Air Products, a leader in industrial gases and megaproject development, and Haldor Topsoe, a leader in high-performance catalysts and proprietary technology for the chemical and refining industries, have signed a global Alliance Agreement. The two companies will collaborate, using their extensive market network outreach for developing potential projects and the... Read more →

While there is global potential to generate renewable energy at costs already competitive with fossil fuels, a means of storing and transporting this energy at a very large scale is a roadblock to large-scale investment, development and deployment. Ammonia produced from renewables can be a viable liquid fuel replacement for... Read more →

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed an improved catalyst for the synthesis of ammonia by taking the common dehydrating agent calcium hydride and adding fluoride to it. The catalyst facilitates the synthesis of ammonia at merely 50 °C, with an extremely small activation energy of 20... Read more →

Lloyd’s Register (LR) and the University Maritime Advisory Services (UMAS) have published their latest assessment of the current and future fuels available to shipping to help define the optimum solutions as the maritime industry seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Building on research already undertaken by LR and UMAS into... Read more →

Australia-based Woodside has signed an agreement with Japanese companies JERA Inc, Marubeni Corporation and IHI Corporation to undertake a joint study examining the large-scale export of hydrogen as ammonia for use decarbonizing coal-fired power generation in Japan. The consortium has received approval from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä has initiated combustion trials using ammonia. The research will help the company to prepare for the use of ammonia as a fuel that can contribute to reducing both the shipping’s and energy sectors’ greenhouse gas emissions. (Earlier post.) As part of the tests, ammonia was injected... Read more →

By investing in R&D and performing fundamental studies of the different carrier systems and their properties, Topsoe has developed a new and more robust carrier system. This system forms the basis for the new TITAN series of steam reforming catalysts. The series, launched earlier this month at the Nitrogen+Syngas Conference... Read more →

Norway-based energy company Equinor has contracted with Eidesvik Offshore for the Viking Energy supply vessel, which is being retrofitted to make it capable of covering long distances fueled by carbon-free ammonia. The vessel will transport supplies to installations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The Viking Energy. (Photo: Eidesvik Offshore)... Read more →

A new study by University Maritime Advisory Services (UMAS) and Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) prepared for the Global Maritime Forum for the Getting to Zero Coalition, estimates that the cumulative investment needed between 2030 and 2050 to halve shipping’s CO2 emissions amounts to approximately $1-1.4 trillion—an average of $50 billion... Read more →

MISC Berhad, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), Lloyd’s Register and MAN Energy Solutions will work together on a joint development project (JDP) for an ammonia-fueled tanker to support shipping’s drive towards a decarbonized future. The creation of the alliance has been motivated by the partners’ shared belief that the maritime industry... Read more →

A Rutgers-led team has developed a new biomass pretreatment process that could make it much cheaper to produce biofuels such as ethanol from plant waste and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The approach, featuring an ammonia-salt-based solvent that rapidly turns plant fibers into sugars needed to make ethanol, works well... Read more →

Rice University researchers have developed an inorganic method to synthesize ammonia that is both environmentally friendly and can produce the valuable chemical on demand under ambient conditions. The research is described in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The Brown School of Engineering lab of materials scientist Jun Lou... Read more →

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have found a way to synthesize a special type of perovskite that promotes the production of ammonia, which has key applications in fertilizer production and hydrogen energy. This new synthesis process can be carried out at temperatures immensely lower than that of... Read more →

Ammonia, produced via the Haber-Bosch (HB) process, is globally the leading chemical in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. In ammonia plants, hydrogen is generated by steam-methane reforming (SMR) and water-gas shift (WGS) and, subsequently, is purified for the high-pressure ammonia synthesis. Now, a team of researchers in Greece has... Read more →

