Nitrogen fertilizer production is energy and raw materials-intensive process. The nitrogen fertilizer production company AB “Achema” was the research object of this R&D project. Company’s production consists of over 40 different products. The main raw material for ammonia production in the Haber-Bosch process is natural gas, which is also used as primary energy source and as fuel to burn exhaust gas in the industrial flares. Over 30 % of all natural gas supplied to Lithuania is used in the analyzed company. The evaluation of current and predicted future situation of the supply of the most important raw materials for Lithuanian economy and its impact on the competitiveness identified natural gas as the second “critical” raw material in Lithuania. The main objectives of the project were to evaluate nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer’s case study by examining sustainable industrial development (SID) approaches resulting in its feasibility assessment. The main focus of the research is on the raw material, reduction of energy intensity, and replacing inputs with renewable ones.Applied scientific work “Feasibility analysis of resource efficient innovations for cleaner ammonia fertilizer production” is one of main results of R&D project. The methods of Cleaner Production (CP), Industrial Symbiosis (IS), Environmental Impact Assessment and evaluation of environmental performance are integrated into the methodology of this work. The evaluation of resource criticality on company level, in terms of the geostrategic supply risk and economic importance, was integrated into the common procedures for CP implementation, incl. identification of significant aspects related to the usage of the resources, feasibility analysis of suggested options as an additional criterion for the assessment and prioritization.
Project team: Irina Kliopova, Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis, Milda Malinauskienė, and Inga Baranauskaitė.
Project funding:
Dr. Bronislovas Lubys Charity and Support Foundation
Project results:
Applied scientific work “Feasibility analysis of resource efficient innovations for cleaner ammonia fertilizer production” is one of main results of R&D project. Eight (8) alternatives from the area of Industrial Ecology were suggested for AB “Achema”. Detailed feasibility analysis of three (3) case studies, in which Cleaner Production methods are applied jointly with Industrial Symbiosis, were carried out:
– Partial substitution of natural gas used for combustion of air emissions in industrial flares by biogas produced from biodegradable waste (BDW) of nearest companies;
– Utilization of waste heat energy of water-cooling system and low-pressure steam from fertilizer production processes for planned economical activities (PEA) within new industrial zone; and
– Modernization of Large Combustion Plant.
Significance and impact.
– R&D project allows improving methodology for developing and implementation of CP innovations for production companies, integrating resource criticality assessment and methods of Industrial Symbiosis.
Environmental impact on company’s level: reduce natural gas consumption – up to 3.6 mil. m3/y, CO2 emissions – by 6.7 thousand t/y, energy consumption for ammonia production – by ? 1 GJ/t NH3; produce a new product – bio-compost with higher market demand – up to 9.3 thousand t/y.
Environmental impact on region level: prevention of air emissions from stationary sources of PEA – up to 1000 t/y; BDW from nearest companies becomes raw material for the production of new products.
Project’s results were presented in an International conference, 2 scientific articles, doctoral dissertation and master’s thesis
– Kliopova, I., Baranauskaitė-Fedorova, I., Malinauskienė, M., Staniškis, J.K. Possibilities of increasing resource efficiency in nitrogen fertilizer production. Clean technologies and environmental policy. 2016. 18(3), 901-914.
-Malinauskienė, M., Kliopova, I., Hugi, Ch., Staniškis, J.K. Geostrategic Supply Risk and Economic Importance as Drivers for Implementation of Cleaner Production and Industrial Symbiosis Measures in a Nitrogen Fertilizer Production Company. Journal of Industrial Ecology (online – since 8 March 2017). 2018. 22(2), 422-433.
-Staniškis, J.K., Kliopova, I., Malinauskienė, M. Industrial ecology measures in nitrogen fertilizer production: reducing dependency on fossil fuel supply by increasing resource efficiency. Global Cleaner Production & Consumption Conference. 1-4 November, 2015, Barcelona, Spain.
Period of project implementation: 2014-05-26 - 2014-12-31
