Aker Clean Hydrogen and Kuehne+Nagel are joining forces to offer a “green container shipping” service for their cargo customers. The pair report that they are already in advanced discussions with ship owners.
Bakken Energy, Mitsubishi Power Americas and MHA Nation have signed a new MoU for the redevelopment of the Great Plains Synfuel Plant: an existing ammonia production facility (>400,000 tonnes per year) near Beulah, North Dakota. The $2 billion facility will be renamed the Great Plains Hydrogen Hub, and is expected to be operational by 2027, producing 348,000 tonnes per year of hydrogen via ATR and CCS.
The South China Morning Post reports that China Energy Investment Corporation has successfully demonstrated co-firing 35% ammonia with coal at a power generation unit in Shandong Province. Further technical details emerged from additional Chinese media outlets, including that the pilot test occurred in a 40 MW coal boiler at the Huaneng Yantai coal power plant, and that NOx emissions were reportedly lower than burning pure coal fuel.
Yara and Lantmännen - northern Europe's leading agricultural cooperative who own multiple food brands - have signed a world-first agreement for the marketing & distribution of fossil-free fertilisers from 2023.
GenCell Energy has announced its ammonia-fed, off-grid power generation system will be widely available to commercial customers next year, with a select number of units to be deployed in 2022. The GenCell FOX™ is an updated version of the A5™ containerised system, and is designed for use in the telecom sector: especially for remote installations with no access to grid power and which need to operate in harsh weather conditions.
This week Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (via subsidiary Mitsubishi Shipbuilding) & Mitsui O.S.K. Lines completed a joint study on the use of floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) for ammonia bunkering. FSRUs open up a suite of new options for future bunkering setups - particularly power generation applications.
This week we explore a trio of announcements out of China:
1. The ammonia-ready vessel Kriti Future has been delivered to owners Avin International.
2. Höegh Autoliners has contracted China Merchants Heavy Industry to build at least four of their new ammonia-ready vessel design: the Aurora-class car carrier. The new builds will meet requirements for DNV GL's methanol and ammonia-ready notation guides.
3. And Swiss-based shipping giant MSC has placed an order for six ammonia-ready container ships from Dalian Shipbuilding in China. The vessels will be powered by WinGD dual-fuel engines, for which retrofits will be available by 2024/5 to run on methanol and ammonia.
The new project will be built in Sauda on Norway's southwestern coast and owned by Hy2gen, Trafigura and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Hy2gen is already developing a similar hydro-ammonia project in Quebec. The plant at Sauda - dubbed the Iverson eFuels project - will feature 240 MW of electrolyser capacity, producing 600 tonnes per day (or more than 200,000 tonnes per year) green ammonia via renewable electricity. Similar to the Quebec project, the partners indicate the produced green ammonia is destined for use as maritime fuel.
A $10 million, five-year NASA University Leadership Initiative grant will allow an academic-industry team to develop new ammonia-fed jet engines. Researchers at the University of Central Florida will lead a team including collaborators from Georgia Tech, Purdue University, GE and Boeing. The proposed design uses liquid ammonia fuel, which is cracked to release hydrogen, which will be burned by the engine. The team is using the Boeing 737-8 aircraft as a baseline for the design.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Fertiberia and Vestas will partner with Enagás (who own Spain's national gas grid) & Naturgy (a Spanish gas & electricity utility) to develop a hydrogen and ammonia mega project in the Aragon region, Spain. At full size, 5 GW of combined wind & solar generating capacity will power 2 GW of electrolysers that produce around 160,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year. Construction of Phase I is due to start at the end of 2023, and includes plans for a state-of-the-art green ammonia production facility that will feed Fertiberia's existing fertiliser plant in Sagunto.