Earlier this year, the Japanese shipping giant declared a strategic direction which included a substantial role for low carbon ammonia. In our latest episode of Maritime Insights we explored the scope of this new strategy, MOL’s future fuels roadmap, and the wide range of initiatives in play to construct a full value chain for fuel ammonia (including mega-scale production projects).
In Japan, NYK and TBG will develop a new ammonia bunkering boom to help reduce ammonia leakage during fuel transfers. On the newbuild front, Stolt Tanker’s six newbuild vessels will have the option of being retrofitted for ammonia propulsion, including the recently delivered Bochem Houston. Wallenius’ four “next generation” vessels will be initially methanol powered, with the option to run on ammonia.
Learn how Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) is establishing a key role for clean ammonia in its holistic group strategy: and not just as an alternative maritime fuel.
Our June episode of Ammonia Project Features focused on a new project in Niigata prefecture, which will demonstrate low-carbon, fossil-based ammonia production with a capacity of 500 tonnes per year. As part of the project, Japanese government organization JOGMEC will work with INPEX to develop enhanced gas recovery & CO2 sequestration monitoring technologies. Tsubame BHB will deploy its low-temperature, low-pressure ammonia synthesis technology based on an electride-supported catalyst developed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Mitsui OSK Lines has released an alternative fuel roadmap as part of its new environmental strategy, with a significant role for hydrogen & ammonia fuels starting from later this decade. The roadmap is complemented by a new strategic investment in ammonia fuel production in the US, and new partnerships in Singapore & Australia. Learn more about MOL’s future ammonia plans in our upcoming episode of Maritime Ammonia Insights.
A new MoU between WinGD and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding will see the deployment of WinGD’s X-DF-A ammonia-fueled engines to a range of vessels. In Norway, Wärtsilä has unveiled a safety system designed for continuous onboard monitoring of ammonia leaks, featuring a staged combustion process to deal with accidental releases. And classification society DNV has awarded AiP to two significant ammonia-fueled vessel designs: the MS NoGAPs, and Viridis Bulk Carriers’ short sea bulk carrier.
Meet JOGMEC and Tsubame BHB to explore a new CCS-based ammonia production project in Japan, utilising enhanced gas recovery (EGR) for CCS, as well as Tsubame’s alternative technology to Haber-Bosch for ammonia synthesis.
ABS has used computational fluid dynamics to model ammonia dispersion patterns in a ship’s engine room, with the aim of producing a fast, real-time response system for ammonia leaks. In Japan, a fuel supply system for large-scale, low-speed, two-stroke marine engines is undergoing final verification testing. Mitsubishi Shipbuilding aims to become a key technology provider of such systems, and in the ammonia maritime fuel space.
Successful testing has been completed at IHI’s facilities in Ota, Japan. A four-stroke marine engine - fully integrated with exhaust gas aftertreatment and fuel supply systems - produced stable operations running on up to 80% ammonia fuel. Emissions of dinitrogen monoxide (N2O) and ammonia slip were reported as “virtually zero”.
Key elements of Japan’s Green Transformation (GX) push have been unveiled, including policy support for the implementation of ammonia energy solutions, and a $1 trillion total public-private investment package. A subsidy scheme to address the price difference between hydrogen, ammonia and fossil fuels is included, with a nominal price tag of $36 billion, running into the 2030s.