Powering Up Notes for Ammonia Production, Green Players of Optimized Ammonia

All energy is way too expensive.  Energy has always been way too expensive.

A Cattle Drive on the Texas Trail from Lohn, Texas to Union Pacific Cattle Yards at Ogallala, Nebraska was critical to grass, wood and water in 1874.  Favorable weather was required.

The weather is thee factor in a Cattle Drive. The drovers preferred No lightning and thunder, No hail, No wind,  No Tornados and No Indians.  Rain was welcome.

These factors alone made it difficult for the cook gathering wood for a campfire and the evening meal. The start and the finish always requires energy.    

Energy just plain costs lots of money or time to advance our society.

“Fertilizer is chemical energy, a crop stimulant, and the Big N, NH3  nitrogen must always be available at a reasonable price in times of war or peace.” GJS

Another way to compete in a world market is to export grain on a massive scale by producing lower cost fertilizer without carbon and locally built with conservation practices such as No-tillage.

Green Play NH3 is available under contract for $100 to $300 per year with a 7 year contract. Producer Contracts are now in play in 8 states and Alberta. The first year delivery is priced at $247 per ton.

Green Play Ammonia  is built locally with very low freight costs of about $30 per ton in 100 mile radius of the farm.

Old Technology becomes current technology.                                      Flexible and small in total about 80 acres and some smaller at 40 acres.

Power costs of a Green Play Ammonia Plant, Locally Built.

1. An optimized Green Play Ammonia Plant can build about 10 ton per day of Zero Carbon, Renewable NH3 with about 40% to 50% up time depending on the area. These are conservative estimates.
2. A Decagon is required. The ten plants are interlinked so the averages come out better and better over time. The supply of ammonia becomes assured. More plants mean lower costs of Zero carbon, Green Play Ammonia.
3. In other words renewable power ebbs and flows like all natural events. Renewables are not base line producers of electricity. The power is interrupted to Zero about 18% to 21% of the time. The Green Play Ammonia plant starts to shut down at 38% of full power.
4. At 38% to 35% of the KW required at the 10 Megawatt Electroyzer the variable production plant stops building an average of 1 ton of ammonia per hour. This is 160 kilograms of H2 in the NH3 molecule. The plants use about 2.5 gallons of distilled highest quality water per minute. About 4 gallons per minute will be processed.
5. The plant also uses soft rain water….drained and captured at one end of the processor roof and stored in qty. 8, 10,000 gallon containers at the Reverse Osmosis Processor. Pressure Swing Absorption is used to provide nitrogen from the air….and the N2 is to be pure like H2.  
6. In order to start the plant up quickly in less than 10 minutes a third leg or energy is required to maintain the heat energy flywheel in the Haber Bosch Processor. About 650 degrees F is required to keep the iron caldera, a massive bomb reactor ready for processing H2 and N2.
7. The plant high heat and high pressure processor does not add much to operating cost to build the NH3. Most of the cost goes to the electrolyzer at 2.5 cents to 3 cents per KW. The plant has another .5 cents per KW…so we can budget that the stored NH3 is about 3 cents to 3.5 cents per KW.
8. Note: New electroylzers are 25% more efficient. The announcement was made in June of 2022.  A ten megawatt electrolyzer can be replaced with 7.5 megawatt  electrolyzer. This is a big deal.

Solar

12 Megawatt, Solar Panels at 21%, Generally 1 megawatt in Solar is $975,000 to $1.1 million investment. Green Play Ammonia needs 12 Megawatt  per hour to make 10 ton per Day of NH3 with an older electrolyzer. Thus 1 Megawatt equals 2.5  per acre or about 30 acres is required. The acres required varies based on quality of sun. Solar has most power to offer in a smaller space 2.5 cents per KW to 3.5 cents per KW. Cost of Solar power is headed downward to 1 cent to 1.5 cents per KW.

1. A Green Play Ammonia Plant stores excess power in Edison batteries developed 115 years ago.
2. Nickel Iron batteries are they right? Edison batteries were considered too heavy for automobiles but ideal for the railroads due to uptime. The batteries provided remote switching power and warnings at crossing.   
3. The Edison common battery inputs are found in the USA as Iron and as Canadian soured Nickel. This Edison battery is an alkaline chemical energy storage system and is venting H2 (small amount),recycled into the processor and building NH3 in a large amount.  

