as a battery is really green hydrogen and these batteries use green hydrogen and exhale water and zero carbon emissions.

Ammonia also has an infrastructure advantage. The infrastructure to store and transport ammonia is already in place. Green ammonia can be produced and then used in place of traditionally created ammonia.

Once green ammonia is created, it is stored in a tank. It can be converted into electricity through combustion, or nitrogen and hydrogen by breaking the chemical bond. This hydrogen fuel can be used to power electric vehicles (fuel cells) and many other things.

The drawback is that green ammonia is 2 to 4 times more expensive to produce. However, Shawn Rana has discovered methods that can create Green Ammonia for 1.2 to 1.5 times the cost of grey ammonia and as the industry grows and expands, this cost could go down significantly.

Also, Shawn Rana has developed a simple solution for producing truly “Green Urea”.  This will be discussed in another article.

Ammonia currently accounts for 1% of global emissions and 17% of global chemical and petrochemical energy. Green ammonia, with zero carbon emissions, is a very attractive energy source.

Shawn Rana states that one potential use for green ammonia is maritime fuel. The International Maritime Organization has set reduced carbon emissions goals for 2030 and 2050. It’s thought that to reach these goals, fossil fuels will no longer be used as bunker fuel by 2050.

Ammonia and hydrogen are the main contenders for a replacement fuel source. Ammonia is easier to store and handle and is seen as a safer way to store hydrogen. Ammonia is 80 percent more energy-dense than hydrogen, making it more efficient in terms of storage and space and liquid volume.

The heat used for industrial applications makes up 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Ammonia can power combustion with no CO2 emissions.

Ammonia’s energy storage potential also makes it possible to transport energy in a way that has never been available till now.