Singapore-based Ocean Network Express has signed contracts with two ship-builders for construction of five ammonia-ready VLCCs each (ten total), to be delivered in 2025. In Japan, NYK Line, IHI Power Systems and ClassNK will develop, deliver and fuel an ammonia-powered tugboat for the City of Yokohama, with the vessel to be delivered and working in the port in 2024.
Herning, Denmark will be the location for Haldor Topsøe’s new electrolyser manufacturing facility. The new facility will have an annual production capacity of 500 MW-worth of solid-oxide electrolyser units, scaling up to 5 GW. Topsøe’s announcement is the latest in a series of recent news items, suggesting that the momentum for electrolyser scale-up is building.
JGC Corporation has entered into a series of new ammonia partnerships. As part of a wider agreement to license KBR’s patented ammonia production technology, a new renewable ammonia pilot plant will be developed near Fukushima. JGC will team up in an “alliance agreement” with TOYO Corporation to develop fuel ammonia production projects and import terminals in Japan. And in Indonesia - where TOYO is currently assessing the feasibility of retrofitting an existing ammonia plant to run entirely on renewable energy - JGC and Indonesia’s national energy organisation Pertamina will collaborate on key decarbonisation projects.
LSB Industries will partner with thyssenkrupp and Bloom Energy to develop renewable ammonia production at its existing facility in Pryor, Oklahoma. 30 MW of electrolysers will feed the production of 30,000 tonnes of renewable ammonia per year, with two electrolyser technologies (solid-oxide and alkaline) working side-by-side.
Air Products, OQ, and ACWA Power will jointly develop a world-scale, multi-billion dollar renewable ammonia production facility in Salalah, Oman. The partners indicate the new design will be similar to the NEOM ammonia project in Saudi Arabia. The new announcement means there are five significant renewable ammonia projects under development in Oman: two in Salalah on Oman’s south coast, and three in Duqm, including the GEO Supergiant project.
New project details have emerged from the AMAN mega-project in Mauritania. CWP Global indicates the project will include 18GW of wind capacity and 12GW of solar capacity in northwest Mauritania, producing 10 million tonnes of renewable ammonia per year for export and local use.
Swedish technology developer Metacon has delivered an ammonia cracking prototype unit to Pherousa Green Technologies in Norway for development of an ammonia-fed, zero emissions maritime propulsion system. The prototype itself was developed by Metacon subsidiary Helbio, who report the cracker achieves conversion rates of 99.3% with no ammonia slip, enabling it to feed a high-purity PEM fuel cell.