Out of all of the alternative fuels being explored as future maritime fuels to underpin shipping’s push towards decarbonisation, Volta Hydrogen director of business development Peter Bryn feels there are several reasons to be bullish on ammonia.
“Ammonia is emerging as the best chemical solution as a replacement to heavy fuel oil,” Mr Bryn told Riviera Maritime Media executive editor and head of business relations Edwin Lampert in an interview.
Mr Bryn is well aware of the challenges that ammonia presents as a maritime fuel but is optimistic that those challenges can be overcome. Volta Hydrogen, a Distributed Power Partners company, will tap into abundant renewable energy in Chile to produce green ammonia.
“Chile is very interesting from a renewable energy perspective because it has the world’s best solar in the north and among the world’s best wind in the south.” Having “access to the cheapest solar power on the planet,” Mr Bryn said, will allow Volta Hydrogen to produce green ammonia from excess stranded power in Chile and “export that energy all over the world to use in different industries,” including the maritime sector.
Well aware of the fuel’s challenges of toxicity and lack of bunkering infrastructure, he feels there is significant potential to bring the costs of production down.
“The place where ammonia really shines is upstream of the vessel,” said Mr Bryn in discussing the value chain of the fuel. He discusses why he feels those costs will come down and what maritime sectors will most likely use ammonia as a fuel.
Mr Bryn presented on ‘Latest developments in ammonia as a maritime fuel,’ at Maritime Air Pollution and Fuel Technologies Americas 2022 in Houston in April.
