This study introduces a novel techno-economic approach to renewable ammonia production using landfill biogas. The proposed process involves bio-hydrogen generation from landfill biogas, nitrogen production via air separation, and the Haber-Bosch process. Building on our prior research, which demonstrated the economic competitiveness of renewable hydrogen production from landfill gas, we extend our investigation to analyze the feasibility of producing renewable ammonia from biogas-derived bio-hydrogen. However, the economic analysis for the baseline scenario reveals the current lack of profitability (net present value of −18.3 M€), with ammonia prices needing to quadruple to achieve profitability. Major costs, including investment, maintenance, overhead expenses, and electricity, collectively account for over 70%, suggesting the potential efficacy of investment subsidies as a political tool. Only cases with subsidies exceeding 50% of total investment costs, under current ammonia market prices, would render the green ammonia route profitable. Our findings underscore the significant techno-economic challenges in realizing renewable ammonia production, emphasizing the need for innovation in process engineering and catalytic technologies to enable competitive and scalable green ammonia production.

This work has been supported by the grant FJC2021-047672-I co-financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR funds. This work was also partially sponsored by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project PLEC2021-008086 sponsored by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 Next Generation Europe and Junta de Andalucía PAIDI programme through the project P20_00667.

Peer reviewed