In the race to find cleaner fuels, the heavy duty transportation sector is far behind because there isn’t enough juice in batteries to power trucks and ships. Enter ammonia. New technology and new companies are working on turning ammonia into hydrogen to power tractors, trucks and even ships.
The heavy duty trucking industry alone accounts for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. According to the International Maritime Organization, emissions from shipping increased by about 10% from 2012 to 2018. Ships release about 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, which is equivalent to the annual carbon output of Texas and California combined.
So companies like MAN Energy Solutions, Wartsila and Brooklyn-based startup Amogee are working on ammonia-based alternatives.
“Our proprietary technology enables the efficient and effective conversion of ammonia to hydrogen so that you can use that process in a vehicle to produce hydrogen, and then use that produced hydrogen to drive a vehicle using a fuel cell.” Can do,” explained co-founder and CEO Seonghoon Woo.
The technology enables on-board “cracking” (or decomposition) of ammonia into hydrogen, which is then sent to a fuel cell to power a vehicle. The energy density of liquid ammonia is about three times that of compressed hydrogen.
Emoji just tested its tech on a semi-truck, and have already got it working on one john deere Tractor as well as drone. The next step towards clean shipping is a tugboat.
Wu said, “We are partnering a lot with industry stakeholders in heavy manufacturing, in shipping and heavy industries. So certainly collaboration is the key to scaling new technology like ours, to really scale it up and enter the market.” The key is to do.”
One of Amogee’s investors, Saudi Aramco, is the world’s largest petroleum producer but sees ammonia as part of its future.
“This really opens up new markets for hydrogen through the ammonia low-carbon vector, which we are betting on as an efficient way to transport hydrogen,” said Ahmed Al-Khowaiter, Saudi Aramco’s chief technology officer. “
“It’s going to be a growing market in a carbon-locked world. Such products are going to be more valuable, and the market and demand for that is going to grow, so we see this as very positive from our shareholders’ perspective, he added.
In addition to Saudi Aramco, it is supported by Amogee AmazonK’s Climate Pledge Fund, AP Ventures, SK Innovation and DCVC. The startup has raised $70 million so far.
CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.