Site items in: Ammonia-Methane Dual Fuel

Aurubis to test using ammonia fuel for copper wire production in Germany
Article

A shipment of thirteen tonnes of CCS-based ammonia has arrived in Hamburg from ADNOC’s al Ruwais ammonia plant near Abu Dhabi. This “demonstration cargo” has been in the works since March this year, when ADNOC signed an agreement with a raft of German organisations, including metals manufacturing giant Aurubis. The ammonia will be trialed as fuel to power copper rod production at Aurubis’ Hamburg smelter.

Low-Carbon Fuels for Power Generation
Presentation

The EPRI-GTI Low Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI) has nine technical subcommittees.  The Power Generation subcommittee currently has 26 active members representing electric, gas and combined electric & gas utilities as well as two gas turbine Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).  Studies, testing and demonstration projects utilizing hydrogen and ammonia as alternate low-carbon energy carriers dominates member interests with hydrogen being most significant. Next steps will include scoping specific topics for “no-regret” studies and soliciting inputs for creating a five-year power generation roadmap.  Current position of the power generation company members:   Alternate Energy Carrier (AEC). Applied R&D on H2 and H2…

Ignition Delay Times of Diluted Mixtures of Ammonia/Methane at Elevated Pressures
Presentation

The present worldwide concern with global warming has stimulated the development of carbon-neutral energy technologies in order to mitigate the need of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases. In this sense, ammonia (NH3) is regarded as one of the most viable alternatives to produce carbon-free energy, presenting high energy density and ease of storage and handling [1]. Furthermore, due to the long-lasting use of ammonia in the fertilizer and refrigerant industries, its possible implementation as a fuel presents an unmatched economic feasibility, when compared to other carbon-free alternatives [2]. However, ammonia has proven to be more resilient to…

Performance of Ammonia-Natural Gas Co-Fired Gas Turbine for Power Generation
Presentation

Ammonia is paid special attention as renewable energy carrier [1-3], because it offers advantages in generation, transportation and utilization. Haber-Bosch method is already established as ammonia generation method; large amount of ammonia is already used as fertilizer and chemical raw material. Ammonia can be liquefied at room temperature. Its transport and storage system are already established. Ammonia is cheaper to transport than hydrogen. Ammonia can be used as carbon-free fuel in internal combustion engines as alternative to conventional hydrocarbon fuels. However, it has different combustion characteristics. For example, the nitrogen atom contained in the ammonia molecule, causes high NOx emission…

Green Ammonia Consortium Comes to the Fore in Japan
Article

On December 8, the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun ran a story about the future of coal-fired electricity generation in Japan.  The story touched on topics ranging from the plumbing in a Chugoku Electric generating station to the Trump administration’s idiosyncratic approach to environmental diplomacy.  And it contained this sentence: “Ammonia can become a ‘savior’ of coal-fired power.” Clearly an explanation is in order.

Presentation

Ammonia is a carbon-free fuel, so it has potential to reduce carbon dioxide emission from power plants when used as a fuel. However, combustion characteristics of ammonia are notably different from hydrocarbon fuels, especially regarding NOx emission [1]. The nitrogen atom of the ammonia molecule may cause high NOx emission. Therefore, special techniques to reduce NOx emission are essential for gas turbine combustors which burn ammonia and natural gas. The results of our previous study [2] showed the characteristics of NOx emission in single-stage combustion. In this study, the concept for low-emission combustion in two-stage combustion has been examined numerically…

SIP
Article

To demonstrate the progress of the SIP "Energy Carriers" program, the Japan Science and Technology Agency last week released a video, embedded below, that shows three of its ammonia fuel research and development projects in operation. R&D is often an abstract idea: this video shows what it looks like to generate power from ammonia. As it turns out, fuel cells aren't hugely photogenic. Nonetheless, if a picture is worth a thousand words, this will be a long article.

Power to Ammonia: the Eemshaven case
Article

The Institute for Sustainable Process Technology recently published a feasibility study, Power to Ammonia, looking at the possibility of producing and using ammonia in the renewable power sector. This project is based in The Netherlands and is led by a powerful industrial consortium. I wrote about the feasibility study last month, but it deserves closer attention because it examines three entirely separate business cases for integrating ammonia into a renewable energy economy, centered on three site-specific participants in the study: Nuon at Eemshaven, Stedin at Goeree-Overflakkee, and OCI Nitrogen at Geleen. Over the next few years, the group intends to build pilot projects to develop and demonstrate the necessary technologies. Next month, however, these projects will be an important part of the Power-to-Ammonia Conference, in Rotterdam on May 18-19. This article is the first in a series of three that aims to introduce each business case.

Industrial demonstrations of ammonia fuel in Japan
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Most of the ammonia energy projects I write about are in the research and development phase but, as I've said before, technology transfer from the academic lab to commercial deployment is moving swiftly - especially in Japan. Last week, Nikkei Asian Review published two articles outlining plans by major engineering and power firms to build utility-scale demonstrations using ammonia as a fuel for electricity generation. Both projects aim to reduce the carbon intensity of the Japanese electrical grid, incrementally but significantly, by displacing a portion of the fossil fuels with ammonia. The first project will generate power using an ammonia-coal mix, while the second will combine ammonia with natural gas.