Ammonia: the beer of decarbonization

Editor’s note: There’s some big money flowing into low carbon ammonia right now. Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1.56 billion conditional loan guarantee for Wabash Valley Resources, an Indiana low-carbon ammonia facility. In August, oil and gas producer Woodside Energy spent $2.35 billion on a low-carbon ammonia plant in Texas. Both of these facilities will produce low-carbon ammonia while using carbon capture and storage. We thought it would be a good time to revisit an episode with Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct. He explains how ammonia could be used as a low-carbon fuel in everything from ships to heavy industry. 

The irony of ammonia is that it accounts for a whopping 2% of global emissions, but it could also become an important low-carbon fuel. 

It’s the primary ingredient in agricultural fertilizer. But when combusted, it also emits no carbon, making it a promising low-carbon fuel, too — for ships, heavy industry, and even thermal power plants. 

But making the stuff takes massive amounts of energy, and ammonia’s feedstocks – hydrogen and nitrogen – also require energy.

So what would it take to slash emissions from ammonia production? And how would we actually use ammonia as a low-carbon fuel?

In this episode, Shayle talks to Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct. Julio and a team of colleagues just co-authored a report on low-carbon ammonia for the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum.

They cover topics like:

• Why some countries like Japan, Singapore, and Korea are especially interested in developing ammonia infrastructure
• How ammonia compares to other low-carbon fuels like methanol and hydrogen
• How we would need to retrofit coal and gas power plants to co-fire with ammonia
• Addressing ammonia’s corrosion and toxicity issues
• The areas that need more research, such as ammonia’s impact on air quality and radiative forcing
• Key constraints like human capital and infrastructure

Recommended Resources:

• Innovation for Cool Earth Forum: Low-Carbon Ammonia Roadmap
• Canary: Watch this TED talk to get up to speed on green ammonia and shipping
• Canary: The race is on to build the world’s first ammonia-powered ship
• Chemical & Engineering News: Will Japan run on ammonia?

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