Aramco is targeting production of 11 million tonnes per year of low-carbon ammonia by 2030, among a raft of new sustainability goals announced this week. Aramco’s target for renewable energy generating capacity target (12 GW) will be met by its involvement in the new ammonia Supergiant the Saudi Arabia Renewable Energy Hub, but the source of low-carbon ammonia production is not yet clear.
Two updates from AFC Energy:
1. The “Power Tower”, a 10kW, ammonia-fueled, off-grid power was launched last month, with Keltbray and Acciona to deploy modular units on construction sites mid-year.
2. The launch of Extreme-H off road racing, with green methanol and ammonia likely to act as hydrogen carriers for the hydrogen-fueled racing championship.
Three key first-movers at Ammonia Energy - NEOM, Yara and Fertiberia - have all made significant steps towards green ammonia production in recent times. With the launch of a new subsidiary to develop hydrogen & ammonia production, NEOM can possibly begin construction of its green hydrogen plant this month. Also this week, Yara held a groundbreaking ceremony at Heroya, with the intention to bring green ammonia and fertilisers to market by mid-2023. And a few months ago in December, green hydrogen storage tanks arrived at Fertiberia’s Puertollano ammonia plant, ready for installation.
thyssenkrupp will engineer, procure and fabricate a 2 GW+ electrolysis plant at the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia, based on their 20 MW alkaline water electrolysis module. The plant is scheduled to start production in 2026, with hydrogen from the facility will be used to make ammonia for export to global markets. At the Port of Rotterdam, thyssenkrupp will also take the lead on Shell's 200 MW, ‘Holland Hydrogen I’ project, with hydrogen production scheduled to start in 2024.
InterContinental Energy have just announced their fourth ammonia "Supergiant": the Saudi Arabia Renewable Energy Hub (SAREH). At this stage details are limited, but the new collaboration between InterContinental, Saudi Aramco and Modern Industrial Investment Holding Group forms part of a wider decarbonisation push by the Kingdom. Aramco's ultimate goal is to achieve net-zero for Scope 1 & 2 emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050.
This week: 45 GW mega-project in Kazakhstan, world-first industrial "dynamic" green ammonia plant, Japan's Idemitsu to use Tokuyama facility for ammonia imports, co-combustion test, more successful funding rounds, green ammonia in Ireland, South Africa's potential to fuel green shipping: new report, Obsky LNG becomes Obsky hydrogen/ammonia and more developments in the Middle East.
South Korea has featured in many Ammonia Energy news updates, but often in a scatter gun fashion that lacked the momentum of ammonia energy announcements coming from the other side of the Korea Strait. Now, South Korea is ready to step out from Japan’s shadow as a clean energy innovator and deployer in its own right. We’re seeing the beginnings of a well-articulated strategy to achieve society-wide decarbonisation in South Korea, with a starring role for clean hydrogen and clean ammonia.
Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. This week: Ørsted unveils its P2X vision for the North Sea, energy trader Gunvor commits $500 million to sustainability, emissions reductions, finance world backs green hydrogen, Hydrofuel and Ontario Tech join forces and a new blue hydrogen/ammonia collaboration.
Organised by a panel of young researchers — and for young researchers — Cardiff University, KAUST and Tohoku University hosted a virtual workshop on ammonia energy. Each group showed their most recent research developments through the two-day event, attracting 50+ participants from the three groups alone. The event included research introductions from the research leaders of each group as well as quizzes, discussion rooms, prizes. Each group selected 6 early career presenters to feature their latest work in the topics of chemistry and microflow reactors, laminar and turbulent flames and applications. Taking advantage of the discussion sessions, this workshop hopes to promote large scale international collaboration and a researcher exchange programme in ammonia energy.