Note: Solar Panels continue to improve from 18% to 21% efficiency. The future panels could be at 31% in five years if they are reliable. Solar Panels continue to be more reliable than wind towers in difficult weather such as Florida and Bahama hurricanes.  

Wind.

6.4 Megawatt, Each 1 megawatt. Wind Turbines New are about $1.4 million to  $1.5 million.

1. The Green Play Plant needs 4 to 6 megawatt. About 20 acres depending on size and power of 3 or 4 wind Towers.
2. New towers are 3 to 3.5 cents KW.
3. Some locations can use one wind tower at 6.5 Megawatt.
4. Used Wind Turbines, 10 year-olds (GE, 1.6 MW) at 1 Megawatt is $600,000 and they are available at 1.5 cents per KW, in Texas as location sensitive
5. PPA to 2.5 cents per KW installed have been discussed.

Note: The Power Purchase Agreement  or PPA are not planned to implemented in general due to availability and longer term nonfunctional aspects.  

Third Leg

Renewable Non Fossil Oil.

At 1.36 megawatt. This is the “Least Power” required at the Green Play Plant as the Haber Bosch Reactor which is applied only at standby, “ Heating the Reactor at Standby”.  The electrolyser is not operated.

1. The standby HRS, takes .68 Megawatt, About 18% to 22% of the time the Third Leg must be administered.
2. This is due to the moon, the sun and the oceans variability of Wind and Sun delivery.  This is because at some point statistically wind and solar are inadequate. A doldrums effect of the tropics exists on site.
3. Economics of Bio- Diesel. At .68 MW production is about 23 cents per KW powering with $16.00 Soybeans or Canola at 35 cents per pound, Tallow is September 2022 available at Seaboard, Hugoton,. Canola, Tallow or Soy Oil is commonly available based on location.

Note: Diesel at $5.00 is presently at .40 cents per KW.

• The Bio-diesel Caterpillar C-18 in Tier 4 investment is $400,000 to $150,000 used. The engine is derated from Diesel by 7% using renewable Canola Ester Oil at 118,000 BTU per gallon verse fossil fuel low sulfur Diesel 128,000 BTU per gallon. Remember Fuel Systems are Volumetric and not Mass Flow or by weight.
• Why qty. 2, Bio-Diesel Caterpillar C-18 to build the plant? The engines remain at the plant for standby power and initial startup. One engine is also for general plant power when second engine operates the Haber Bosch Standby Heat.
• Long term the Bio-Diesel engines will be phased out due to the lower cost Ammonium NH4 Engines have built a long term reputation.  

Renewable Zero Carbon Ammonium NH4 Fueling, Jenbacher Dual Fuel.

By 2025, School of Mines PMR cracker, Ammonium NH4 Engine with CHP at 81% efficiency is $550,000 at .55 Megawatt. With NH3 to H2 Cracker $52,000 outside of plant or remote applications where only NH3 is available.

1. The cracker is not required at the plant since hydrogen is available.
2. The Jenbacher Engine J4V12 can be used with a PMR, Blaze Cracker to burn dual fuel. NH3 plus H2 is blended at the engine and regulated at the engine for forming NH4. Greater efficiency of H2 and NH3 dual fueling can very significant. Engine life is also increased.
3. The dual fuel mix About 12% H2 and balance is NH3 at full throttle. At start up and heat build up about 50/50. The key point we are burning our own fuel at 3.5 cents KW….we eat our own process and disregard the opportunity to sell at 8 cents per KW.
4. With the Combined Heat and Process or CHP using heat to maintain the system at 650 degrees F at 18% to 22% of the time.

Another Source of Power and Power Storage.

