Amogy Inc. has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from Lloyd’s Register for its ammonia-to-power system for maritime applications.
The AiP covers an ammonia power system that generates electricity from liquid ammonia to power ships. This is achieved by cracking the liquid ammonia to hydrogen, and using the produced hydrogen to generate electrical power through proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
Amogy, backed by investors including Amazon, SK, and Saudi Aramco, has plans for a world-first zero-emission, ammonia-powered maritime demonstration in 2023. This follows previous successful demonstrations of the technology in a drone and a tractor.
Furthermore, Amogy is working with industry partners across the ammonia and shipping value chains to evaluate its power solutions for commercial use in upcoming newbuild and retrofit vessels.
Seonghoon Woo, CEO of Amogy, said: “As we get closer to bringing our system to market, it is critical to solve unique safety challenges for the design and operation of ammonia-fuelled vessels, and our team is committed to working with key partners, such as Lloyd’s Register, to enable its safe adoption by the industry.”
Ammonia offers a significant potential to enable future zero-emission shipping, as the material presents high energy density and favourable economics, supported by existing transportation and storage infrastructure globally, says Amogy.
Trafigura collaboration on H2 transport
The company has also teamed up with Trafigura, one of the largest physical commodity trading groups in the world, to study the use of ammonia as a carrier to transport clean hydrogen from point of production to point of consumption.
Trafigura deploys infrastructure, logistics and financing to connect global producers and consumers of oil and petroleum products, metals and minerals and power and renewables through efficient and sustainable supply chains. The company is looking at future low-carbon sources of energy including technologies that can enable the high-volume transportation of zero emission fuels. Ammonia is viewed as a promising hydrogen carrier due to its high volumetric hydrogen density, enabling economic, long-distance transport of hydrogen.
Amogy and Trafigura will initiate a joint research effort tasked with identifying and assessing scenarios in which ammonia cracking technology can be deployed to support the growing hydrogen market, starting with Europe which is targeting 20 million tonnes of hydrogen consumption by 2030. Using economic models and energy demand forecasts, the two companies will determine the viability and cost effectiveness of industrial scale ammonia crackers.
“At Trafigura, we recognize that hydrogen will need to be transported over long distances, from regions rich in renewable power to demand hubs. Ammonia is a cost competitive carrier of hydrogen which will require cracking at destination to cater to different end uses,” said Margaux Moore, Head of Energy Transition Research at Trafigura. “We believe ammonia cracking will be a key enabling technology for the large scale uptake of clean hydrogen. Our work with Amogy will help us understand the economics of this supply chain, to deliver the most competitive low carbon hydrogen to our customers.”
Amogy has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Amon Maritime, an ammonia-powered shipping and technology company, to advance carbon-free, ammonia power solutions for the global shipping industry.
Amon Maritime is solely focused on commercialising ammonia as fuel in several shipping segments. In 2020, it launched Viridis Bulk Carriers, together with Navigare Logistics and Mosvolds Rederi, which will offer zero carbon shipping in the short sea bulk segment in Europe. Last year, in co-operation with ECONNECT Energy, it launched Azane Fuel Solutions, which will offer safe, cost effective, scalable ammonia bunkering terminals.
