AU2017100363A4 - Using rail infrastructure for renewable ammonia production and transport - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates broadly to a method of using Australia's rail infrastructure for the production and transport of renewable ammonia (NH3), said method comprising the steps of: developing in a renewable energy rich regional Australian location one or more renewable ammonia production and storage plants by using renewable energy to generate hydrogen and nitrogen and to power a synthesiser and liquefaction unit so as to produce renewable NH3 in liquid form; and transporting such liquid NH3 from the regional production and storage centre to domestic and export markets via freight trains whose rail infrastructure is located close to the NH3 production facility.

Description

2017100363 30 Mar 2017 1 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

Using Rail Infrastructure for Renewable Ammonia Production and Transport

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it as known to me: 2 2017100363 30 Mar 2017

Using Rail Infrastructure for Renewable Ammonia Production and Transport FIELD OF THE INVENTION (01) The present invention relates broadly to a method of using Australia’s rail infrastructure for renewable ammonia production and transport.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION (02) With increasing global concern about climate change there has been growing interest in the concept of generating energy for mobile and stationary use from renewable sources such as wind and solar so as to avoid the emission of harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. (03) A challenge for the wide spread use of renewable energy has been the intermittent nature of electricity production via wind and solar. (04) By converting intermittent energy into gas, such as ammonia (NH3), not only does such energy become storable it also, via liquefaction, becomes transportable for both local and export markets. (05) Whilst most global NH3 production is based on fossil fuel feed stocks, of recent times there has been growing awareness that liquid NH3 can be produced from carbon free renewable sources using renewably powered water electrolysis for hydrogen (H2) and renewably powered air separation units for nitrogen (N2) and renewably powered gas synthesis and liquefaction. (06) Because of its very high volumetric and gravimetric density of hydrogen (H2), liquid NH3 can act as an extremely efficient storage and transport vector for H2 as energy. (07) In terms of volumetric density, which is a crucial determinate for the economics and logistics of long distance transport, a one cubic meter tank of 700 bar H2 will contain 39.6 kgH2 and the same volume tank holding liquid H2 will hold 71 kgH2 but the same volume tank of liquid NH3 will hold 121 kgH2. (08) Once NH3 is contained as liquid in tanks at moderate cold temperature or pressure, it can be stored for years if required and at a fraction of the cost and volumes required to store H2 in either pressurized or liquid form. (09) NH3 is also seen as a convenient carrier of H2 because the world currently produces, transports, stores and consumes many millions of tonnes pa of NH3, which is handled by a vast existing infrastructure of ships, road and rail carriers, pipelines and storage tanks. 3 2017100363 30 Mar 2017 (10) The storage, distribution and handling of NH3 is very similar to that of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is widely used internationally as a liquid fuel for motor transport and indeed many vessels and tanks used for transport and storage of LPG can also be used for NH3. (11) Liquid NH3 is widely distributed via rail infrastructure in both Europe and the USA. (12) Whilst most of the world’s existing NH3 production is used for fertiliser, in recent years there have been advances in technologies which can harness NH3 for the stationary and mobile generation of energy. (13) Such technologies have included electricity generation via modified engines, gas turbines and stationary fuel cells, all of which can be powered by a feed of NH3 as fuel. (14) Still further technological advances have made it possible to efficiently split or crack NH3 back to its two constituent gases of N2 and H2, thereby releasing purified H2 for use in fuel cell vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai Tucson and the Honda Clarity (15) Australia is blessed with vast resources of renewable energy such as solar, wind and biomass coupled with vast sparsely populated land areas upon which such resources can be harvested. (16) However, a problem for Australia is that many of these renewable energy resources are stranded in the sense that they are located at a huge distance from markets and at a huge distance from the electricity grid which might otherwise connect these energy resources to markets. (17) There are however vast areas of Australia containing rich renewable energy resources which are traversed via freight rail infrastructure. (18) Not only does Australia have an existing network of regional freight rail infrastructure but there are plans to significantly improve this network via the construction of an Inland Rail corridor to link the ports of Melbourne and Brisbane, where the Inland Rail route will traverse locations in regional New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland which house significant resources of solar, wind and biomass resources. (19) With interconnecting rail lines linking to the proposed new Inland Rail corridor, an integrated and efficient rail infrastructure traversing regional, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland can effectively link up access to ports in all four states. (20) Long distance rail infrastructure through Western Australia and Northern Territory also link their respective renewable energy rich regions to population centres and to ports for export. 