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Starfire Energy

Article

Ensuring credible data inputs for ammonia certification

This session of our 2023 annual conference explored the need for high quality data as an input to ammonia certification. The panel featured Jennifer Beach (Starfire Energy), Lara Owens (MiQ), Jim Seely (Authentix), Selim Sevikel (Global CCS Institute), and Rajiv Sabharwal (Bureau Veritas).

This issue is a key focus for the AEA, as our under-development ammonia certification system will require auditable data from a host of stakeholders – including gas and electricity suppliers, CO2 offtakers, and others – in order to calculate a true and trustworthy carbon footprint.

Article

Production technology updates: from mega-scale to distributed ammonia

Recently, KBR launched its Ammonia 10,000 technology for newbuild ammonia plants, tripling the largest available single train capacity to 10,000 metric tonnes per day. In our latest Technology Insights article, we explore the other pieces of the puzzle required for mega-scale ammonia, as well as some updates from the other end of the spectrum, with three distributed, small-scale ammonia synthesis systems under development in North America.

Paper

Economic analysis for hydrogen – ammonia decarbonization of a natural gas plant – a phased approach

This paper summarizes a comprehensive technical and economic analysis of a hydrogen-ammonia upgrade to an existing 42 MW natural gas plant. A phased approach is carefully chosen which deploys low-carbon technology in modules which are palatable by large-scale utility customers. The objective is to minimize capital costs of the conversion while maximizing decarbonization as each phase is deployed. A phased approach delivers optionality to utilities which are often locked into carbon-emitting technologies by protracted investment durations. Phase one details implementation of an on-site thermal pyrolysis system. Existing natural gas infrastructure and plant waste heat are used to provide clean hydrogen.…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s Prometheus ammonia cracking technology

The lowest cost way to use ammonia as a fuel is as an intact NH3 molecule. However, its slow flame speed can cause challenges managing flame stability, ammonia slip, and nitrogen oxide formation. Some fuel cells also require hydrogen, rather than ammonia. Ammonia cracking can solve these problems by providing either a NH3 + H2 + N2 blend or, with appropriate processing, pure hydrogen. Starfire Energy’s Prometheus cracking technology is a unique approach that uses an oxide catalyst bonded to a metal foil substrate. It provides excellent opportunities to power the cracking reaction with both waste combustion heat or purpose-generated…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s Rapid Ramp modular ammonia plant development status and trajectory

Starfire Energy has transformed from a grant-funded company to an investment-funded company. We are scaling up our Rapid Ramp ammonia production technology to provide renewable, flexible, modular ammonia fuel plants specifically designed to seamlessly integrate with naturally varying renewable power. We will provide an update on the status of our prototype modular Rapid Ramp pilot plant. We will also discuss the development path for mass produced modular plants and illustrate how they will provide the means to make affordable carbon-free NH3 fuel at a broad range of plant sizes and help drive ammonia fuel use to “fuel relevance” and onward…

Article

The Ammonia Wrap: new funding and investment for ammonia energy rolls in, next steps for Uruguay, and Sumitomo to develop a hydrogen “ecosystem” in regional Australia

Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. This week: new funding and investment for ammonia energy (Starfire Energy, GenCell, Syzygy Plasmonics and Hazer Group), marine engines from the "Ammoniamot" consortium, Uruguay's national hydrogen strategy takes another step, Onahama Port to investigate hydrogen & ammonia imports and Sumitomo to develop Gladstone's hydrogen "ecosystem".

Article

Cracking Ammonia: panel wrap-up from the Ammonia Energy Conference

When should we be cracking ammonia? How much should we be cracking? How could better cracking technologies open up new end uses? What are the critical challenges still to be overcome for cracking ammonia? On November 17, 2020, the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) hosted a panel discussion moderated by Bill David from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), as well as panel members Josh Makepeace from the University of Birmingham, Joe Beach from Starfire Energy, Gennadi Finkelshtain from GenCell Energy, Camel Makhloufi from ENGIE, and Michael Dolan from Fortescue as part of the recent Ammonia Energy Conference. All panelists agreed that cracking technology as it stands has a number of key areas to be optimised, particularly catalyst improvements and energy efficiency. But, successful demonstrations of modular, targeted cracking solutions are accelerating the conversation forward.

