Integrated Solar Production of Fertilisers and Fuels

Solar fertiliser production including the internal utilisation of the side-product oxygen is analysed as one promising example of an innovative process utilising renewable energy resources and addressing the aspect of integrated production – here in the case of nitrogen containing fertilisers. Alternative methods to supply solar energy into the energy intensive generation of precursors needed for nitrate-based fertiliser via the Haber Bosch and Ostwald processes are introduced. Those methods are assessed in a comparative way through process design and simulation with a focus on oxygen injection inside the NOx combustion of the Ostwald process and through calculation of its economic impacts.