4 2017100363 30 Mar 2017 (21) An opportunity exists therefore to locate distributed NH3 production facilities in regional locations within Australia which contain rich renewable energy resources and which can be linked to domestic and export markets via rail infrastructure. (22) An efficient rail infrastructure network can also assist in addressing the challenge of cost efficient transport of biomass to centralised regional locations in which it can be converted to usable energy including for NH3 production. (23) The production of renewable NH3 requires access to water as the source of hydrogen via electrolysis. (24) Many renewable energy rich locations in regional Australia may be well connected to freight rail infrastructure but lack access to water for NH3 production. (25) Many of the locations to which NH3 will be transported for market, such as port facilities, will have ready access to water being either town water or desalinated water. (26) Freight trains which carry liquid NH3 from regional production locations to the coast for domestic or export markets will, in the normal course of events, return empty to the regional NH3 production locations. (27) An opportunity exists for these freight trains, once they have unloaded their NH3 cargo, to be back filled with water which they can carry on their return journey to the regional NH3 production locations where it can be offloaded and stored for use in H2 production via electrolysis. (28) The freight rail infrastructure therefore not only links otherwise stranded regional renewable energy resources to market but can also play a vital role in transporting water as the hydrogen source to those same energy resources to enable their conversion into a storable and transportable format as liquid NH3.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION (29) According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of using Australia’s rail infrastructure for renewable ammonia production and transport, by: a. Using renewable energy located in freight rail connected regional Australia to generate hydrogen and nitrogen and to power a synthesiser and liquefaction unit so as to produce renewable NH3 in liquid form; and b. Using freight rail infrastructure for the transport of liquid NH3 so as to connect these otherwise stranded regional renewable energy resources to domestic and export markets; and 2017100363 30 Mar 2017 5 c. Where the regional NH3 production location lacks water for hydrogen production, back filling the NH3 freight trains with water on their return journey for offloading and storage at the NH3 production facility; and d. Using the freight rail infrastructure to cost efficiently link the supply of regionally located biomass to centralised regional NH3 production facilities. (30) Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. For example, the regionally located renewable energy resource with freight rail connection could be in the form of geothermal energy. (31) All such variations are to be considered within the scope of the present invention, the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description.

Claims (3)

1. Claims

   1. A method of using Australia’s rail infrastructure for the production and transport of renewable ammonia (NH3), said method comprising the steps of: Developing in a renewable energy rich regional Australian location one or more renewable ammonia production and storage plants by using renewable energy to generate hydrogen and nitrogen and to power a synthesiser and liquefaction unit so as to produce renewable NH3 in liquid form; and Transporting such liquid NH3 from the regional production and storage centre to domestic and export markets via freight trains whose rail infrastructure is located close to the NH3 production facility;
2. 2. A method of using Australia’s rail infrastructure for the production and transport of renewable ammonia (NH3), as described in claim 1, where said method comprises the steps of; Once the NH3 freight train has delivered its liquid NH3 to market or port, backfilling such train with water to be transported on its return journey to the NH3 production facility; and Off-loading and storing such water at the NH3 production facility where it can be used for the production of hydrogen via electrolysis as a key component in the NH3 production process.
3. 3. A method of using Australia’s rail infrastructure for the production and transport of renewable ammonia (NH3), as described in claim 1, where said method comprises the steps of; Using freight rail infrastructure to transport biomass material from regional locations to a centralised NH3 production facility.