1. Power Purchase Agreement. PPA of wind and solar….is temperamental. An idea to start but not to finish with.
2. High Head Hydro….Does not have an exceptional bright future due to the initial cost is high with no potential improvement in technology shifts and subject to environmental and migratory fish review.
3. Low Head Hydro……..Does have some potential since it is more geographically available. The upper reservoir storage uses up a lot of acres. Lower reservoir storage also consumes acres at certain sites not along a river.
4. Ammonia as Power…..Stored in ASME Pressure Vessel Tank Batteries. This is the real McCoy since the chances of reducing the cost to build will continue over the next 5 to 10 years.
5. Nickel Iron Batteries, Edison Batteries. This is a power play…and makes the plant run most of the time. A byproduct of overcharging the Edison Battolyser is hydrogen. The Edison Battolyser is a Concentrated Power Storage in a small area.
6. The Windmills and Solar Panels just keep jumping ahead in a competitive race to lower the KW cost to such a low level that it may not be cost effective to meter it .
7. Less than 1 cent per KW renewable power Solar and Wind is predicted in Saudi Arabia at the NOEM project.

So properly implemented the Third Leg can be highly effective in not building NH3 and keeping the plant heat ready for the ebb and flow of wind and solar.

“May the Tides Be With You.”  

Notes of Interest, Comments and Plans:

1. A NH3 Green Mega Plant 5 Billion Dollar 3,500  metric ton per day concept for building Green Ammonia is at high risk when local Green Play Ammonia plants are built.
2. A NH3 Green Mega Plant may take 5 to 7 years to build and they are hard to modify as technology changes.
3. Green Play Plants go on line fast at 9 to 18 months and meet local needs of immediate delivery 24/7.
4. Green Play Plants have improved time of delivery and low cost of delivery using on farm storage. This drives acceptance and lowers price.
5. Green Play Ammonia plants can be upgraded as new technology begins to shine.
6. Green Play Ammonia plants are sought out by manufactures that want a pilot optimum design for scale up to 40 ton per day.    
7. Local people, local taxes and less risk to the grid and the environment.
8. Mega Plants can not compete with local optimized scale Green Play Ammonia Plants.
9. Mega Plants to build ammonia Green, Blue, Grey or Pink are a National Security Risk.
10. A futures market is planned for Green Ammonia with 2,000 Green Play Ammonia plants in service by 2044.
11. Ammonia and Green Ammonia is the not the same as Green Play Ammonia.
12. The cost to move ammonia in DOT 10,800 gallon transports is $30 to $32 per mile per ton for 100 miles with the current fuel surcharge included.
13. The cost to move hydrogen is 20 cents per kilogram H2 at 3,512 Kilos in a 10,800 gallon transport.
14. A cracker reduces the Ammonia to hydrogen at a 10% to 2.5% energy loss.
15. Coors Tek and School of Mines are advancing Crackers all types.

Trends in Power Costing. Stable and Levelized, by Joe Manchin’s committee.

OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) - One day last month, a package arrived at the Ogallala/Keith County Chamber of Commerce offices bearing a long-lost firsthand account of the city’s Old West Cowtown past.

Sent by a North Carolina woman, the package included two copies of the December 1878 issue of American Agriculturist, a New York-based monthly magazine launched in 1842 “for the farm, garden & household.” 

Inside, a two-page article titled “The Texas Cattle Drive” offered a detailed discussion of the Texas Trail - its route, herds, Texas sellers and northern buyers and typical sale prices for different types of cattle.

It also provides a description and artistic illustration of 11-year-old Ogallala, which still celebrates its mid-1870s to mid-1880s heyday as the trail’s terminus.

The magazine’s sender apparently had no local ties, said Taylor Stone, social media and tourism coordinator for the Ogallala chamber.

“It was just like ‘I came across this, and here you go,’” she told The North Platte Telegraph.

“It was super out of the blue. But it was a great piece of mail to get, especially with these (COVID-19) times right now.”

The American Agriculturist article, which carries no byline, generally tracks with what local, Nebraska and Old West historians have written about the Texas Trail and Ogallala.

But it doesn’t show up in available print and online source lists. And it indicates that cattle began arriving in Ogallala in large numbers a year before the trail’s first known busy year in 1875.

“In 1874, the first year that Ogallala was made the terminus of the drive, fifty thousand head of cattle reached here,” it says, using the late 1800s-early 1900s spelling of the city’s name with its double-L at the end instead of the middle.

