Nitrogen fertilizers manufactured using wind power : greenhouse gas and energy balance of community-scale ammonia production

The paper presents a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of production of ammonia using wind power.
The ammonia is intended to substitute for nitrogen fertilizer produced from fossil resources. The studied
system is designed to supply a rural community with fertilizer based on renewable energy and is,
therefore, smaller than industrial fossil ammonia production systems. Two contrasting cases examine the
impact of the location of the system, investigating the dependence on the regional energy system
(background system) to balance demand and supply of energy in the ammonia production system
(foreground system). The results show that wind-based ammonia production can significantly decrease
fossil energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional production, but that the
use of energy from the background system severely impacts the environmental performance, especially
in regions where fossil fuels dominate the energy system.