Nabera Abhinandan, Istrate Ioan-Robert, Martín Antonio José, Pérez-Ramírez Javier, Guillén-Gosálbez Gonzalo
Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences ETH Zürich Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1 Zürich 8093 Switzerland
Green Chem. 2023 Jun 23;25(17):6603-6611. doi: 10.1039/d3gc01053h. eCollection 2023 Aug 29.
Ammonia and methanol are essential to modern societies, but their production has been heavily reliant on natural gas, which contributes to supply disruptions and significant CO emissions. While low-carbon or green production routes have been extensively researched, their adoption has been hindered by higher costs, making them unsustainable. However, a recent energy crisis in Europe has created a unique opportunity to shift towards greener production technologies. Here we show that, green ammonia, produced through wind-powered water electrolysis, had the potential to outperform its fossil counterpart for six months as of December 2021, while methanol produced through CO capture and wind-based water electrolysis became an economically appealing alternative. With a coordinated effort from academia, industry, and policymakers, Europe can lead the grand transition towards more sustainable practices in the chemical industry.
氨和甲醇对现代社会至关重要，但它们的生产一直严重依赖天然气，这导致供应中断和大量碳排放。虽然低碳或绿色生产路线已得到广泛研究，但其采用受到成本较高的阻碍，使其难以持续。然而，欧洲最近的能源危机为转向更绿色的生产技术创造了独特机遇。我们在此表明，截至2021年12月，通过风力驱动的水电解生产的绿色氨有潜力在六个月内超过其化石燃料同类产品，而通过二氧化碳捕获和基于风能的水电解生产的甲醇成为了一种经济上有吸引力的替代品。通过学术界、产业界和政策制定者的共同努力，欧洲能够引领化学工业向更可持续做法的重大转型。
