The hydrogen-ammonia nexus and the use of ammonia to reduce CO2 emissions when combusted together with coal

The hydrogen-ammonia nexus and the use of ammonia to reduce CO2 emissions when combusted together with coal

Developing a large ammonia production facility focused on reducing CO2 emission can substantially increase Kazakhstan’s contribution to climate change adaptation.

Ammonia with most recent technology can be used as a fuel that can be directly combusted in existing coal-fired power plants, with low and acceptable adaptation costs, largely reducing CO2 emissions.

Co-firing with ammonia can reduce annual emissions of coal-fired plants by 20%.

New ammonia production facilities are needed to achieve such target (2021 annual global ammonia demand = 3 times global production.

Decreasing CO2 emissions contributes to achieving Paris Agreement’s targets and reducing Carbon Tax (with the new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in place, countries will pay carbon tax for exported goods).

Projections of the total GHG emissions of the energy enterprises by 2030
according to the three scenarios, million tones

Total baseline emissions of enterprises in 2014 Emissions by 2030, unconditional target Emissions by 2030, conditional target Emission forecast for 2030, trend scenario Emissions forecast for 2030, moderate modernization scenario GHG emissions forecast for 2030, full modernization scenario
86,9 83,8 73,9 128,3 100,9 70,4

As ammonia is closely linked with hydrogen, developing a large ammonia production plant will help develop Kazakhstan’s technological expertise in the ammonia-hydrogen nexus. Kazakhstan is currently developing a new hydrogen development roadmap. European countries have already started investing in Kazakhstan’s blue hydrogen.