First use of ammonia as marine fuel in a vessel
fortescue.com
fortescue.com
https://www.npc.org.au/speaker/2024/1287-dr-andrew-forrest-a...
This address to the National Press Club by Dr Andrew Forrest AO outlines how a strategic ‘power shift’ from a fossil fuel-dependent economy to a renewable energy-led economy promises to deliver one of the most profound and enduring economic growth opportunities ever seen, particularly in regional Australia.
That's a doctorate in marine biology held by a multi billion mining magnate.
China is already electrifying cargo transport on the Yangtse River, but I think true ammonia-fuelled cargo tankers are a way off.
Quick googling reveals that ammonia smell in urine can actually be a symptom of something bad.
Concentrated ammonia is extremely toxic (deadly even), and flammable.
Fer sher the wifey would not like something like that in the basement.
There is a chicken-and-egg problem for the ammonia economy.
As you stated there are many current uses for Ammonia.
The core problem is getting the price of green Ammonia lower than Ammonia production that vents the CO2, so that market mechanisms can kick in.
The main solution is likely regulatory. Carbon (border) taxes on the alternative, incentives for green hydrogen production, ever increasing quotas for percentage of green Ammonia produced and consumed, corporations trying to hit decarbonisation goals etc.
It's not so much an implicit expectation as a explicit forward plan by the same parties who are buying up cattle stations next to the mines they own | operate to generate power and ammonia for their own ends.
Nope! Just co-fired in combustion engine.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/sea-transport/the-race-...
https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-the-shipping-industry-is-betti...
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/9-nh3-mar...
Ammonia is definitely not the least worst option. Both methanol and biodiesel as better than it, both price wise and because they are not highly toxic gasses.
> As part of the safety protocols for the conduct of these tests, crew members also donned personal protection equipment such as chemical protection suits, nitrile chemical gloves, rubber boots, positive pressure mask and hood, and portable gas detectors for the relevant operations.
I guess they'll have to wear that 24/7?
A little under half of global marine traffic is moving energy around, which might be a contributing factor in fuel selection as traffic declines in the future due to renewables uptake globally.
This is true, but I don't get your point. We can argue about whether it's a good use of crops/farmland just as we can argue if electricity->H2 + N2 -> ammonia is a good use of electricity.
> Methanol can only be produced inexpensively using natural gas.
The same can be said about Ammonia once you need to source your H2.
> using renewable energy, they would be superior options for marine fuel.
That's a restriction that I don't see as justified. At least not for the biodiesel.
> A little under half of global marine traffic is moving energy around, which might be a contributing factor in fuel selection as traffic declines in the future due to renewables uptake globally.
I agree. Further than that, we will stop shipping iron ore across the world to smelt it only to ship it back since the price of fuel will go up regardless of what we switch to. So shipping volume will decrease further.
Everything else you mention requires those things AND a lot more work. So why not go directly where we want to go?
Hell, biodiesel will even require nitrogen fertilizer and fresh water, plus a lot of faffing around with sensitive crops.
'easily' indeed. The problems are the very large electricity demands, difficulty in storage and moving from place to place.
The fact that Nitrogen is abundant is irrelevant. The hard part isn't finding it. The hard part is getting it to react with the H2 to form ammonia.
As for freshwater vs saltwater. The energy (and cost) required to go from salt water to pure water for the electrolyzer is a rounding error compared to the energy (and cost) required to go from pure water to H2.
You might be interested in reading up on Fortescue Metals | Futures current plans and projects in action.
I linked to a National Press Club lecture by their CEO above.
They're already addressing your points by buying several large cattle stations (ie bigger than Texas ranches) that are mine adjacent to produce in situ - tackling large electricity demands via mega care solar farms and transport by being local). Raw PV materials are coming from mines they own and processing plants they hold shares in.
The amonnia fuel they use in mining can be supplemented by recovered energy from "lowering" half a billion tonnes per annum 600m from mesa to sea level (see: Infinity train).
This has been in the works for some time and they thought to hire a few talented engineers along the way.
Fortescue themselves have also admitted that Hydrogen-fuel cell heavy equipment would require 3x more energy than BEV equipment [0], something that is not a shock to anyone. I am incredibly skeptical that ammonia combustion would even get to a 3x requirement, it's going to easily be 5x if not 10x the BEV.
As for any applications where you are moving the material downhill, the immense weight difference would mean that the regenerative breaking would likely you charge too 100%, hence the infinity train. I struggle to see how H2, much less ammonia, would fit into that picture.
Even for the minimum equipment, much of it is already equipment due to torque demands, they simply run diesel generators on the equipment. The switch from that to batteries or more cables (because certain equipment is already running off a power-line) seems much more likely and cheaper than ammonia.
Even more so for any sort of underground mining. Ventilation of the mines already takes up incredible amounts of electricity. And much of that ventilation is needed due to combustion reactions. There too switching to BEV would make much more sense, and may even lower net electricity demands.
[0]: https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/fortescue-continue...