IRENA's new report explores the available options and actions needed en route to a decarbonised global shipping sector by 2050. A pivotal role is forecast for renewable ammonia, with 183 million tonnes per year (the current volume of annual global ammonia production) to be required by 2050 for maritime fuel.
ACME has selected KBR to provide ammonia synthesis technology for its new green hydrogen & ammonia production facility to be built in Duqm, Oman. The project was first announced in March 2021, and has now grown to $3.5 billion in investment size, with energy to be provided by 3 GW of solar panels and 0.5 GW onshore wind power. The 2,400 tonnes per day (or 0.9 million tonnes per year) renewable ammonia facility is planned to be operational in 2022.
A new agreement between H2 Bolivia and the Government of Oruro will see a 500,000 tonne per year green ammonia plant built in the country. Taking advantage of the "unmatched solar irradiance" in the Oruro region, a solar farm will power 490 MW of electrolysers at the plant, with enough land acquired to expand the project well beyond the initial capacity target.
A group of multinational, consumer-facing organisations including Amazon, Ikea, Michelin and Unilever have committed to using only zero-emission ships to transport their cargo by 2040. As a group and as individuals, coZEV members intend to set ambitious interim goals, and lobby policymakers to bring about the necessary regulatory changes.
Air Products will lead construction of a USD 4.5 billion, 20 million cubic metres-per-day blue hydrogen & ammonia production plant in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Hydrocarbon feedstock will be used to produce hydrogen, with carbon emissions captured and permanently sequestered (the project will be the single largest instance of permanent sequestration in the world).
Eidesvik Offshore and Wärtsilä will cooperate in the world's first ammonia conversion project, with an existing offshore supply vessel (OSV) to be retrofitted with an ammonia-fueled combustion engine, fuel supply and safety system. The project has a completion date of late 2023. In the engine space, MAN ES has signed a new agreement with Mitsui E&S and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) to have purchase contracts for its low-speed, ammonia-fueled main vessel engine finalised in 2023.
Acknowledging that a coordinated, national-level approach is urgently needed to create a viable hydrogen industry in Australia, the Australian Hydrogen Council (AHC) has set out a series of recommendations in their new white paper. AHC sees ammonia as playing an important role in an emerging Australian hydrogen industry, particularly as an immediate end-use application for clean hydrogen. We sat down with AHC's CEO Fiona Simon to learn more.
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published the Ammonia Technology Roadmap, in which the pathway to nitrogen fertilizer production up to 2050 was highlighted. Various scenarios were introduced, ranging from a baseline scenario to a sustainable development scenario (SDS) and a net zero emissions (NZE) by 2050 scenario. Demand, decarbonization costs and technology pathways were all explored in detail.
Two new MoUs were signed this week to develop green ammonia export projects in Australia: one between H2U and Gladstone Ports Corporation, and one between Origin Energy and J-POWER.
Three renewable and carbon-negative ammonia production projects to explore this week in Australia: Gibson Island (Incitec Pivot and Fortescue Future Industries), Bundaberg and Port Anthony (both CAC-H2 joint ventures).