ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Green and Sustainable Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicBiomass Feedstock Valorization: Innovations for a Sustainable BioeconomyView all articles
Integrated Valorization of Industrial and Municipal Biomass Wastes for Green Ammonia Production: A Circular Bioeconomy Approach
Provisionally accepted
- 1Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
- 3NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
- 4Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
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A sustainable production of ammonia using waste biomass is a new milestone to a low-carbon bioeconomy that is circular. This paper defines an integrated Aspen Plus model which integrates the steam gasification of paper mill sludge and municipal solid waste and the Haber-Bosch process to generate carbon-neutral green ammonia. The synthesis of thermochemical conversion and catalytic synthesis was optimized systematically by altering paper mill sludge feed ratio (20:80, 60:40, and 40:60 wt%), steam toward municipal solid waste ratio and pressures in the synthesis. The highest hydrogen yield (H2 = 0.4572) and heating value (7.82 MJ/Nm3 ) was obtained in the 60:40 blend at 800 ℃ and S /B = 0.025, whereas the highest NH3 mole fraction in the solution (0.9493) was obtained under 40:60 blend at 500 ℃ and 250 bar. The addition of cryogenic CO2 removal and water gas shift optimization greatly improved the purification of hydrogen and total carbon capture. The innovation of the work consists in the combined modelling structure that converts heterogeneous waste flows into a closed-loop, low-emission system of ammonia production, which has two advantages in the value of waste and the synthesis of renewable fertilizers. The results present an upscale able and ecologically friendly pathway to next generation production of ammonia, between circular waste management and green chemical production..
Keywords: biomass valorization, Green ammonia, Waste integration, Aspen Plus modeling, Circular Bioeconomy
Received: 18 Oct 2025; Accepted: 11 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 AlGhamdi, Taqvi, Kazmi and Naqvi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Salman Raza Naqvi, salman.raza.naqvi@kau.se
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