In our latest technology landscape analysis, AEA Technology Manager Kevin Rouwenhorst explores four broad categories for novel ammonia production technologies: improved catalysts, sorbent enhancement, electrochemical ammonia synthesis, and other technology pathways (including geological, single-step and looping synthesis).
In our December episode of Project Features, we explore ammonia energy R&D, pioneering demonstration plants, and start-up companies originating from the University of Minnesota, USA.
Meet the University of Minnesota, a global leader in ammonia energy R&D. We will learn more about UMinn’s world-leading renewable ammonia demonstration plant in Morris, Minnesota, as well as exploring the ecosystem of initiatives and spin-out companies launched by UMinn, including RTI International, Power-to-X Analytics, and Aza Power.
Ahead of the 3rd Symposium on Ammonia Energy in Shanghai next month, we take the opportunity to highlight select papers and key results from the first two editions, starting with the 2022 Cardiff event:
Amogy have successfully demonstrated a new ammonia-powered tractor in Stony Brook, New York. A 100 kW ammonia-to-power system was successfully integrated into a John Deere mid-size standard tractor, which can operate on liquid ammonia fuel for a period of several hours.
A team led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Silesian University of Technology (SUT) is currently working on Project ACTIVATE. Their goal is to field demonstrate an ammonia-powered, cost-competitive agricultural vehicle by late 2023.
Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. There's so much news this edition that we're bringing you two, special Wrap articles. Our first focuses on ammonia production - both existing and new build plants. This week: InterContinental Energy to build 25 GW of green ammonia production in Oman, Cummins and KBR to collaborate on integrated green ammonia solutions, New green ammonia pilot plant for Minnesota, Stamicarbon launches new technology for sustainable fertilizer production in Kenya, Haldor Topsoe and Shchekinoazot to explore ammonia plant decarbonisation in Russia, 1 million tonne blue ammonia per year in Norway and Trammo announces off-take MoU for 2GW AustriaEnergy plant in Chile.
Last week we presented the first episode in our monthly webinar series: Ammonia Energy Live. Every month we’ll explore the wonderful world of ammonia energy and the role it will play in global decarbonisation - with an Australian twist. To kick things off we wanted to set the scene for 2021 and give you a sense of where the ammonia transition is at - key projects, key milestones and things to be excited about going forward. And, since this is an Australian-focused series, we wanted to explore what’s important about Australia to the ongoing work of the AEA.
This month, researchers at the University of Minnesota began successful field tests of their new ammonia engine, operating a heavy-duty tractor across farmland near Morris, MN, on a dual-fuel blend of 70% diesel and 30% ammonia.
This year's ammonia conference in Rotterdam, the third annual NH3 Event, begins two weeks from today. Since our guest post in March, announcing the initial roster of conference speakers, the organizers have confirmed new speakers, added more sessions, and announced further details. The NH3 Event is a two-day conference, taking place on June 6 & 7, presenting "state of the art solutions and innovations on the subject of Sustainable Ammonia." Although the conference hall is already close to capacity, a few dozen tickets remain available through the NH3 Event website.
Last month the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) released Renewable Ammonia Generation, Transport, and Utilization in the Transportation Sector, the organization’s first public treatment of ammonia energy. The report is positioned as a communique from the cutting edge – a “Technology Insights Brief” from EPRI’s “Innovation Scouts” – and, bracingly, manages to be both brief and comprehensive. Within its format, it does an excellent job of conveying the positive case for ammonia energy and the R&D that will allow it to reach its potential.
At the 2017 NH3 Energy+ Conference, graduate student Doga Demirhan reported on an ongoing investigation at the Energy Institute at Texas A&M University. The work involved evaluation of options for an ammonia production system and concluded that biomass could be an economically viable feedstock under current, real-world conditions. This is a notable outcome. Just as notable is how it was reached.
I wrote recently about two pathways for ammonia production technology development: improvements on Haber-Bosch, or electrochemical synthesis. Last week, I covered some of these Haber-Bosch improvements; next week, I'll write about electrochemical processes. This week, I want to write about some innovations that don't fit this two-way categorization: they don't use electrochemistry and they don't build upon the Haber-Bosch process, and that might be the only thing that links them.
At the recent NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, Grigorii Soloveichik described the future of ammonia synthesis technologies as a two-way choice: Improvement of Haber-Bosch or Electrochemical Synthesis. Two such Haber-Bosch improvement projects, which received ARPA-E-funding under Soloveichik's program direction, also presented papers at the conference. They each take different approaches to the same problem: how to adapt the high-pressure, high-temperature, constant-state Haber-Bosch process to small-scale, intermittent renewable power inputs. One uses adsorption, the other uses absorption, but both remove ammonia from the synthesis loop, avoiding one of Haber-Bosch's major limiting factors: separation of the product ammonia.
In late August, the day before the exciting solar eclipse, the Ammonia Economy symposium was held as part of the Energy and Fuels Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Washington DC. This marks the third gathering of Ammonia related research since 2015 at the national level ACS conference. This year, in addition to the important focus on chemistries for the utilization of ammonia, the rapidly developing field of homogeneous catalysts and biological processes for nitrogen fixation was included as a major theme.
“Carbon-free ammonia needs to be a significant contributor to the H2@Scale initiative.” This was one of the “key takeaways” offered by Steve Szymanski, Director of Business Development at the hydrogen generator company Proton On-Site, during his presentation at the H2@Scale Workshop that was held on May 23-24 at the University of Houston in the U.S. By the time Szymanski left the podium, ammonia energy had moved a good distance from the periphery of the H2@Scale conceptual map toward its center.
Last week, ARPA-E announced funding for eight technologies that aim to make ammonia from renewable electricity, air, and water. The technological pathways being developed include adaptations of the Haber-Bosch process - seeking improvements in catalysts and absorbents - as well as novel electrochemical processes.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will present a Webinar on December 21 on "Distributed Ammonia Synthesis." The presenter will be Edward L. Cussler, Distinguished Institute Professor at the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department of the University of Minnesota. Distributed ammonia synthesis is one focus related to ammonia energy at the University of Minnesota - but just one. In fact, UMinn is the locus of a unique and globally significant collection of research efforts that promise to have significant impacts in the ammonia industry and the broader energy sector.
NH3 Fuel Association President Norm Olson presented his paper “NH3 – the Optimal Liquid Transportation Fuel” on November 9 at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The AIChE meeting, held over six days in San Francisco, provided a wide-ranging perspective on the sustainable energy landscape that ammonia energy must compete within.
The team at the University of Minnesota announced last month the award of funding for a demonstration project entitled "Clean Vehicles Fueled by Hydrogen from Renewable Ammonia." This project builds on years of research and investment in renewable ammonia at University of Minnesota, most visibly the prototype wind-to-ammonia production plant operating since 2014 at West Central Research and Outreach Center. Their focus now, however, is shifting to the use of ammonia as a fuel. "The overall objective of the project is to displace up to 50% of the diesel fuel used in tractors with anhydrous ammonia produced from renewable resources."
