Idemitsu and Mitsubishi Corporation are developing ammonia handling terminals in Japan to meet the production capacity of overseas projects, such as the million-ton-per-year Baytown project led by Exxon.
Ammonia energy giants JERA and Lotte will develop a low-carbon ammonia value chain between Japan and Korea, working alongside the governments of both countries.
ADNOC will acquire a 35% equity stake in the Baytown mega-project, which is targeting the production of 900,000 tons of CCS-based hydrogen per year. Mitsubishi and project lead Exxon will continue negotiations towards a formal offtake and equity agreement.
The biennial SMM event in Hamburg featured a number of ammonia announcements from across the entire fuel value chain, including deployment timelines for MAN’s two-stroke engines, high-pressure fuel pumps, bunker and container ship designs, and technology integration partnerships.
NYK has announced that the tugboat Sakigake has been completed, and will enter three months of commercial trials in Yokohama harbor and Tokyo Bay. Thanks to retrofits, Japan’s first LNG-fueled vessel has now become Japan’s first ammonia-fueled vessel.
An NYK-led consortium has been granted engine room safety accreditation by ClassNK for its ammonia-fueled, medium gas carrier design. The vessel is due to hit the water in 2026. Starting later this decade, NYK has also committed to transport renewable ammonia from Sembcorp’s under-development production project in India to Kyushu, Japan.
Moored in Yokohama Port, the A-Tug was refueled from a shoreside tanker truck with ammonia earlier this month. The ammonia for the demonstration was supplied by Resonac Corporation, and ammonia fuel is to be supplied by JERA once the vessel is delivered for commercial operations in the coming months.
JERA and IHI have successfully concluded a large-scale ammonia co-firing trial at the Hekinan power station. For two months, 20% fuel substitution in the 1 GW-sized Unit 4 was achieved, with stable operations throughout. JERA aims to have commercial ammonia co-firing operations up and running by March 2025.