Ammonia. Best pick on marine future fuel technology.

Ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, is produced by bacteria in soil and through the decomposition of organic matter.

A common sight across a variety of industries, ammonia as a fuel emits no CO2 when combusted and can be carbon free when it’s made using renewable energy.

Though precautions must be taken when storing and handling it onboard ships, engines that use ammonia for fuel are at a very advanced stage of development.

Ammonia has traditionally been produced from hydrocarbons, typically using natural gas or even coal as the energy source, but there is potential for carbon capture to reduce the emission footprint, producing so-called ‘blue ammonia’, or for production of so-called ‘green ammonia’ from renewable, non-carbon sources such as wind or solar energy.

Advantages

One of ammonia’s biggest advantages is that it doesn’t contain any molecular carbon, so when it’s combusted in an engine it produces no CO2 emissions.

It’s also a known quantity and, although there’s currently no infrastructure to support its use as a fuel, it’s widely manufactured and traded, primarily for use in the production of fertilisers.

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And it certainly possesses the energy potential to be a viable marine fuel, with an energy density of around 3kWh/litre.

Compared to LNG and hydrogen, ammonia is easier to handle in liquid form as it is stored at around -33C, meaning the fuel storage and delivery systems are less complex and therefore less costly.

Disadvantages.

But ammonia is not without its challenges, which include toxicity, corrosiveness, slow ignition and NOx and possible N2O emissions.

The volume and weight of the storage infrastructure required also has a significant impact on the operating range of vessels.

And of course, it’s a toxic, corrosive and smelly chemical that needs to be handled with care. Read the continue of the story by visiting the source bellow.

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