Paper

Starfire Energy’s ammonia cracking and cracked gas purification technology

Ammonia cracking is important for both combustion and fuel cell applications. Starfire Energy has verified that a blend of 70% ammonia + 30% cracked ammonia can burn well in a conventional natural gas burner with very low ammonia slip and acceptable NOx using a stoichiometric fuel-air mixture. A 10 MW turbine or internal combustion engine using such a blend will need about 1.44 tonnes of cracked ammonia per hour. Starfire Energy’s monolith-supported cracking catalyst may be ideally suited for this application. Fully cracked ammonia retains several thousand parts per million of ammonia due to thermodynamic limitations. Residual ammonia can damage…

Paper

High Flow Ammonia Cracking between 400-600°C

Traditional ammonia cracking is achieved at 850-950 °C in the presence of a nickel catalyst. The reaction is highly endothermic, and maintaining these high temperatures at high flow rates of ammonia gas can be difficult. Here, we present work using our advanced ammonia synthesis catalyst in an ammonia cracking setup. We use a metallic monolith catalyst support to minimize pressure drop at high flow rates. Full NH3 cracking occurs at 600 °C, with the onset of cracking at 400 °C. An output flame can be achieved with a fully tunable ratio of hydrogen to ammonia, depending on the temperature setpoint…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s 10 Kg/Day Rapid Ramp NH3 System Development

Starfire Energy is building a 10 kg/day NH3 synthesis system using its low pressure Rapid Ramp NH3 process. The system includes hydrogen production by proton exchange membrane electrolyzer, nitrogen production by pressure swing adsorption, NH3 synthesis, and liquid NH3 storage. The tight coupling of the hydrogen, nitrogen, and NH3 processes require minimal reactant buffering. The system design, status, and preliminary performance will be discussed.

Article

NH3 Energy Implementation Conference: A Brief Report

The 2018 NH3 Energy Implementation Conference, the first of its kind, took place on November 1 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the U.S. The focus of the Conference was on steps – current and future – that will lead to implementation of ammonia energy in the global economy.  At the highest level, the Conference results validated the relevance and timeliness of the theme.  In the words of closing speaker Grigorii Soloveichik, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E REFUEL Program, the Conference strengthened his confidence that “ammonia is a great energy carrier ... with billions of dollars of potential in prospective markets.”

Paper

Rapid Ramp NH3 Prototype Reactor Update

Starfire Energy has built and operated a low pressure, fast-ramping prototype reactor using its Rapid Ramp NH3 process. It has synthesized, captured, and liquefied NH3 with all system pressures staying below 12.5 bar. The prototype reactor’s performance will be discussed.

Paper

Advanced Catalysts Development for Small, Distributed, Clean Haber-Bosch Reactors

The traditional Haber-Bosch (HB) synthesis of anhydrous ammonia will adapt to clean power by sourcing the hydrogen from renewable electrolysis. However, the very large scale of current HB plant designs are not well-matched to smaller and more distributed clean power resources. Plant/reactor designs need to be made at a smaller scale in order to best utilize clean hydrogen. Small, megawatt scale HB reactors have an additional advantage of being better able ramp up and down with variable renewable power. This talk will detail ARPA-e funded work into the design and optimization of these smaller, clean NH3 reactors, which utilize much…

Article

Improvement of Haber-Bosch: Adsorption vs. Absorption

At the recent NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, Grigorii Soloveichik described the future of ammonia synthesis technologies as a two-way choice: Improvement of Haber-Bosch or Electrochemical Synthesis. Two such Haber-Bosch improvement projects, which received ARPA-E-funding under Soloveichik's program direction, also presented papers at the conference. They each take different approaches to the same problem: how to adapt the high-pressure, high-temperature, constant-state Haber-Bosch process to small-scale, intermittent renewable power inputs. One uses adsorption, the other uses absorption, but both remove ammonia from the synthesis loop, avoiding one of Haber-Bosch's major limiting factors: separation of the product ammonia.

Paper

Fast-Ramping Reactor for CO2-Free NH3 Synthesis

Starfire Energy is developing a fast-ramping reactor for making CO2-free NH3 for fuel, energy storage, and agricultural applications. A fast-ramping reactor is desired to follow (a) variable electricity generation from CO2-free sources such wind and solar power plants or (b) variable availability from CO2-free baseload electricity generation such as nuclear or hydroelectric power plants. The reactor builds upon the Haber-Bosch process by (a) introducing a higher activity supported Ru catalyst (over 4.5 mmol g-1 h-1 at 1 atm and over 45 mmol g-1 h-1 at 10 atm) and (b) further enhancing the catalysis by applying an electric potential or electric…

Article

NH3 Fuel Association announces New Sponsor; Evening Reception at AIChE Annual Meeting on November 1st

The NH3 Fuel Association has finalized details of its Sponsors Reception on Wednesday November 1 at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, and has also announced an additional sponsor for the conference: Starfire Energy.

