FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

ECH3702 PROCESS AND PLANT DESIGN

LITERATURE REVIEW FOR PRODUCTION AMMONIA FROM SYNGAS BY

USING PALM PRESSED FIBRE

LECTURER: IR. DR. SHAMSUL IZHAR BIN SIAJAM

PREPARED BY GROUP 3

MOHD AZMAN BIN SUWANDI

174824

MOHD AZMAN BIN SUWANDI

174824
GROUP 3

INTRODUCTION
109 million tonnes of ammonia is produced globally each year, 85% of this is
synthesised from combining H2, produced from steam reforming of natural gas,
and nitrogen separated from air. The process is very energy intensive and
releases 208 million tonnes of CO2. Production of ammonia from renewable
resources, such as biomass, could substantially reduce this. One option is to
gasify biomass to produce a hydrogen rich syngas for ammonia production. The
gasifier selection is based on the following criteria: syngas composition,
efficiency, operating conditions, scale and biomass track record. Potential
process schemes are presented with preliminary mass/energy and greenhouse
gas balances to estimate the potential value of developing such a system.
Critical issues are identified in the overall system, from biomass cultivation to
ammonia production. These issues need to be evaluated further via economic
and life cycle assessment techniques.
Ammonia is a fundamental chemical compound required for the production of
nitrogen

based fertilisers for agriculture,

horticulture and

biomass.

The

conventional method in producing ammonia is the Haber-Bosch process, which

combines H2 from steam reforming of natural gas and N2 from the air. 109
million tonnes of ammonia is produced globally each year and the steam
reforming process is very energy intensive, accounting for 1.2% of the global
primary energy demand (Ahlgren, Baky et al. 2008). Life cycle assessments have
shown that fertiliser production can be responsible for up to 80% of the total
greenhouse gas emissions associated with biomass cultivation systems (Elsayed
and

Mortimer

2001).

Consequently,

there

is

interest

in

reducing

the

environmental impact of fertiliser production, by minimising the input of fossil

fuels. It is proposed that this could be achieved through utilising renewable
technologies such as bioenergy systems.
Thermal conversion technologies appropriate for producing hydrogen from
biomass include gasification and pyrolysis, where a hydrogen rich syngas could
replace the input of natural gas required for ammonia production. Anaerobic
digestion could yield a methane feed, which could then be converted to

hydrogen in a similar fashion to the conventional natural gas approach. Other

biological advancements are reviewed elsewhere (Ni, Leung et al. 2006).

PROCESS 1 : PALM PRESS FIBRE PROCESS

Palm press fibre is a by-product of the extraction of palm oil from oil palm fruits
(Elaeis guineensis L.). This fibrous residue is obtained after the crude oil is
separated from the sterilized fruit by means of a screw-press . It may contain
important amounts of residual palm oil. Palm press fibre accounts for 10-15% of
the fresh fruit bunch. It can be mixed with empty fruit bunches and kernel shells
to be used as biomass fuel: it is one of the main sources of energy to run oil mill
plants (Pickard, 2005; Prez, 1997). Palm press fibre has been described as being
of a deep yellow-tangerine colour, with a fibrous consistency, sweetish smell and
greasy-like texture (Ocampo et al., 1990a).
A ligno-cellulosic material with usually a high fibre content and high oil content,
palm press fibre is not considered to be a good feed, but there have been several
successful attempts to use it for pigs and to improve its value for other livestock.
The oil retained in palm press fibre makes it a good combustible material and its
predominant use is as biomass fuel for oil mill plants, where it is burned to
produce steam for generating electricity. This saves large amounts of diesel fuel
and is a convenient method of disposal (Thambirajaha et al., 1989). However,
some factories can only use about 30% of the available palm press fibre and the
rest is considered as waste (Prasertsan et al., 1996). The ash from the burning of
palm press fibre does not contain sufficient nutrients to be used as a fertilizer,
and dumping creates an airborne hazard and pollutant. It has been incorporated
in concrete as a replacement for cement (Pickard, 2005). Composting palm press
fibre with poultry litter and urea has been successfully tested and studies
indicate that this compost mixed in sand and loam may enhance crop production
(Thambirajaha et al., 1989). Increasing the consumption of palm press fibre by
livestock, if possible near the production site to avoid wastage, palatability issue
and transportation, has been proposed as a means to minimize pollution
(Devendra, 1985).

PROCESS 2 : BIOMASS GASIFICATION

The biomass gasification system involves the cultivation of biomass, gasification
and syngas cleaning, syngas conditioning and ammonia production. Utilising
biomass gasification will address the environmental impacts of ammonia
production by reducing the need for fossil fuels. Consequently, the global
warming potential

(GWP) and ozone layer depletion (ODP)

should be lower.

