With installation and testing of ammonia fuel equipment now complete, a 20% ammonia co-firing demonstration will proceed from April to June this year at the Hekinan power plant. JERA and IHI aim for commercial operations to begin around March 2025. JERA is also exploring part ownership and offtake from Exxon Mobil’s CCS ammonia mega-project in Baytown, Texas.
Discussions will commence for the supply, purchase, and sale of ammonia from two of CIP’s ongoing mega-projects - St. Charles in Louisiana and Murchison in Western Australia - to Lotte in South Korea. Meanwhile, Lotte has selected KBR’s synthesis technology for its hydro-ammonia production project in Malaysia.
CCS-based ammonia produced in the USA by Idemitsu, Mitsubishi and Proman is expected to hit the Japanese market by 2030, targeting multiple end uses.
Fortescue Future Industries, Maritime and Port Authority Singapore and a host of supporting organisations announced a world-first marine trial in Singapore harbor last week. The vessel sailed on ammonia and diesel dual-fuel in harbor waters, after being loaded with liquid ammonia fuel at Vopak’s Banyan Terminal on Jurong Island. Two years of vessel development and months of safety and training exercises led up to the trial. MPA and Fortescue report that post-combustion NOx levels from the vessel met local air quality standards for Singapore, with further emissions treatment measures to be applied.
More than €4.7 billion is now available to support the growth of hydrogen derivative imports to the EU. Via its implementation entity Hintco, H2Global has already launched a series of auctions to fund ten-year purchase agreements for methanol, ammonia and SAF.
China is keeping pace with IEA predictions for electrolyzer installations, with as much as 55% of the world’s total capacity to be installed there by 2028. Coupled with strong wind-power resources, domestic manufacturing capabilities and multiple economic drivers to transition away from coal-based ammonia production, China is ideally positioned to speed up the deployment of renewable ammonia projects.
Based on Topsoe’s H2RETAKE™ technology, an ammonia cracking facility owned and run by Approtium will be built in Ulsan, South Korea. Approtium has already secured a supply of ammonia via an offtake agreement signed with Hyphen Hydrogen.
Two new Bills make up a “hydrogen promotion” package submitted to the Japanese parliament. The “Hydrogen Society Promotion Bill”, sets up a framework for awarding subsidies under the GX bonds scheme (a contracts-for-difference program), while the “CCS Business Bill” sets out permitting and monitoring requirements for domestic CCS projects in Japan.
An NYK-led consortium, which includes Japan Engine Corporation, IHI Power Systems and Nihon Shipyard, has announced that a construction contract has been signed with Japan Marine United to build its 40,000 m3 ammonia-fueled medium gas carrier (AFMGC) in Ariake. The vessel is due to be delivered in November 2026.