Article

Ensuring credible data inputs for ammonia certification

This session of our 2023 annual conference explored the need for high quality data as an input to ammonia certification. The panel featured Jennifer Beach (Starfire Energy), Lara Owens (MiQ), Jim Seely (Authentix), Selim Sevikel (Global CCS Institute), and Rajiv Sabharwal (Bureau Veritas).

This issue is a key focus for the AEA, as our under-development ammonia certification system will require auditable data from a host of stakeholders – including gas and electricity suppliers, CO2 offtakers, and others – in order to calculate a true and trustworthy carbon footprint.

Article

Production technology updates: from mega-scale to distributed ammonia

Recently, KBR launched its Ammonia 10,000 technology for newbuild ammonia plants, tripling the largest available single train capacity to 10,000 metric tonnes per day. In our latest Technology Insights article, we explore the other pieces of the puzzle required for mega-scale ammonia, as well as some updates from the other end of the spectrum, with three distributed, small-scale ammonia synthesis systems under development in North America.

Article

The Ammonia Wrap: new funding and investment for ammonia energy rolls in, next steps for Uruguay, and Sumitomo to develop a hydrogen “ecosystem” in regional Australia

Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. This week: new funding and investment for ammonia energy (Starfire Energy, GenCell, Syzygy Plasmonics and Hazer Group), marine engines from the "Ammoniamot" consortium, Uruguay's national hydrogen strategy takes another step, Onahama Port to investigate hydrogen & ammonia imports and Sumitomo to develop Gladstone's hydrogen "ecosystem".

Article

Cracking Ammonia: panel wrap-up from the Ammonia Energy Conference

When should we be cracking ammonia? How much should we be cracking? How could better cracking technologies open up new end uses? What are the critical challenges still to be overcome for cracking ammonia? On November 17, 2020, the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) hosted a panel discussion moderated by Bill David from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), as well as panel members Josh Makepeace from the University of Birmingham, Joe Beach from Starfire Energy, Gennadi Finkelshtain from GenCell Energy, Camel Makhloufi from ENGIE, and Michael Dolan from Fortescue as part of the recent Ammonia Energy Conference. All panelists agreed that cracking technology as it stands has a number of key areas to be optimised, particularly catalyst improvements and energy efficiency. But, successful demonstrations of modular, targeted cracking solutions are accelerating the conversation forward.

Article

NH3 Energy Implementation Conference: A Brief Report

The 2018 NH3 Energy Implementation Conference, the first of its kind, took place on November 1 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the U.S. The focus of the Conference was on steps – current and future – that will lead to implementation of ammonia energy in the global economy.  At the highest level, the Conference results validated the relevance and timeliness of the theme.  In the words of closing speaker Grigorii Soloveichik, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E REFUEL Program, the Conference strengthened his confidence that “ammonia is a great energy carrier ... with billions of dollars of potential in prospective markets.”

Article

Improvement of Haber-Bosch: Adsorption vs. Absorption

At the recent NH3 Energy+ Topical Conference, Grigorii Soloveichik described the future of ammonia synthesis technologies as a two-way choice: Improvement of Haber-Bosch or Electrochemical Synthesis. Two such Haber-Bosch improvement projects, which received ARPA-E-funding under Soloveichik's program direction, also presented papers at the conference. They each take different approaches to the same problem: how to adapt the high-pressure, high-temperature, constant-state Haber-Bosch process to small-scale, intermittent renewable power inputs. One uses adsorption, the other uses absorption, but both remove ammonia from the synthesis loop, avoiding one of Haber-Bosch's major limiting factors: separation of the product ammonia.

Article

NH3 Fuel Association announces New Sponsor; Evening Reception at AIChE Annual Meeting on November 1st

The NH3 Fuel Association has finalized details of its Sponsors Reception on Wednesday November 1 at the AIChE Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, and has also announced an additional sponsor for the conference: Starfire Energy.

Paper

Economic analysis for hydrogen – ammonia decarbonization of a natural gas plant – a phased approach

This paper summarizes a comprehensive technical and economic analysis of a hydrogen-ammonia upgrade to an existing 42 MW natural gas plant. A phased approach is carefully chosen which deploys low-carbon technology in modules which are palatable by large-scale utility customers. The objective is to minimize capital costs of the conversion while maximizing decarbonization as each phase is deployed. A phased approach delivers optionality to utilities which are often locked into carbon-emitting technologies by protracted investment durations. Phase one details implementation of an on-site thermal pyrolysis system. Existing natural gas infrastructure and plant waste heat are used to provide clean hydrogen.…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s Prometheus ammonia cracking technology

