POWER November 2020 - 9

GLOBAL MONITOR
3. A March 2020-launched feasibility study being conducted by three major Japanese coal generators and an Australian gas producer, in collaboration
with Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, will evaluate all aspects of ammonia-coal co-firing from
production to power generation. Courtesy: JERA
decarbonization technologies it plans to use. Its ammonia plans
stem from a collaboration with Japanese giants IHI Corp. and
Marubeni Corp., along with Australian natural gas and LNG producer
Woodside Energy. The companies launched a feasibility
study with Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (NEDO) this March. Slated to wrap up
in February 2021, the study will essentially involve a technical
analysis to inform JERA's demonstration for direct use of ammonia
as a fuel source in pulverized coal boilers, as well as
evaluate the economics of equipment costs, operational costs,
and the costs of producing and transporting ammonia.
Ammonia-a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen- " can efficiently
transport and store hydrogen at low cost and in addition
to its role as an energy carrier, it can be directly used as fuel in
thermal power generation, " the companies explained. According
to the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA), interest in exploring
the gas as a decarbonizing fuel has soared of late because
it does not emit carbon dioxide when it is burned. To date, the
2004-established industry coalition has 76 members. Its power
generating members include AES, Arizona Public Service, ENGIE,
ITM Power, Nebraska Public Power District, Origin Energy,
Shell, Total, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission.
IHI, JERA, and Marubeni, notably, are board members on
Japan's Green Ammonia Consortium, and their emphasis on
ammonia is backed by Japan's International Resource Strategy,
which the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) issued
in March. The strategy explicitly calls for demonstration
projects to promote ammonia as a fuel.
As the AEA noted, much progress has already been achieved
in Japan, led mainly by IHI, which is already developing a broad
portfolio of ammonia fuel technologies, including a solid oxide
fuel cell, gas turbine, industrial boilers, and co-fired thermal
power boilers. Ammonia-coal co-firing has also already been
demonstrated, first by Chugoku Electric in July 2017 at its 156MW
Mizushima Thermal Power Station Unit 2 with a fuel mix
composed of 0.6% to 0.8% ammonia, and then by IHI in March
2018 at a " large-capacity combustion facility " in Aioi City, with
a fuel mix composed of 20% ammonia. As Bunro Shiozawa, a
senior associate at Sumitomo Chemical Co., wrote in an AEA
blog post this October, IHI's demonstration, which involved a
coal-ammonia burner that can be attached to an existing coal
plant, confirmed that at 20% ammonia co-firing carbon emissions
decreased 20%, and while nitrogen oxide could be largely
reduced, the boiler's heat rate did not change significantly.
Under the study with NEDO, four companies plan to survey
the full ammonia-coal lifecycle from ammonia production to
power generation (Figure 3). IHI plans to evaluate the thermal
efficiency of ammonia co-firing using a numerical analysis, but
the company will also study ammonia storage and supply faciliNovember
2020 | POWER
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ties, as well as ammonia co-firing burners.
JERA's role in the feasibility study involves identifying and
resolving challenges related to the application of ammonia cofiring
in commercial coal plants. It will also study specifications
on ammonia storage, vaporizers, and evaluate necessary costs
and capital investments. Marubeni will look into methods to
tamp down the carbon footprint of ammonia, and to improve
its transportation efficiency, including by using larger-sized vessels
to reduce costs. Finally, Woodside will study challenges
related to realizing large-scale ammonia production plants and
assess ways to reduce production costs.
Other notable industry initiatives to explore ammonia power
associated with the Green Ammonia Consortium include Mitsubishi
Power's agreements with Indonesia's Bandung Institute
of Technology in May to " probe new fuel technologies
using ammonia and hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emisOthers
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POWER November 2020

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