Syngas conditioning is regarded as the stages involved from desulphurisation to

compression However, since the H2 content will be higher from biomass
gasification, it is thought that reduced power and heat demand will be required
increasing the conversion efficiency to ammonia. Furthermore, as the sulphur
content from biomass gasification will also be lower, the desulfurization step
could be discounted.
Pre-treatment before gasification is necessary and generally includes screening,
size reduction, and drying . Smaller biomass particle size will provide more
surface area and porous structures per unit biomass, which will facilitate heat
transfer and biomass conversion during the gasification process. However, in
most gasifiers, the biomass feed has to withstand the flow of gasifying agent
with an appropriate size and weight; feed particle sizes are most often in the
range of 20 to 80 mm [26]. Drying is the most important process in the pretreatment. Drier biomass can improve the efficiency of gasification, but also
reduces the hydrogen content in the gas product. Drying can reduce the
moisture content of the biomass feedstock to 10%15% .
Torrefaction is a thermal pretreatment technology which is performed at
atmospheric pressure without the appearance of oxygen at around 200 to 300
C. Torrefaction can convert fresh biomass into a solid uniform product, which

has a low moisture content and high calorific value. The torrefaction process
involves initial heating, pre-drying, post-drying and intermediate heating stages.
Pyrolysis is a process involving the direct thermal decomposition of biomass in
the absence of oxygen at a moderate temperature of around 400 to 800 C. The
pyrolysis products are generally gas, liquid, and solid char. Their proportions
depend on the pyrolysis method employed and the properties of the feed
biomass .

PROCESS 3 : FISCHERTROPSCH SYNTHESIS

The FischerTropsch process or FischerTropsch synthesis is a set of catalytic
processes for converting synthesis gas (syngas, carbon monoxide hydrogen
and/or other gases mixture) into liquid hydrocarbons. It was first introduced by
Han Fischer and Franz Tropsch in 1923 . The FischerTropsch process has now
become a key component in Gas to Liquid (GTL) technology.
The reactions in the FischerTropsch process are generally described as the
following:

The products from FischerTropsch process generally follow the statistical

hydrocarbon distributionAnderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) distribution . The molar
fraction M of a certain carbon number of n can be described as:

So product distribution can be determined by the chain growth probability

value. The product distribution from the FischerTropsch synthesis as a function
of chain growth probability in molar fraction and mass fraction are depicted in
Figure 3 in the appendix. It can be predicted from the ASF distribution that the
maximum selectivity to gasoline range (C5C11) and diesel range (C12C20)
hydrocarbons are around 45% and 30%, respectively.
Commercially available FT reactors nowadays have two different temperature
ranges. The high temperature FT (HTFT) reactor runs with iron catalysts at
around 340 C, and is used to produce olefins and gasoline. The low temperature
FT (LTFT) reactor uses iron or cobalt based catalysts at around 230 C, and is
used to produce diesel and linear waxes . Generally, commercially established FT
reactors can be divided into three main categories: fixed bed, fluid bed and slurry
FT reactors . The critical features of FT reactors, such as heat transfer and mass
transfer, are summarized and compared in Table 2

PROCESS 4 : HABER-BOSCH PROCESS

The chemical equation for the process is
N2 (g) + 3H22 (g) 2NH3 (g)
From the chemical equation it shows that nitrogen gas reacted with Hydrogen
gas produces Ammonia gas. The double () arrows- state that this equation is
revisable- it works both ways, the nitrogen and Hydrogen can be reacted to
create Ammonia, and the ammonia can decompose back into Nitrogen and
Hydrogen. The fact that this reaction is revisable adds a whole new dimension to
this process; it makes it a lot more complex, revealing why it is so hard to
manufacture ammonia this way.
For beginning of the process, the two raw materials for the Reaction are
obtained-nitrogen and hydrogen. They undergo a process known as scrubbing,
where all impurities are removed from the gasses, and they are purified.
Then, at the second stage, after having been scrubbed, both gasses are mixed,
and the mixture is piped into a compressor. Here, the mixture is compressed to a

pressure of 200 Atm, which is 200 times greater than the pressure you are
currently subject to on earth. This forces the temperature of the mix up, as the
particles gain more kinetic energy- to about 300 degrees Celsius, causing the
hydrogen and nitrogen molecules to split up.
Third process is the compressed mixture of gas is then lead to a converter, where
all the magic happens. The converter is a tank, heater to 450 degrees Celsius,
and is pressurized at 200 Atm. Inside it, on shelves, lie beds of hot iron- that acts
as a catalyst of the reaction, it speeds it up the reaction, but not participate in it.
The nitrogen and hydrogen react at its surface to from ammonia-however not
completely all of the hydrogen and nitrogen reacts together, and some of the
ammonia created decomposes back to its constituents. As a result, only 15% of
the mixture exiting the converter is ammonia.
Then, at the fourth stage the mixture of hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia is
removed from the converter, and cooled, where the ammonia produced liquefies
and is collected. However the nitrogen and hydrogen remain as gasses- as they
have lower melting points, and they are directed back into the converter for
another chance to react, where steps 3 and 4 are repeated.

APPENDIXES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 : Review of Existing Gasifiers for Ammonia Production from Biomass

Table 2 : Comparison of selected FT reactors

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 : Palm kernel meal and oil palm by-products processing

Figure 2 : FT product distribution as a function of chain growth probability

Figure 3: The Haber Process

REFERENCES

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techniques.

(n.d.).

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March

30,

2016,

from

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11254076
Fischer, F.; Tropsch, H. The preparation of synthetic oil mixtures (synthol)
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Guettel, R.; Kunz, U.; Turek, T. Reactors for FischerTropsch Synthesis.
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from http://www.feedipedia.org/content/palm-kernel-

meal-and-oil-palm-products-processing
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