TECHNO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF GREEN AMMONIA AND GREEN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION POTENTIAL IN LEBANON

Abstract

The continuous rise in Lebanon's reliance on imports has affected various sectors including the energy and agriculture sectors. One way to lift some of the pressure off of both these sectors is to tap into the green ammonia and green hydrogen production technologies. Ammonia is the most important component for fertilizer production. Hydrogen and ammonia carry the potential of becoming a flexible base power load that would eliminate the fluctuations of renewable energy resources. The traditional production of fertilizers contributes significantly to the global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O). This thesis assesses the feasibility and the potential of producing ammonia and hydrogen locally, through a green and emission free procedure, using renewable energy technologies. A green ammonia and hydrogen production project targeting Lebanon is designed thoroughly. This takes into consideration various design alternatives. First, the location of the site is varied to account for four sites spread around Lebanon. Second, the adopted renewable energy source varies between solar, wind, or hybrid of both with the option of storage system if needed. Third, the type of electrolyzer is changed between AWE, PEM, and SOEC. Fourth, storage and transportation methods for both hydrogen and ammonia are discussed. As for the energy generation method, both ICE and fuel cells are taken into consideration, through hydrogen or ammonia. The thesis assesses and compares the different design alternatives from an economical, and environmental perspective in order to determine the feasibility of such project in Lebanon. Finally, a risk assessment for the project in the Lebanese scenario is performed to determine the possibility of receiving such investment. The thesis concluded that four alternative locations are economic when implementing ICE generation technique, at 0.4 $/kWh. Their accumulated NPV ranges between 2.07B$ and 2.57B$ with an initial investment ranging between 0.81B$ and 1.2 B$. This wasn’t the case for fuel cell generation option where the the accumulated NPV stayed negative for all scenarios. The payback period of the project reached its minimum at 2.59 years, whereas the lowest possible breakeven tariff reached 0.158 $/kWh. The thesis also concluded that the introduction of fuel cells over the life time of the project could be considered in some cases for higher electricity tariffs. It also concluded that a potential carbon credit scenario would significantly boosts the project from a financial perspective, but isn’t reliable to base an economical decision on.