A study by A.P. Moller - Maersk and Lloyds Register has found that the best opportunities for decarbonizing shipping lie in finding new sustainable energy sources. Based on market projections, the best positioned fuels for research and development into net zero fuels for shipping are alcohol, biomethane, and ammonia. Energy... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Delaware have demonstrated a direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC) prototype with a peak power density of 135 mW cm−2. The DAFC employs an ammonia-tolerant precious-metal-free cathode catalyst and a high-temperature-stable hydroxide exchange membrane. Their paper is publishedin the journal Joule. The researchers started by analyzing... Read more →

A team at the University of Delaware has demonstrated a direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC) prototype with a peak power density of 135 mW cm-2 at 80 ˚C. The DAFC employs an ammonia-tolerant precious-metal-free cathode catalyst (Acta 4020) and a high-temperature-stable hydroxide exchange membrane (HEM). A paper on the work... Read more →

More than 100 years after the introduction of the Haber–Bosch process, scientists continue to search for alternative ammonia production routes that are less energy-demanding. A team from the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou has now discovered that black phosphorus is an excellent catalyst for the electroreduction of nitrogen... Read more →

For the first time thyssenkrupp has produced ammonia from steel mill gases, marking the first time in the world that steel mill gases, including the CO2 they contain, have been converted into ammonia. The production represents a further milestone in the Carbon2Chem project, which is being funded by the German... Read more →

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, will partner with Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) on hydrogen technologies to support the development of new industries, create jobs and pave the way for low emissions export opportunities. The centerpiece of the $20-million partnership is an investment in CSIRO’s metal membrane technology, which enables ammonia... Read more →

Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have identified a way to reduce harmful NO emissions produced by ammonia fuel during combustion. The process involves swirling the gas with air as part of the power generation process. The finding helps advance research into ammonia as an alternative to carbon-based fuels for... Read more →

Rice University nanoscientists have demonstrated a new catalyst that can convert ammonia into hydrogen fuel at ambient pressure using only light energy, mainly due to a plasmonic effect that makes the catalyst more efficient. Their study, published in Science, describes new catalytic nanoparticles which are made mostly of copper with... Read more →

An economically-sustainable hydrogen industry in Australia could soon be on the cards according to a blueprint released by CSIRO, the national science agency, which found that cost-competitiveness is firmly on the horizon. Source: CSIRO. The National Hydrogen Roadmap sets out a path to develop the action and investment plans required... Read more →

In a successful demonstration of technology capability, researchers at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have filled Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicles using ultra-high purity hydrogen produced in Queensland using CSIRO’s novel H2-NH3 membrane separation technology. (Earlier post.) Ammonia (NH3) has high capacity for... Read more →

Grannus, LLC’s Grannus Process has been designated as Best Available Control Technology (BACT) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for production of hydrogen or ammonia. The designation was achieved because the processes’ emissions levels are well below Federal, State and local permit application requirements—even in non-attainment zones. The reference... Read more →

Ammonia (NH3) has been drawing attention as a carbon-free alternative fuel. NH3 could be widely used in thermal power generation and industrial furnaces as an alternative to gasoline and light oil. However, compared with fossil fuels, NH3 has a high ignition temperature; a low combustion rate and N2O/NOx production. To... Read more →

The Haber-Bosch process developed in the early 1900s relies on non-renewable fossil fuels and large, centralized chemical plants for the large-scale synthesis of ammonia at elevated temperatures (~700 K) and pressures (~100atm). Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have now developed a sustainable low-temperature and -pressure ammonia synthesis process... Read more →

Researchers in Japan report that a commercially available TiO2 with a large number of surface oxygen vacancies, when photo-irradiated by UV light in pure water with nitrogen—successfully produces ammonia (NH3). The solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency is 0.02%, which is the highest efficiency among the early reported photocatalytic systems. This is,... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is honoring additional commitments to 10 previously selected Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awardees for a total of $20 million. This completes the approval process for projects selected in ARPA-E’s Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Autonomous On-Road Vehicles (NEXTCAR) (earlier post) and Renewable... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is honoring commitments to several previously selected Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awardees, with funding of a combined $11.1 million. They are among the first awardees to move forward following the Department’s review of all taxpayer funded grants and projects, intended... Read more →

