Ammonia is a promising carbon-free energy vector, hydrogen carrier, and efficient means for long-time hydrogen storage. Power-to-ammonia-to-power concepts, powered exclusively by electricity from renewable sources, will leave the carbon economy behind and enter a truly renewable era. However, the fluctuating nature of renewables requires a good dynamic behavior of such concepts. Employing the software Aspen Plus Dynamics^®, this paper investigates the dynamic behavior of a novel containerized power-to-ammonia solution to be tested at the University of Genova in 2023. Implementing a novel kinetic reaction model, the impacts of several deviations from the optimal values of the cycle parameters are investigated. The simulations provide practical guidance on how to best and safely operate the cycle. A total of ten scenarios were simulated, of which six are acceptable, two are desirable, and two should be avoided. However, all scenarios can be safely controlled by the control infrastructure.

This work proposes an innovative method for adjusting the natural gas from the grid to the consumer pipeline requirements in a full-scale pressure reduction station. The use of two counterflow vortex tubes instead of the traditional boiler to preheat the gas before throttling is demonstrated as a powerful alternative. Thus, a reduction of fossil fuel consumption is reached, which amounts to $7.1\%$ less CO${}_2$ emitted. To ensure the optimal configuration, the vortex tube was thoroughly characterized in laboratory facilities using nitrogen as the working fluid. Various operating conditions were tested to determine the most efficient setup. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted with nitrogen to validate the behavior of the vortex tube. Subsequently, the working fluid was switched to methane to assess the performance differences between the two gases. Finally, the vortex tubes were deployed at a full-scale installation and tested under real consumption demand. The results obtained from this study offer promising insights into the practical implementation of the proposed method for adjusting the natural gas flow, highlighting its potential for reducing fossil fuel consumption and minimizing CO${}_2$ emissions. Further improvements and refinements can be made based on these findings.