Government funding for ammonia energy in the UK

By Julian Atchison on May 26, 2022

Ammonia cracking at Tyseley Energy Park, Birmingham

Representatives from the project partners at the BEIS funding announcement for the Tyseley Ammonia to Green Hydrogen Project. Source: Gemserv.
Click to learn more. Representatives from the project partners at the BEIS funding announcement for the Tyseley Ammonia to Green Hydrogen Project. Source: Gemserv.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded £6.7 million to the the Tyseley Ammonia to Green Hydrogen Project, with a demonstration ammonia cracking unit to be developed capable of delivering 200kg per day of hydrogen transportation fuel to a co-located refueling station. The cracking unit will be based on H2SITE’s integrated membrane reactor technology, which was presented at last November’s AEA conference in Boston. The project consortium includes H2SITE, Gemserv, EQUANS, the University of Birmingham and Yara.

Supercritical electrolysers

London-based Supercritical is currently developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, which utilises waste heat to produce high-pressure hydrogen, eliminating the need for a compressor. With BEIS funding, Supercritical, ScottishPower and Proton Ventures will build and operate a pilot facility that combines the new electrolyser technology, Scottish wind energy and Proton Ventures’ NFuel unit to produce renewable ammonia.

ASPIRE: ammonia from renewable energy

And BEIS has also awarded funding to partners the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Frazer-Nash Consultancy for the Ammonia Synthesis Plant from Intermittent Renewable Energy (ASPIRE) project. The pair are working with renewable energy developers ScottishPower, EDF Renewables and ENGIE, with potential off takers located in Brookfield (near Glasgow), Stornoway (Scottish Western Isles), and the Harwell EnergyTec Cluster (south of Oxford).