Researchers at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have years of experience researching the best ways to separate pure hydrogen from mixed gas streams. Now, the researchers have developed a thin metal membrane that can separate high-purity hydrogen from ammonia used as a hydrogen carrier. Ammonia (NH3) has... Read more →

Researchers at Oita University in Japan have developed an innovative process for the production of hydrogen from ammonia without the need for an external heat source to initiate or maintain the reaction. An open access paper on their work is published in the journal Science Advances. Liquid ammonia (NH3) has... Read more →

Vehicle tailpipes are a more important source of ammonia’s contribution to urban air pollution than is agriculture, according to a study by researchers from the US and China. The paper is published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Atmospheric ammonia (NH3) reacts with nitric and sulfuric acids to... Read more →

The Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has selected 16 projects for a combined $35 million in funding under the new program “Renewable Energy to Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids (REFUEL)”. (Earlier post.) The 16 REFUEL projects seek to develop scalable technologies for converting water and molecules from... Read more →

Northwestern University scientists have developed a catalyst that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia under natural conditions. In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report that chalcogels containing FeMoS inorganic clusters are capable of photochemically reducing N2 to NH3 under white light irradiation, in... Read more →

RAL researchers are proposing a new process for the decomposition of ammonia to release hydrogen that involves the stoichiometric decomposition and formation of sodium amide from Na metal. Credit: ACS, David et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the UK are proposing a new... Read more →

Researchers from the University of Strathclyde and the University of St. Andrews have demonstrated that ammonia can be synthesized directly from air (instead of N2) and H2O (instead of H2) under a mild condition (room temperature, one atmosphere) with supplied electricity which can be obtained from renewable resources such as... Read more →

The new pretreatment approach uses ammonia (NH3) to reorganize the hydrogen bond network within cellulose, resulting in up to a 5-fold increase in saccharification rates. Credit: ACS, Chundawat et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research... Read more →

Conceptual ASDS system. Click to enlarge. Global emissions-control company Faurecia will become a strategic shareholder of Amminex A/S—the Danish developer of the Ammonia Storage and Delivery System (ASDS) (earlier post)—by taking a 21.2% stake, a transaction valued at DKK 146.4 million (US$26 million). The Amminex ASDS is a gaseous Selective... Read more →

DB has lowered its advanced lithium-ion battery cost projection by about 30% for 2012. Click to enlarge. In a December 2010 research note on the 2011 outlook for the oil market, Deutsche Bank (DB) analysts have revised their earlier expectations of the pace of near-term transportation electrification trends (slower) and... Read more →

Acta ammonia electrolysis. Click to enlarge. Anglo-Italian catalyst maker Acta recently introduced a new catalyst for the decomposition of ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen by reforming. The HYPERMEC 10010 is a ruthenium-based catalyst which delivers ammonia conversion at 400°C. This catalyst is available in powder or pellet form. The current... Read more →

Ohio University has granted a worldwide exclusive license to American Hydrogen Corporation, a subsidiary of American Security Resources Corp., to commercialize the patent-pending catalytic electrolyzer technology developed by Ohio University’s Dr. Gerardine Botte, associate professor of Chemical and Bio-Molecular Engineering at the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Ammonia electrolysis... Read more →

Hydrogen Engine Center, Inc. (HEC) demonstrated its proprietary ammonia/hydrogen-fueled Oxx Power engine (earlier post) just prior to the annual shareholders’ meeting in Algona, Iowa on 30 May. The test engine—one of the company’s 4.9-liter, 6-cylinder units—was designed to use HEC’s proprietary Oxx Boxx engine controller and a dual-fuel injection system.... Read more →

Hydrogen Engine Center will work together with Sawtelle & Rosprim to design and build the world’s first Ammonia-Fueled Irrigation Pump System for the purpose of meeting California’s new emissions requirements scheduled to go into effect in 2010. Plans include integrating HEC’s ammonia-powered engines with Sawtelle’s pump technologies and expertise to... Read more →