Process development and optimization of sustainable and integrated large scale ammonia production process using water electrolysis based green hydrogen: Investigating process, energy, economic & environmental perspectives

Ammonia is an important raw material for fertilizer production and significantly contributes globally to agricultural systems. The multi-objective optimization of a large-scale integrated ammonia production process using water electrolysis-based green hydrogen is carried out using the Hybrid Multi-Objective Differential EvolutionDistance Learning Scheme (Hybrid MODE-DLS) algorithm. Three optimization cases are solved with the objectives of ammonia production rate, total production cost, and total energy by considering nine decision variables, and multiple constraints. The maximum ammonia production (66.51 kmol/h) and minimum total production cost (105.07 $/yr x 105) are obtained in Case 1 whereas the minimum energy value (7863.45 kWh) is obtained in Case 2. The minimum heat credit value of 3057300.5 $/annum exists in Case 2 solutions whereas the maximum heat credit value of 7992076 $/annum is seen in Case 3. The ammonia production rate increased by 82.79% in Case 2 results compared to the base case results.