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Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

cen.acs.org

21–30 of 120 posts

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#21
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the damage will be done in 30 years. It's not possible to reduce population enough to matter in that time frame without mass genocide.

It's possible to reduce population by about 40% in 30 years without killing anyone, isn't it? Why is that obviously insignificant?

No that is not possible without killing anyone because people will fight for the right to reproduce. You can't stop babymaking completely without violence.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#22

Yes, this is the case due to the enormous scale of production. Replacing the hydrogen source at similar scales with electrolysis is plausible with base load power generation. The cost increase is a small integer factor, and in the bigger scheme of things is likely something we can adapt to at least for agriculture. An obvious challenge is that we don't have available green base load power -- nuclear, hydro, or geothe…

Surely the hydrogen could be stored to allow for intermittent power supply? Make hydrogen when power is cheaper and there is spare.

Also, the continuous supply of power is exactly what the grid is designed to do. Availability of cheap nuclear or geothermal could change the economics. But the power is exactly the same if it comes from nuclear, renewables or battery storage.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#23
post #4
post #2

This is the well known Haber-Bosch process, "Between 75 and 90% of this ammonia goes toward making fertilizer, and about 50% of the world’s food production relies on ammonia fertilizer." For those not looking to create a free account to login and view it: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-5f9t9...

This process is the reason Malthus was proven wrong back in the day. We wouldn't be able to support 8 billion people without it.

Given that

> Malthus observed that an increase in a nation's food production improved the well-being of the population, but the improvement was temporary because it led to population growth, which in turn restored the original per capita production level

What proved him wrong (or at least currently looks that way) was declining fertility levels, not increased food production.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#24
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the damage will be done in 30 years. It's not possible to reduce population enough to matter in that time frame without mass genocide.

It's possible to reduce population by about 40% in 30 years without killing anyone, isn't it? Why is that obviously insignificant?

How do you simultaneously convince a whole generation of people to not have children? To a significant percentage of people, wearing a mask during a pandemic is too much of an imposition on civil liberties.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#25

Yes, this is the case due to the enormous scale of production. Replacing the hydrogen source at similar scales with electrolysis is plausible with base load power generation. The cost increase is a small integer factor, and in the bigger scheme of things is likely something we can adapt to at least for agriculture. An obvious challenge is that we don't have available green base load power -- nuclear, hydro, or geothe…

If electrolysis can be made cheaper (E-TAC looks promising) you can run it at a reduced duty cycle on excess solar and wind power whenever they are available.

You can also produce hydrogen at the point of generation if water is available, and store it using the now obsolete natural gas distribution network.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#26
This became very apparent when a chemicals company with plants in the UK annouced plans to curtail their ammonia production, and it was going to have a knock-on effect on other industries because they got a lot of their CO2 from that process: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/17/warnings...

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#27
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the damage will be done in 30 years. It's not possible to reduce population enough to matter in that time frame without mass genocide.

It's possible to reduce population by about 40% in 30 years without killing anyone, isn't it? Why is that obviously insignificant?

First, 40% is nowhere near enough of a CO2 reduction, we need ~99.9% over slightly more than that timeframe; second, that’s a zero child worldwide policy, and doing that would require violence; and third, you have to ask who you’re doing this for if you’re not doing it for the next generation.

I am now curious what graph of age vs. CO2 emissions looks like for various populations…

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#28
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the damage will be done in 30 years. It's not possible to reduce population enough to matter in that time frame without mass genocide.

It's possible to reduce population by about 40% in 30 years without killing anyone, isn't it? Why is that obviously insignificant?

System will find balance. Price will increase. Fertility will decrease. Surely it won’t be easy way, but system doesn’t care about easy way.

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#29
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depopulation as in killing people? Or as in the one child policy? It turns out you don't need to implement a one child policy: people implement it themselves when the cost of living gets high enough.

obviously not killing people. I'm just demoralized that low birth rates are stigmatized as they are correlated with lower GDP, when low birth rates are somewhat of a godsend in times like these. Then nations with low birth rates scramble to find ways to up the birth rates despite understanding the C02 cost. It's ironic, really.

the hard part about shrinking populations is that they cause your population to get older which has a bunch of annoying economic side effects (like fewer people working)

Re: Industrial ammonia emits more CO2 than other chemical-making reactions (2019)

#30

This is very interesting from an agricultural perspective. According to the Wikipedia article for ammonia, “In the US as of 2019, approximately 88% of ammonia was used as fertilizers”. To me this is a very interesting and damning fact with regards to current dominant agricultural practices. Yet another reason that it would be beneficial to further redevelop closed loop nutrient systems. For instance, sewage solids fr…

> For instance, sewage solids from cites in are sold to farmers for use as fertilizer.

Seattle tried shipping their shit (literally) to the farmers in Central Washington. Used these trucks that had "loop: turn your dirt around" splashed on the side. Then the farmers decided maybe they ought to test that stuff for PFOA/PFAS before applying it to their most valuable asset.

You don't see those trucks anymore.

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