The lowest cost way to use ammonia as a fuel is as an intact NH3 molecule. However, its slow flame speed can cause challenges managing flame stability, ammonia slip, and nitrogen oxide formation. Some fuel cells also require hydrogen, rather than ammonia. Ammonia cracking can solve these problems by providing either a NH3 + H2 + N2 blend or, with appropriate processing, pure hydrogen. Starfire Energy’s Prometheus cracking technology is a unique approach that uses an oxide catalyst bonded to a metal foil substrate. It provides excellent opportunities to power the cracking reaction with both waste combustion heat or purpose-generated…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s Rapid Ramp modular ammonia plant development status and trajectory

Starfire Energy has transformed from a grant-funded company to an investment-funded company. We are scaling up our Rapid Ramp ammonia production technology to provide renewable, flexible, modular ammonia fuel plants specifically designed to seamlessly integrate with naturally varying renewable power. We will provide an update on the status of our prototype modular Rapid Ramp pilot plant. We will also discuss the development path for mass produced modular plants and illustrate how they will provide the means to make affordable carbon-free NH3 fuel at a broad range of plant sizes and help drive ammonia fuel use to “fuel relevance” and onward…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s ammonia cracking and cracked gas purification technology

Ammonia cracking is important for both combustion and fuel cell applications. Starfire Energy has verified that a blend of 70% ammonia + 30% cracked ammonia can burn well in a conventional natural gas burner with very low ammonia slip and acceptable NOx using a stoichiometric fuel-air mixture. A 10 MW turbine or internal combustion engine using such a blend will need about 1.44 tonnes of cracked ammonia per hour. Starfire Energy’s monolith-supported cracking catalyst may be ideally suited for this application. Fully cracked ammonia retains several thousand parts per million of ammonia due to thermodynamic limitations. Residual ammonia can damage…

Paper

High Flow Ammonia Cracking between 400-600°C

Traditional ammonia cracking is achieved at 850-950 °C in the presence of a nickel catalyst. The reaction is highly endothermic, and maintaining these high temperatures at high flow rates of ammonia gas can be difficult. Here, we present work using our advanced ammonia synthesis catalyst in an ammonia cracking setup. We use a metallic monolith catalyst support to minimize pressure drop at high flow rates. Full NH3 cracking occurs at 600 °C, with the onset of cracking at 400 °C. An output flame can be achieved with a fully tunable ratio of hydrogen to ammonia, depending on the temperature setpoint…

Paper

Starfire Energy’s 10 Kg/Day Rapid Ramp NH3 System Development

Starfire Energy is building a 10 kg/day NH3 synthesis system using its low pressure Rapid Ramp NH3 process. The system includes hydrogen production by proton exchange membrane electrolyzer, nitrogen production by pressure swing adsorption, NH3 synthesis, and liquid NH3 storage. The tight coupling of the hydrogen, nitrogen, and NH3 processes require minimal reactant buffering. The system design, status, and preliminary performance will be discussed.

Paper

Rapid Ramp NH3 Prototype Reactor Update

Starfire Energy has built and operated a low pressure, fast-ramping prototype reactor using its Rapid Ramp NH3 process. It has synthesized, captured, and liquefied NH3 with all system pressures staying below 12.5 bar. The prototype reactor’s performance will be discussed.

Paper

Advanced Catalysts Development for Small, Distributed, Clean Haber-Bosch Reactors

The traditional Haber-Bosch (HB) synthesis of anhydrous ammonia will adapt to clean power by sourcing the hydrogen from renewable electrolysis. However, the very large scale of current HB plant designs are not well-matched to smaller and more distributed clean power resources. Plant/reactor designs need to be made at a smaller scale in order to best utilize clean hydrogen. Small, megawatt scale HB reactors have an additional advantage of being better able ramp up and down with variable renewable power. This talk will detail ARPA-e funded work into the design and optimization of these smaller, clean NH3 reactors, which utilize much…

Paper

Fast-Ramping Reactor for CO2-Free NH3 Synthesis

Starfire Energy is developing a fast-ramping reactor for making CO2-free NH3 for fuel, energy storage, and agricultural applications. A fast-ramping reactor is desired to follow (a) variable electricity generation from CO2-free sources such wind and solar power plants or (b) variable availability from CO2-free baseload electricity generation such as nuclear or hydroelectric power plants. The reactor builds upon the Haber-Bosch process by (a) introducing a higher activity supported Ru catalyst (over 4.5 mmol g-1 h-1 at 1 atm and over 45 mmol g-1 h-1 at 10 atm) and (b) further enhancing the catalysis by applying an electric potential or electric…