“Last year, 1877, eighty thousand arrived. The number of cattle brought here this year (1878) and distributed to the ranchmen, is computed at one hundred and twenty thousand. …

“After the ranchmen have kept the cattle on their northern ranges for a year or more, they ship them to the Chicago market and make their profit on them.”

Historian Vance Nelson of Ogallala, former curator of the Fort Robinson Museum and a Keith County Historical Society member, called the 1878 piece “a very, very important article for several reasons.”

Besides assuring an earlier start to Ogallala’s trailhead period, he said, it suggests the Texas Trail supplied not only eastern markets but also the Oglala and Brulé Lakota bands being supplied by federal cattle buyers at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies in northern Nebraska.

“I’m just overwhelmed by it,” Nelson said. “I call it a miracle document.”

The Keith County seat near Lake McConaughy has actively promoted itself as “The End of the Texas Trail” since the runup to Nebraska’s centennial celebration in 1967.

Front Street, which opened in 1964, memorializes the trail era’s Crystal Palace and Cowboy’s Rest saloons. Boot Hill, which once held the graves of early settlers and cowboys who met unfortunate ends, sits north of downtown.

For about two decades after the Civil War, Texas ranchers drove their cattle north, generally starting in the spring, to reach the Union Pacific or Kansas Pacific railroads and sell them for shipment eastward.

Schuyler, Columbus, Kearney, North Platte, Ogallala and Sidney took turns as trailheads as the Texans shifted their route west to avoid Kansas farmers and their fences.

Founded as a U.P. water stop in 1867, Ogallala didn’t become the trail drives’ main target until after the railroad built cattle pens and chutes just west of town in 1874.

That fact appears in several books and historical articles, including North Platte author Nellie Snyder Yost’s 1966 book “The Call of the Range” and Ogallala journalist Elaine Nielsen’s 1984 book “Ogallala: A Century on the Trail.”

Those works listed 1875 - when 75,000 head came north - as Ogallala’s debut as a major Cowtown. More than 100,000 head arrived most years through 1884.

When the American Agriculturist writer visited there, Ogallala was a tiny town that swelled with hundreds of cowboys and thousands of cattle every spring. (Subsequent quotes from the 1878 article will substitute the city’s modern spelling.)

“The first house at Ogallala was built in 1870, and though there are now not more than twenty buildings, all told, the place, during the cattle season, is full of bustle and excitement,” the article says.

Ogallala was a logical choice for the U.P. trailhead because “the cattle could no longer be driven to any point eastward without encountering improved lands, and it was not feasible to drive them to any point west of Ogallala, owing to the difficulty they would experience in procuring water end route.”

The 1878 article gives the names of the Texas Trail’s most active Lone Star State cattlemen, detailed sales prices for different types of cattle and the costs of shipping them as far east as Chicago.

Herds of 1,000 to 3,500 head would leave Texas in early February, driven by an eight- to 10-man crew and 30 to 40 horses.

Cattle would arrive at Ogallala between early May and September, with some of them rushed from northern Texas when a rancher saw a chance to make more money at the railhead by supplementing his herd.

While waiting to load the cattle at the U.P. pens north of the tracks, cattle would “graze up and down the south side of the (South) Platte over an area forty miles long and from one and a half to four miles wide,” the American Agriculturist writer said.

“All the horses are sold when the cattle are delivered at the end of the drive. As fast as the owner disposes of the cattle, and the cowboys can be spared, he pays them off, when they at once proceed to indulge in what they term ‘a little amusement.’

“The sharpers and gamblers who have reached Ogallala from various points, are always ready to accommodate the cowboys in their search for ‘amusement,’ and they are fortunate if they do not leave a considerable portion of their wages with the Spanish Monte and Faro (card) dealers.

“It very frequently happens that they do not have enough money left to pay their way back to Texas by (train) cars, and are therefore compelled to mortgage their next season’s wages.”

Julesburg, Colorado, also served as an important cattle shipping point at that time, the article said. The U.P. mainline dips briefly into Colorado’s northeast tip there before running back north into the Panhandle.

Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC.

Guy J Swanson.
Exactrix Global Systems.
4501 East Trent Ave.
Spokane, Washington, 99212
509 254 6854 General Office.
509 995 1879 cell.
www.exactrix.com
www.greenplayammonia.com