Morris, Minn.-Researchers are saying that the construction of a pilot project for producing electricity and anhydrous ammonia from the wind may be completed by next fall. The design and royalty agreement is being completed with successful project bidder Fagen Inc. Project engineering will begin shortly on West Central Research and Outreach Center’s “wind power to nitrogen fertilizer” pilot project, which aims to put anhydrous ammonia production as close as the nearest wind turbine, according to Mike Reese, the center’s renewable energy director. Reese believes anhydrous ammonia could be produced in the Midwest at a lower cost than the nitrogen fertilizer that is now shipped from the Gulf of Mexico and Canada. He indicated that it is a way to add value to wind power that may be captured from turbines on farmers’ land – and it can be sold through local cooperatives. Reese explained that hydrogen is produced through electrolysis. Hydrogen and oxygen will be separated from water and wind electrical energy in an electrolyzer by a series of cells with special membranes under charge. In a different process, nitrogen will be separated from air via a molecular sieve. Then, under the appropriate pressure and temperature, hydrogen and nitrogen will be introduced together into a reactor and passed through a catalyst bed. A portion of the hydrogen and nitrogen will form NH3 in a modified Haber Bosch high-pressure process.
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