Australia-based Pilot Energy has been approved as a potential low-emission ammonia fuel supplier under the newly-implemented Clean Hydrogen Production Standard (CHPS) scheme in Korea. In Alberta, Korea Southern Power will work with Hydrogen Canada Corporation to jointly develop a 1 million tons per year ammonia production facility.
In this Technology Insights article, we explore the different technology options for low-emission ammonia production from gas feedstock. What are the different energy, carbon capture, scale and maturity trade-offs that need to be considered? What technology choices are project developers currently making?
In our April episode of Project Features, 8 Rivers joined us to discuss its 8RH2 technology for gas-based hydrogen production with carbon capture rates beyond 99%. As well as the technology itself, we explore the Allam-Fetvedt cycle, the deployment of 8RH2 to produce ammonia in Texas, and 8 Rivers’ future plans.
Meet 8 Rivers to learn about their proprietary 8RH2 technology, which allows for CO2 "capture" in excess of 99% from gas-based ammonia production, and their project based on 8RH2, Cormorant Clean Energy, which will produce 880,000 metric tons of “ultra low carbon” ammonia each year from 2027 in Port Arthur, Texas.
8 Rivers will develop the 880,000 tonnes-per-year production facility in Port Arthur, Texas. Utilizing its proprietary 8RH2 hydrogen production process - where captive CO2 molecules are continuously recycled and utilized - 8 Rivers plans to produce ammonia for local use & export markets, including power generation in South Korea.
This week Horisont Energi, Equinor and Vår Energi entered into a new cooperation agreement for development of the Barents Blue facility, and also revealed the project is set to triple in size from 1 million tonnes per year blue ammonia to 3 million.
ANNUAL REVIEW 2019: Blue hydrogen – defined as the version of the element whose production involves carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) – represents an alluring prospect for the energy transition. The primary “blue” feedstocks, natural gas and coal, currently set the low-cost benchmarks for storable energy commodities. With the addition of CCS, they are expected to set the low-cost benchmarks for low-carbon storable energy commodities. Blue ammonia is very much included in this frame of reference since CCS could be applied to the CO2 waste stream from the Haber-Bosch process. But neither blue hydrogen nor blue ammonia are sure things; a variety of technical, financial, regulatory, and social issues could stand in the way of their widespread adoption. But work on new technologies that have the potential to ease the way for blue products has come increasingly into view over the last twelve months.
8 Rivers Capital, the developer of “the Allam Cycle, the only technology that will enable the world to meet all of its climate targets without having to pay more for electricity,” unveiled plans in November 2018 for a “billion-dollar clean energy production site” in New Zealand whose outputs are slated to include low-carbon ammonia. That is a sentence with a lot of angles, and unpacking it will take some effort. So let’s start right in with the Allam Cycle.