The combustion of The consumption of ammonia in the production of fuels to drive the reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen non-urea fertilisers is determined by the proportion of to form ammonia adds to the emissions. [...] of INR 0.54 (∼USD 0.007) per kg of fertiliser end product Economic Feasibility of Green Ammonia Use in India’s Fertiliser Sector 21 Table 5 Sensitivities to the incremental cost of hydrogen are tempered for the production of non-urea fertilisers Green ammonia blend (%) 5 10 25 50 100 Levelised cost of green Cost of grey ammonia (USD/ Incremental cost of green ammonia at production volumes of 13.5. [...] of ammonia in the end products, and the mitigation potential of CO2 emissions would vary between 0.02 Figure 13 presents the variations in the emissions kg per kg of fertiliser at a 5 per cent green ammonia mitigation potential as a function of the proportion of blend to 0.36 kg per kg of fertiliser for 100 per cent green ammonia blended in the urea and non-urea fertiliser green ammonia. [...] for urea and non-urea fertilisers to account for the The corresponding ranges for non-urea fertilisers are variance in grey ammonia costs and to factor in the lower – from a net gain of USD 60 per tonne of CO2 to a cost of the external CO2 that must be procured for green cost of USD 181 per tonne of CO2 mitigated. [...] In the short term, green ammonia use the import dependence of the fertiliser sector, and secure in non-urea fertilisers must be promoted over urea as its energy needs, in addition to the primary objective of the difference in green and grey ammonia costs is lesser, decarbonising the industry.
- Pages
- 38
- Published in
- India
Table of Contents
- Economic Feasibility of Green Ammonia Use in Indias Fertiliser Sector 1
- Report September 2024 1
- Economic Feasibility of Green 3
- Ammonia Use in Indias Fertiliser 3
- Sector 3
- About CEEW 4
- Contents 5
- Executive summary 7
- A. Current landscape of ammonia usage in Indias fertiliser sector 7
- Cost differences in grey ammonia use imply varying financial impacts of a green ammonia transition for urea and non-urea fertilisers. 7
- B. Baseline cost of grey ammonia 8
- C. Key findings 8
- The government should strategically guide green ammonia adoption prioritise blending in the short term and structural cost reduction in the long term. 8
- D. Policy recommendations 10
- 1. Introduction 11
- While vital for Indias farm outputs chemical fertilisers cause significant GHG emissions and create import dependency. 11
- 1.1 Background 12
- Production and imports of fertilisers in India 12
- 1.2 Trends in the Indian fertiliser sector 14
- Injudicious use of nitrogenous fertilisers particularly urea 14
- The recent sharp rise in fertiliser subsidy expenditure in India is a worrying trend. 15
- Rising subsidy expenditure on fertilisers 15
- Promotion of organic and alternative fertilisers through the PM-PRANAM Scheme 16
- Developments in improving the efficiency of nitrogen uptake 17
- 1.3 Green hydrogens role in decarbonising Indias fertiliser industry 17
- 2. Ammonia requirement in Indias fertiliser sector 17
- We estimate that around 86 of the total ammonia consumed in India is reliant on imports of ammonia or natural gas. 17
- 3. Cost of grey ammonia for the Indian fertiliser industry 20
- 3.1 The supply structure and pricing mechanisms for natural gas delivered to fertiliser units 20
- 4. Financial implications of blending green ammonia 22
- 4.1 Blending premise for the estimation of the incremental cost of green ammonia 22
- Switching to 100 green ammonia could turn Indias fertiliser production into a net-negative emissions industry. 22
- 4.2 Challenges with blending green ammonia in the urea production process 23
- 4.3 Incremental cost of green ammonia for urea production 24
- 4.4 Incremental cost of green ammonia for the production of non-urea fertilisers 26
- 4.5 Financial implications of green ammonia blending on government subsidies 28
- 5. The emissions mitigation potential of green ammonia 29
- 6. Policy recommendations 31
- 6.1 Prioritise the transition of non- urea fertilisers for green ammonia blending 31
- 6.2 Reduce the cost of capital for green hydrogen and green ammonia infrastructure 31
- 6.3 Include the fertiliser sector in the Indian Carbon Market 32
- 6.4 Investigate pathways to utilise green ammonia in nitrogen delivery to crops 32
- 7. Conclusion 33
- Acronyms 33
- References 34
- The authors 37
