BHPB Nickel West operates a nickel refinery at Kwinana in Western Australia. They have been considering ways of delivering cost savings for their raw materials as well as ensuring security of supply. Lycopodium was approached to provide an assessment (PFS) for a new ammonia plant to be built at the refinery.
The study considered a facility to generate and cryogenically store ammonia for use at the refinery and also for potential export as well as provide additional Hydrogen for use at the refinery.
As part of the study, Lycopodium provided an assessment of available technologies for the production of Ammonia.
Modern ammonia plants consist of multiple modules or unit processes for production, however can broadly be broken down into generated, which consists of generation of hydrogen gas and generation of nitrogen gas, the elemental gases which are then synthesised into ammonia.
The various modules forming the ammonia synthesis plant are dependent upon the hydrocarbon source, the catalysts used, as well as the individual technology providers package (more often than not provided through the catalyst provider). Various technology paths have varying energy efficiencies, an important consideration in selection of an ammonia plant process route. Process development in ammonia plants has typically been focussed on processes that produce ammonia for the least overall nett energy consumption, which is notably the primary steam reforming step.
Lycopodium delivered this opportunity assessment, including preliminary Capital Cost Estimates, Operational Cost estimates and preliminary schedule as part of the PFS report.
