Last week we presented the first episode in our monthly webinar series: Ammonia Energy Live. Every month we’ll explore the wonderful world of ammonia energy and the role it will play in global decarbonisation - with an Australian twist. To kick things off we wanted to set the scene for 2021 and give you a sense of where the ammonia transition is at - key projects, key milestones and things to be excited about going forward. And, since this is an Australian-focused series, we wanted to explore what’s important about Australia to the ongoing work of the AEA.

This week, the NH3 Fuel Association published the full technical schedule for the NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, which will be hosted within the AIChE Annual Meeting, on October 31, 2018, in Pittsburgh, PA. Featuring more than 50 oral presentations, this year's event will be our busiest yet. Speakers and co-authors from 16 countries, and 18 states across the USA, will present research and development from 68 separate companies and research institutions. Registration for the AIChE Annual Meeting is now open, with reduced rates until September 17. Full details are at the NH3 Fuel Association website.

The NH3 Fuel Association has announced that Shigeru Muraki, Director of Japan's SIP Energy Carriers Program and Chairman of the Green Ammonia Consortium, will give the keynote address at the NH3 Energy Implementation Conference, which will take place on November 1, in Pittsburgh, PA. Other details of the Implementation Conference were released at the same time.

The NH3 Fuel Association has exciting plans for the 15th annual NH3 Fuel Conference! Our 2018 offering will have much in common with the 2017 edition, but will also embody significant departures. As was the case in 2017, our annual event will be held over two days, scheduled in alignment with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting. The key difference for 2018 is that it won’t be a single two-day conference; rather it will take the form of two separate conferences held on consecutive days. 

During our NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, hosted within AIChE's Annual Meeting earlier this month, an entire day of presentations was devoted to new technologies to make industrial ammonia production more sustainable. One speaker perfectly articulated the broad investment drivers, technology trends, and recent R&D achievements in this area: the US Department of Energy's ARPA-E Program Director, Grigorii Soloveichik, who posed this question regarding the future of ammonia production: "Improvement of Haber-Bosch Process or Electrochemical Synthesis?"

Unlike some technology areas where “all of the above” has significant advantages, there are tremendous advantages associated with choosing a single, optimized, liquid transportation fuel. The cost, efficiency and environmental benefits associated with choosing an optimized liquid transportation fuel are enormous and merit serious consideration. NH3 most closely meets the criteria for an ideal liquid transportation fuel. It is the most efficient and cost-effective means of delivering hydrogen and has an extensive world-wide delivery system already in place. Using currently available catalytic controls, NH3 emissions can be even cleaner than hydrogen engine emissions. While NH3 can effectively be produced using…

NH3 Fuel Association President Norm Olson made three announcements this week about specific aspects of the “NH3 Energy+: Enabling Optimized, Sustainable Energy and Agriculture” Topical Conference. The Topical Conference will be held on Wednesday November 1 and Thursday November 2 as part of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Annual Meeting in Minneapolis in the U.S. The first announcement pertains to a conference registration discount for members of the NH3 Fuel Association (NH3FA).

A guest editorial by Norm Olson, President of the NH3 Fuel Association. In 2004, the NH3 Fuel Association began promoting NH₃ as the best alternative fuel choice to replace gasoline and diesel fuel. Recently, I have been using the "NH₃ Energy+" title in place of "NH₃ Fuel" in presentations to illustrate that the benefits of NH₃ go beyond fuels and go beyond energy storage (as important as these two items are). NH₃ also provides a tremendous opportunity to significantly improve world food security and enable sustainable, local food production.

“Ammonia Energy Arrives on World Stage.” This could have been the headline for today's story about the 2017 NH3 Fuel Conference that will be staged in conjunction with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). But that would be hyperbolic and would also single out just one step of ammonia energy's rise to global prominence. Nonetheless, the full-day event, officially entitled, “NH3 Energy+: Enabling Optimized, Sustainable Energy and Agriculture,” is unquestionably a milestone on the journey.

NH3 Fuel Association President Norm Olson presented his paper “NH3 – the Optimal Liquid Transportation Fuel” on November 9 at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The AIChE meeting, held over six days in San Francisco, provided a wide-ranging perspective on the sustainable energy landscape that ammonia energy must compete within.

NH3: The Optimal Alternative Fuel Norm Olson, NH3 Fuel Association

Wrap-up / (Fast) Forward John Holbrook, Executive Director, NH3 Fuel Association / NHThree

This paper provides an overview of the impressive attributes of NH3 as a fuel. NH3 is the closet thing to an ideal fuel due to its production flexibility, competitive cost, infrastructure cost/availability, efficiency, environmental performance, and safety. This year’s presentation will emphasize why NH3 is the best bridge fuel between fossil and renewable fuels and why it is relatively simple to make NH3 safe enough to meet the most stringent fuel safety standards.

Remembering a Special Friend of NH3 Fuel — Guy Toyama John Holbrook, Executive Director, NH3 Fuel Association

Who’s Driving NH3 as a Fuel? Casey Stack, NH3 Fuel Association