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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The AI-powered Podcast Player