Syzygy Plasmonics achieves new performance mark with electric cracking demonstration in South Korea

Click to learn more. A demonstration unit of Syzygy’s all-electric ammonia cracker, installed in Ulsan, South Korea and tested in conjunction with Lotte Chemical and Sumitomo. Source: Syzygy Plasmonics.

Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics is commercialising an all-electric ammonia cracker technology based on a proprietary photocatalyst developed at Rice University. In February last year, the company announced successful cell-level tests of its ammonia cracker, the Syzygy’s Rigel™ reactor cell, at a demonstration facility in Houston, Texas.

Last month, Syzygy and Lotte announced that, in December 2024, they completed performance testing on an  electric ammonia cracker unit at the Lotte Chemical site in Ulsan, South Korea. At a consumption rate of 11 kWh/kg of H2 produced, 81% energy efficiency, 99% conversion and 290 kg/day of hydrogen produced, the Ulsan test results “eclipsed previous performance [metrics]”, representing Syzygy’s best results thus far.

The energy-per-kg of H2 produced (11 kWh/kg) in the Lotte-Syzygy joint demonstration compares favourably with Syzygy’s internal target for this year (12 kWh/kg), as it strives to achieve a 10 kWh/kg mark in 2026. The Ulsan tests were performed with shipping and logistical support from Sumitomo Corporation, with Syzygy providing both onsite and remote support throughout the test. Going forward, the company is targeting a 10 tons-per-day capacity for this year, with plans to scale that to 100 tons-per-day in 2026.

Syzygy’s cracker technology has made significant progress since the company discussed prototype results from a benchtop version at the 2021 Ammonia Energy Association annual conference. At that point, the technology had a capacity of 23 kWh/kg of hydrogen produced, and a 5 kg/day overall production. The Ulsan test results build on over 2,500 hours of testing already obtained from the Houston demonstration.

Lotte and Syzygy made history with this project. This is the breakthrough that Korea, Japan, and Eastern Europe have been waiting for. They now have an efficient, proven way to crack imported ammonia for hydrogen. We are incredibly grateful to Lotte and Sumitomo Corporation Group for having the vision and showing the leadership to advance technologies like ours that hold the key to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors. And we are proud of the Syzygy team. Their talent, commitment, and drive are unmatched. The next step is small commercial plant deployment.

Suman Khatiwada, Co-founder and CTO at Syzygy, in his organisation’s official press release, 27 January 2025 

We look forward to working on commercializing this technology in South Korea. Over the coming years we plan to work with Syzygy to identify a good application for building a small commercial plant together, which will be a big step towards meeting South Korea’s growing hydrogen needs.

Hans Shin, Project Manager at Lotte Chemical, in Syzygy’s official press release, 27 January 2025