Last month, two Class VI permits were officially issued by the US EPA, allowing WVR to construct two wells for injection and storage of CO2 underground. CCS hydrogen will feed a 500,000 tons per year ammonia plant - a significant percentage of the fertiliser currently used within the USA’s Eastern Corn Belt.
New Oxford research finds that over 60% of global shipping fuel demands could be met by renewable ammonia in 2050, which can be achieved by targeting renewable ammonia fuel supplies at the “top 10 regional ports”. The team also predicts that conventional maritime fuel production could be replaced by a more “regionalised industry”, producing up to 750 million tons of renewable ammonia per year in tropical and sub-tropical countries.
Fortescue Future Industries, Maritime and Port Authority Singapore and a host of supporting organisations announced a world-first marine trial in Singapore harbor last week. The vessel sailed on ammonia and diesel dual-fuel in harbor waters, after being loaded with liquid ammonia fuel at Vopak’s Banyan Terminal on Jurong Island. Two years of vessel development and months of safety and training exercises led up to the trial. MPA and Fortescue report that post-combustion NOx levels from the vessel met local air quality standards for Singapore, with further emissions treatment measures to be applied.
Mejillones Ammonia Energy will produce 600,000 ton-per-year of solar-powered renewable ammonia for the local and international markets. The first phase is expected to become operational by 2027, delivering 300,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia.
Italian class society RINA will work with LNG-specialist Gas and Heat to develop an integrated cargo and fuel gas system for an ammonia-fueled bunker vessel. The vessel development builds on two technology designs from Gas and Heat already certified by Bureau Veritas: an Ammonia Fuel Supply System and an LNG-ammonia dual purpose tank.
More than €4.7 billion is now available to support the growth of hydrogen derivative imports to the EU. Via its implementation entity Hintco, H2Global has already launched a series of auctions to fund ten-year purchase agreements for methanol, ammonia and SAF.
Enaex and NYK Bulk & Project Carriers will explore the feasibility of supplying renewable ammonia fuel in Mejillones, northern Chile. NYK Bulk and Chilean national copper company Codelco have already signed an MoU to build a fleet of 10-15 ammonia-fueled vessels to transport copper concentrate from Mejillones to key Asian markets.
China is keeping pace with IEA predictions for electrolyzer installations, with as much as 55% of the world’s total capacity to be installed there by 2028. Coupled with strong wind-power resources, domestic manufacturing capabilities and multiple economic drivers to transition away from coal-based ammonia production, China is ideally positioned to speed up the deployment of renewable ammonia projects.
Based on Topsoe’s H2RETAKE™ technology, an ammonia cracking facility owned and run by Approtium will be built in Ulsan, South Korea. Approtium has already secured a supply of ammonia via an offtake agreement signed with Hyphen Hydrogen.
A research team from Griffith & Oxford Universities concludes that, with the right approach, multiple world-scale, renewable ammonia plants could operate on the Queensland coast, supporting the deep decarbonisation of the electricity grid. Flexible plants can provide “green ammonia value chain-based” demand response services, representing a potential answer to Australia’s winter energy problem.