As a new exploration of the low-carbon transformation of the coal-fired power industry, new progress has been made in ammonia-doped combustion of coal-fired power units. A few days ago, the 600MW coal-fired power unit of China's Shenhua Guangdong Taishan Power Plant successfully carried out the coal ammonia combustion test under high-load power generation conditions. It is reported that this is the largest capacity unit that has completed the verification of ammonia doping combustion test at home and abroad.
As one of the main carbon emissions in China, the carbon emissions generated by coal-fired power generation account for about 40% of the country's total carbon emissions, and the use of new zero-carbon fuels such as ammonia to replace coal is an important technology to achieve the "double carbon" goal, and also provides a new path for the green development of coal power. According to the "China Energy News" reporter, at present, a number of enterprises, including the National Energy Group, are carrying out relevant practices.
The test unit ranges from 300MW to 630MW
According to public information, the above-mentioned ammonia-doped combustion test mainly adopts ammonia coal premixed combustion technology, and according to the first-stage test plan, the ammonia combustion of coal-fired boilers under multiple load conditions such as 500MW and 300MW is realized smoothly, and the ammonia burnout rate reaches 9999%。This test verifies the advancement of various innovative technologies such as ammonia gas solid two-phase combustion intensification and plasma cracking.
The National Energy Administration recently announced the list of the third batch of first (set) major technical equipment (projects) in the energy field, and "complete sets of ammonia combustion technology and key equipment for coal-fired power plants" was listed. According to the National Energy Administration, relying on the project of 630MW large-capacity coal-fired boiler ammonia doping clean and efficient combustion project of China Shenhua Taishan Power Plant, it will focus on the development of the industrial chain of ammonia doping combustion technology in coal-fired power plants, independently develop ammonia mixing combustion equipment and systems suitable for large-capacity coal-fired units, and finally form a key complete set of technologies and equipment for the application of large-capacity coal-fired boilers with large proportion of ammonia-doped combustion.
In addition, in April this year, Anhui Energy Group and the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center announced that the two sides jointly developed a large-scale coal-fired power unit with a large proportion of ammonia doped combustion demonstration project - in the 300MW coal-fired unit of Anhui Tongling Power Generation Company to achieve ammonia doping 10%-35% stable operation under multi-working loads, the maximum ammonia doping amount is greater than 21 tons per hour, and the ammonia burndown rate reaches 9999%, filling a number of technical gaps.
According to reports, the technical team of Anhui Energy Group and the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center will make every effort to promote the engineering test of more than 50% ammonia doping, and plan to carry out engineering demonstration in 1000MW units, and vigorously promote the industrialization promotion and large-scale industrial application of independent research and development of complete sets of technologies and equipment in active coal-fired power generation units, so as to create a whole industrial chain of green ammonia production, storage, transportation, processing and use.
It is expected to replace fossil fuels on a large scale.
Ammonia is widely used in chemical industry, agriculture, refrigeration and other fields, and with the "double carbon" goal proposed, it has attracted more and more attention as a green and clean energy.
Lv Qiang, an assistant professor at the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University, pointed out that ammonia is a zero-carbon molecule, which does not produce carbon emissions while releasing energy through combustion reactions, but only produces nitrogen and water, so it is a new zero-carbon fuel that is expected to replace fossil fuels on a large scale. Ammonia combustion in coal-fired power stations can not only provide a stable and low-carbon base load, but also play an important role in the power station's peak regulation task, ensuring the stability of the power grid after renewable power such as "wind and solar" is connected to the grid.
According to the reporter of "China Energy News", the reason why ammonia combustion has attracted much attention is mainly because it has multiple advantages as a fuel: the combustion process does not produce greenhouse gases, the energy density is high, it is easy to liquefy and has the advantage of storage and transportation costs, the storage and transportation supporting infrastructure is relatively perfect, and the safety is relatively good.
The biggest advantage of ammonia is that storage and transportation is far safer and more convenient than hydrogen, and the system is mature and can be stored and transported on a large scale and over long distances. In terms of physical and chemical properties, ammonia has a high boiling point and can be liquefied at a temperature of minus 33 degrees Celsius, which is easier than natural gas liquefaction. Wang Zhaolin, a professor at the School of Energy of Xiamen University, said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy News, "China is the world's largest user of synthetic ammonia, and the development of ammonia energy has advantages over other countries." ”
According to Feng Hansheng, deputy director of the Hydrogen Energy and Ammonia Application Research Center of the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, under the "double carbon" goal, China needs to solve the contradiction between coal power carbon emissions and the increase in the proportion of new energy. "The use of ammonia to replace or partially replace coal is a feasible way, one is to avoid the waste of coal power assets, the other is not to build and renovate the power grid, can make full use of the source grid load storage equipment and facilities, and the third is not to need to carry out major infrastructure transformation, can accelerate the process of carbon neutrality. In addition, ammonia can be used as a fuel not only in the field of coal power, but also in other coal-fired industries as the technology matures and iteratively upgrades. ”
Speeding up the construction of green ammonia is a top priority.
Although ammonia has a promising future, the existing mature traditional industrial ammonia synthesis technology is not green ammonia, and a large amount of carbon dioxide is still emitted during the production process. Therefore, it is imperative to accelerate the construction of the whole industrial chain system of green ammonia.
The problem of ammonia energy utilization is the lack of green ammonia, and the main production of ** is gray hydrogen. Wang Zhaolin pointed out that "green ammonia only needs water, air and green electricity to be synthesized locally." Some photovoltaic power and wind power in the northwest can be used to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water, which can then be used to synthesize ammonia, which can be easily transported from the northwest to the east. At present, China's energy dependence on foreign countries is relatively high, and if ammonia can be synthesized on site, it can get rid of the dependence on the world's oil and natural gas to a certain extent. ”
The reporter of China Energy News noted that as a major producer of synthetic ammonia, a number of green ammonia projects in China have surfaced since the beginning of this year.
On January 3, the Energy Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced the "Notice on the Implementation of the Demonstration Project for the Integration of Wind and Solar Hydrogen Production", and the two off-grid wind and solar hydrogen production integration demonstration projects of 500,000 kilowatts and 260,000 kilowatts of China Energy Construction in Wulatezhongqi of Bayannur City were selected. Among them, the total investment of the demonstration project of wind, solar, hydrogen storage and ammonia separation integration in Ganqimaodu Port Processing Park of Sany Renewable Energy Urad Zhongqi is 42700 million yuan, the construction of 400MW wind power, 100MW photovoltaic, 40MW 2H electrochemical energy storage, annual production of green hydrogen 360,000 tons, 150,000 tons of green ammonia;The total investment of China Energy Construction Bayannur Urad Zhongqi Wind and Solar Hydrogen and Ammonia Production Comprehensive Demonstration Project is 231.5 billion yuan, the construction of 210 megawatts of wind power, 50 megawatts of photovoltaics, 39MW of 1h electrochemical energy storage, annual production of 10,000 tons of green hydrogen, 5 green ammonia70,000 tons.
In addition, PetroChina's first integrated project of wind and solar power production to hydrogen and ammonia in Inner Mongolia - Inner Mongolia Ulanchabu Xinghe County Wind and Solar Power Production and Ammonia Integration Project was also officially approved at the beginning of this year. The total investment of the project is 413.9 billion yuan, 350MW of wind power, 150MW of photovoltaic power, and an annual hydrogen production capacity of 25,700 tons will be built for synthetic ammonia and urea, which are planned to be put into operation by the end of 2024.