Ammonia Technology Roadmap	Chapter 1. Ammonia production today
Towards more sustainable nitrogen fertiliser production

as such requires handling and storage according to special regulations. Urea is not classified as a hazardous substance, although still requires attention to handling since it could be dangerous if exposed to high temperatures or mixed with other chemicals. The handling requirements for urea are, however, less demanding overall compared to ammonium nitrate, which can be a major factor motivating the selection of urea as a fertiliser in several regions.

Each year millions of tonnes of nitrogen fertilisers and other nitrogen-based products are safely transported, stored and used without incident. Over the years, however, a number of accidents have demonstrated the perils of handling these substances inappropriately. Some of the largest incidents include the Texas City disaster of 1947 and the Beirut explosion of 2020, both involving ammonium nitrate. Accidents in the past have been among the catalysts for the stringent safety regulations and guidelines that governments and industry have put in place in many countries and regions. Examples of such measures include: in the European Union the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation; in the United Kingdom the voluntary Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS); and in Canada the Ammonium Nitrate Code of Practice (AN Code). At the international level, the International Fertilizer Association’s Protect and Sustain programme helps to set standard global reference points for product stewardship, including for safe fertiliser handling.

Ammonia production fundamentals

Ammonia production involves two main steps: first, isolating hydrogen, and second, the Haber-Bosch process in which the hydrogen is reacted with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia. Currently close to 100% of ammonia production obtains the required hydrogen from fossil fuel feedstocks (together with the steam used to transform them in certain process arrangements). Process energy, comprising fossil fuels and electricity, is needed in addition to the feedstock inputs to generate the heat and pressure required for the production process, and to separate nitrogen from the air. In 2020 ammonia production accounted for 8.6 EJ of energy consumption, equivalent to 2% of total final energy consumption globally. Of this energy, 40% was consumed as feedstock and the remainder as process energy. Natural gas accounts for 70% of the ammonia industry’s total energy consumption, coal 26%, oil 1% and electricity the remaining 3%.

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Ammonia Technology Roadmap	Chapter 1. Ammonia production today
Towards more sustainable nitrogen fertiliser production

Mass flows in the ammonia supply chain from fossil fuel feedstocks to nitrogen fertilisers and industrial products

IEA, 2021.

Notes: The thickness of the lines in the Sankey diagram are proportional to the magnitude of the mass flows. All numeric values are in million tonnes per year of production using production data for 2019. Only the fossil fuel quantities consumed as feedstock are shown; the diagram does not represent process energy inputs. MAP = monoammonium phosphate; DAP = diammonium phosphate; CAN = calcium ammonium nitrate; UAN = urea ammonium nitrate; AS = ammonium sulphate.

Sources: Production volumes sourced from the IFA. Process characterisations and yields from Levi and Cullen (2018).

Ammonia is the precursor to all mineral nitrogen fertilisers, which together account for just under 70% of total ammonia demand, including the downstream usage of its derivatives.

For the bulk of its eventual use, ammonia production is only the first step in nitrogen fertiliser production. Just over 2% of total ammonia demand is for direct application to pastures. The majority of ammonia is combined with other inputs to produce other nitrogen-based fertilisers and industrial products in subsequent transformation steps. Urea is chief among these. The production of urea accounts for around 55% of ammonia demand, which is in turn used directly as a fertiliser (around 75%) and to produce urea ammonium nitrate (5%), the remainder being for a range of industrial applications. The other major use of ammonia is for nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production. Around 80% of nitric acid is used to produce ammonium nitrate, two-thirds of which is used for fertiliser applications, including via further transformation into monoammonium and diammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate, calcium ammonium nitrate and, in conjunction with urea, to produce urea ammonium nitrate. Tracing all of these uses of ammonia downstream to their end uses reveals that just under 70% of ammonia is used for nitrogen fertiliser applications, with the remainder being used for industrial applications.

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