World’s First Ammonia-Fueled Ship Hits a Snag

The Viking Energy, an oil platform provide ship present process a pioneering retrofit to run on ammonia gasoline, is now scheduled to start operations in 2026—two years later than initially deliberate. As soon as accomplished, it will likely be the primary vessel able to working full-time on ammonia, marking a serious milestone in efforts to scale back carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions within the maritime business.

IEEE Spectrum beforehand reported on ammonia as a potential replacement for petroleum fuels within the delivery business in 2021, at which period key stakeholders—together with Norwegian vitality giant Equinor, expertise supplier Wärtsilä, and delivery firm Eidesvik Offshore—anticipated the Viking Power to set sail in 2024. Nevertheless, progress has slowed.

Trade specialists attribute the delay to the advanced infrastructure required to deal with ammonia safely. “Ammonia is poisonous, explosive, and corrosive. We should use particular piping, storage tanks, and vans outfitted with supplies engineered to be each leakproof and immune to ammonia’s corrosive properties,” says John Prousalidis, a professor of marine engineering on the National Technical University of Athens.

A spokesperson for Wärtsilä instructed IEEE Spectrum that the delay has not been associated to efficiency or questions of safety, however to “ the challenges of being on the forefront of maritime decarbonization.” The spokesperson explains that the undertaking “was initially the demonstrator within the EU-funded ShipFC Clear Hydrogen Partnership program, which aimed to put in a 2-megawatt ammonia-powered gasoline cell onboard.” However as a result of logistics for the manufacturing of stable oxide gasoline cells for this software didn’t mature as shortly as anticipated, the EU organizers put “a short lived pause” on the retrofit. The 2024 deadline was now not possible, however the partnership restarted the undertaking with a specifically made fuel turbine designed to run on ammonia.

When working with first-of-their-kind applied sciences, timelines can shift — however the ambition stays the identical: to make ammonia a viable zero-carbon gasoline for the maritime business,” says the Wärtsilä spokesperson.

Being first comes with a set of challenges that should be overcome. One of many largest environmental considerations with ammonia-powered ships is the potential launch of nitrogen oxides. “As a substitute of CO₂, which contributes to world warming, we might find yourself with nitrogen oxides, that are deadly to breathe,” says Prousalidis. “To keep away from merely swapping one pollutant for one more, ammonia propulsion programs should embody emissions-control applied sciences to stop dangerous nitrogen oxides from getting into the environment,” he provides.

A promising various to combustion engines is ammonia-powered gasoline cells just like the one initially slated to energy the Viking Power. Gas cells generate electrical energy with out producing nitrogen oxide emissions. By avoiding combustion fully, these gasoline cells enable ammonia’s nitrogen content material to stay in its inert kind, eliminating a key well being danger.

Ammonia Gas Delays for Viking Power

Regardless of the challenges, specialists consider ammonia might turn out to be a mainstream maritime gasoline—however not in a single day. “Twenty or thirty years in the past, the delivery business made a serious shift to pure fuel, believing it was the gasoline of the longer term. Now, we all know it wasn’t the best step,” says Prousalidis.

Trying again at previous gasoline transitions, he famous that every shift—from steam to grease, after which to pure fuel—took round 20 years to realize full adoption. He expects the same timeline for the adoption of ammonia or hydrogen. “We have to be affected person whereas persisting in our efforts and never getting discouraged by early challenges.”

That perspective aligns with what Equinor’s vice chairman of renewable and low-carbon expertise, Henriette Undrum, instructed IEEE Spectrum in 2021 when she urged the general public to be affected person: “We aren’t simply fixing one small downside for one ship. It’s a part of the larger image. It is going to be a place to begin to construct up the marketplace for zero-carbon fuels.”

Eidesvik’s ammonia-powered Viking Power is now slated to ship out in 2026.Eidesvik

As ammonia and hydrogen acquire traction as maritime fuels, seaports might play a pivotal function in in fixing ammonia’s chicken-and-egg downside. Power firms are cautious of investing in various gasoline infrastructure when there aren’t any ships that run on the brand new gasoline, and shipbuilders are need to keep away from shelling out lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} to construct vessels for which there isn’t any regular gasoline provide.

“Seaports are already present process an vitality transformation,” says Prousalidis. “It might make sense for them to function as vitality hubs—producing, storing, and buying and selling various fuels for gasoline cells and different power-generation gadgets.” By doing so, he says, ports might flip a revenue whereas additionally breaking the stalemate and contributing to world decarbonization efforts.

Though considerations about nitrogen oxide emissions stay, firms together with the partnership that’s retrofitting the Viking Power are reportedly designing post-combustion programs, analogous to the catalytic converters in vehicle exhaust programs, to filter out dangerous byproducts. A way known as selective catalytic discount converts nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and water. Ammonia slip catalysts seize unburned ammonia and break it down into the identical two inert merchandise.

In the meantime, momentum for ammonia- primarily based propulsion continues to construct. Hanwha Ocean, a shipbuilder primarily based in Geoje, South Korea and Houston-based vitality expertise firm Baker Hughes have introduced a partnership to develop a commercial ammonia-compatible propulsion system by 2027. The businesses are engaged on fuel generators able to working on one hundred pc ammonia, with dual-fuel choices for pure fuel.