Tag: Grannus

Small-scale ammonia production is the next big thing

by Trevor Brown

Over the last few years, world-scale ammonia plants have been built, restarted, and relocated across the US. The last of these mega-projects began operations at Freeport in Texas last month. No more new ammonia plants are currently under construction in the US, and the received industry wisdom is that no more will begin construction.

However, project developers and ammonia start-ups did not get this memo. With low natural gas prices persisting, they have not stopped announcing plans to build new plants. The difference is that the next tranche of new ammonia plants breaking ground will not be world-scale but regional-scale, with production capacities of perhaps only one tenth the industry standard. Despite using fossil feedstocks, these plants will set new efficiency and emissions standards for small-scale ammonia plants, and demonstrate novel business models that will profoundly alter the future industry landscape for sustainable ammonia technologies.

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Grannus awards EPC contract

by Trevor Brown

Grannus awarded two contracts for design and technology licensing in November, and it has started December with a third announcement, naming its new EPC partner.

Yesterday's announcement, which sees the previous engineering partner entirely replaced, focuses on the company's business model, which is not to be an ammonia producer, but to be a global licensor of regional-scale ammonia plant technology.

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Grannus awards engineering and licensing contracts (again)

by Trevor Brown

In the last two weeks, Grannus LLC has awarded two contracts for process design and technology licensing: the first for hydrogen production, and the second for the ammonia loop.

These replace the engineering contract announced earlier this year, and bring the "zero-emission" ammonia plant closer to reality - albeit with a revised start-up schedule.

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Urea production is not carbon sequestration

by Trevor Brown

To make urea, fertilizer producers combine ammonia with carbon dioxide (CO2), but when farmers apply that urea to the soil, an equal amount of CO2 is emitted to the atmosphere. No CO2 is permanently stored or sequestered through the production of urea.

This is a statement of the obvious, I'm told, but it's worth stating for three reasons. First, not everyone knows it. Second, there was zero data in the academic literature supporting the fact, until now (see below). And third, next generation ammonia-urea plants with "zero-emissions" are becoming a reality, despite some of these new technologies relying on fossil fuel feedstocks.

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Kern County, CA – Grannus

by Trevor Brown

UPDATED: 05/10/2018 — see Change Log

OWNER: Grannus LLC
PROJECT: Greenfield polygeneration plant

SUMMARY STATUS: Planning phase
Grannus has been working to commercialize its polygeneration "Eureaka Process" since 2013, when it was a runner-up for Sustainability at the Cleantech Open. In 2015, the company closed its Series A financing, to fund engineering and feasibility work on its commercial-scale demonstration plant in California. In early 2016, Grannus awarded the engineering design contract but then, in late 2016, gave the contracts to other companies. In 2018, the EPA designated Grannus's hydrogen and ammonia production technology as "BACT."

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