Ammonia is an essential chemical that often goes unnoticed despite its crucial role in agriculture. Without ammonia, crops would go unfertilized, leading to a potential food crisis for billions of people worldwide. The process used to produce large amounts of ammonia, known as Haber-Bosch, has remained relatively unchanged for over a century. However, a new startup called Ammobia claims to have revolutionized this process, potentially reducing costs by up to 40%.
In a bid to demonstrate the effectiveness of their technology on a larger scale, Ammobia has recently secured a $7.5 million seed funding round. Investors in this venture include prominent names like Air Liquide’s ALIAD, Chevron Technology Ventures, Chiyoda Corporation, MOL Switch, and Shell Ventures. The success of Ammobia could pave the way for ammonia to be utilized beyond just fertilizer applications.
Ammonia is being considered as an alternative to hydrogen for decarbonizing various industries. Countries like Japan and South Korea have already developed roadmaps that rely on the use of ammonia for industrial and transportation purposes. One of the key advantages of ammonia over hydrogen is its ease of transport and storage, making it a more cost-effective option for many applications.
Despite its potential, the production of ammonia using the traditional Haber-Bosch process is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The process involves forcing nitrogen and hydrogen molecules to react under high temperatures and pressures, often supplied by burning fossil fuels. However, Ammobia’s innovative approach operates at lower temperatures and pressures, resulting in reduced pollution even without completely eliminating fossil fuel use.
In addition to environmental benefits, Ammobia’s process offers cost savings upfront by utilizing cheaper equipment due to lower temperature and pressure requirements. This could give producers a competitive edge in the market, where cost reduction strategies have been limited to finding cheaper sources of heat or hydrogen. Ammobia’s technology is designed to work with any source of hydrogen or heat, providing flexibility for producers looking to adopt cleaner energy sources.
One of the key differences in Ammobia’s approach is its compatibility with renewable energy sources. The lower pressure requirements allow for easier scaling of production, enabling renewable energy developers to take advantage of surplus electricity to produce cheap hydrogen and, consequently, cheap ammonia. This alignment with renewable energy could further drive down costs and make the adoption of cleaner ammonia production more feasible.
While Ammobia has not disclosed the specifics of how they have modified the Haber-Bosch process, hints suggest the use of innovative reactor systems and alternative catalysts to improve energy efficiency. The company has been operating a small unit for about a year and plans to build a pilot plant to showcase their technology on a larger scale. With a modular approach, Ammobia aims to offer faster project deployment and medium-scale solutions that cater to the needs of customers seeking cleaner ammonia production methods.
