Cracking Ammonia
Ammonia cracker: design and safety considerations
Sunborne Systems: bringing keystone technologies to market for the global zero-carbon energy infrastructure
Air Products targets ammonia imports at UK port
Air Products and Associated British Ports will develop a facility at the Port of Immingham for ammonia imports and hydrogen production (ie. cracking). Immingham is one of the UK’s largest ports and sits within Humberside: the UK’s largest industrial cluster. This follows on from a July announcement, which will see Air Products team up with Gunvor to develop an import terminal in Rotterdam, bringing ammonia from Air Products production projects around the world into Europe from 2026.
Syzygy & LOTTE join forces to deploy cracking tech in South Korea
Syzygy Plasmonics, LOTTE and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas announced they will join forces to deploy & test Syzygy’s fully-electric, photocatalytic ammonia cracking reactor at LOTTE Chemical’s HQ in Ulsan, South Korea. Syzygy’s reactor technology uses light from ultra-high-efficiency LEDs to crack ammonia into zero-carbon hydrogen, eliminating combustion emissions usually associated with chemical manufacturing. The announcement is one of several new ammonia collaborations this week, with LOTTE, ITOCHU and Sasol all announcing new agreements.
Ammonia energy funding & acquisitions
SK Innovation has led a successful $46 million capital funding round for New York-based Amogy. The new funds will go towards two ammonia-powered, heavy vehicle demonstration projects: an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer, and an ocean-going cargo ship. H2SITE has closed a successful €12.5 million Series A funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures to expand manufacturing capacity in Spain, and Sweden-based organisation Alfa Laval will acquire RenCat’s patented ammonia reforming technology.
Air Products and Gunvor to develop new import terminal in Rotterdam
Air Products and Gunvor will jointly develop a renewable ammonia import terminal at Gunvor Petroleum’s existing refinery & distribution facilities in Rotterdam Europoort. The partners expect to be providing hydrogen to the Netherlands in 2026, with the new terminal receiving imports of renewable ammonia from Air Products production projects around the world. The new project is now the third ammonia import terminal under development at the Port of Rotterdam, and comes the same week as Dutch gas network operator Gasunie announced that it had started construction of a national hydrogen distribution network in the Netherlands.
Ammonia cracking for maritime applications
Swedish technology developer Metacon has delivered an ammonia cracking prototype unit to Pherousa Green Technologies in Norway for development of an ammonia-fed, zero emissions maritime propulsion system. The prototype itself was developed by Metacon subsidiary Helbio, who report the cracker achieves conversion rates of 99.3% with no ammonia slip, enabling it to feed a high-purity PEM fuel cell.
Government funding for ammonia energy in the UK
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will contribute to three ammonia energy projects via the latest funding round of its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio:
- The Tyseley Ammonia to Green Hydrogen Project near Birmingham, where a demonstration ammonia cracking unit based on H2SITE’s technology will be built to deliver hydrogen transportation fuel.
- The GreeNH3 project from Supercritical, ScottishPower and Proton Ventures to develop a renewable ammonia pilot plant based on Supercritical’s new electrolyser technology.
- And the Ammonia Synthesis Plant from Intermittent Renewable Energy (ASPIRE) project. Partners the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Frazer-Nash Consultancy are developing autonomous renewable ammonia production plants in the UK.