Azane Fuel Solutions and project partners have been awarded €8,600,000 from the Norwegian government to build its world-first green ammonia bunker terminal. The project partners span the entire value chain for ammonia as a maritime fuel, and include ECONNECT Energy, Amon Maritime, Yara and Viridis Bulk Carriers.
Among the many challenges for cracking researchers is their choice of material to build their catalysts from. There is hope that cheaper, more readily-available materials will replace the Ruthenium-based catalysts that have dominated the field up to this point. This week two new pieces of research suggest a way forwards using alkali metal-based materials: Lithium and Calcium.
The journey from the laboratory bench to the shop floor continues apace in 2021, as researchers deepen their understanding of ammonia combustion within engines. The team at Université d’Orléans has published several pieces of research already this year, with interesting results on operating limits, spray characteristics and flame propagation.
This week: Mitsui & Co., CF Industries team up to explore blue ammonia opportunities (and to link up US and Japan), CCS hydrogen in Pennsylvania, and the Infrastructure Bill.
French organisation Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) will design the fuel tanks for five LNG-fueled container vessels (15,000 CTU each) based on its Mark III, ammonia-ready membrane containment system. Vessel deliveries are scheduled for late 2023 to early 2024.
Mitsubishi Power has announced the development of single and mixed-fuel ammonia combustion boilers for industrial applications. Importantly, Mitsubishi also announced that optimal combustion conditions for ammonia have been successfully identified to minimise NOx formation and ammonia slip.
The UK government has launched its vision for a society-wide hydrogen economy, with the first phase to entail 5 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030. Of huge interest to our readers here at Ammonia Energy are the explicit references in the report to the important future role of ammonia as: i) a maritime fuel, ii) a peaking power fuel for gas turbines, and iii) an export vector.
In a national address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the new National Hydrogen Mission would be a key pillar of his government's plan for India to achieve energy independence within 25 years. The plan would mean would mean India produces around 1.3 million tonnes of green ammonia by the end of the decade, requiring several GW of dedicated electrolysers to supply the necessary green hydrogen.
This week in Norway: i) Yara, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Norway's state hydropower company Statkraft are all equal owners in HEGRA, a new entity that will steer electrification & decarbonisation at Yara's Porsgrunn ammonia plant, ii) St1 and Horisont will jointly develop a new green ammonia project in Finnmark, northern Norway, and iii) Grieg Edge and hydro generator Arendals Fossekompani launch a new green ammonia venture: North Ammonia.
bp and ARENA's eighteen-month feasibility study into the Geraldton Export-Scale Renewable Investment (GERI) project wrapped up this week - with encouraging results. The two organisations conclude that "Western Australia is an ideal place to develop large scale renewable energy assets that can in turn produce green hydrogen and/or green ammonia for domestic and export markets".