D3b.2 Ammonia utilization in the power sector

By 2035, the Dutch ‘Nationaal Plan Energiesysteem’ envisions flexible electricity generation from hydrogen, when renewable electricity supply is low. The hydrogen would be combusted in retrofitted gas-fired powerplants, fuelled from the hydrogen backbone. It is likely that a substantial fraction of total European hydrogen consumption will rely on overseas import in the form of ammonia. The ammonia would be converted to hydrogen in ‘cracker’ plants at the port of entry and fed to the backbone. The availability of large quantities of ammonia raises the question of whether ammonia-fuelled powerplants could be a plausible alternative to hydrogen-fuelled plants.  Overland transport of large quantities of ammonia is complicated because of its toxicity. However, close to the port of entry such plants might potentially be attractive.

One option is to closely integrate a hydrogen-fired gas turbine with an ammonia cracker, so that the high temperature heat from the turbine exhaust can be used to drive the cracking process. This increases the overall system efficiency compared to stand-alone cracker and hydrogen-fired turbine.

Another option is direct ammonia combustion. Although ammonia co-firing in coal powered plants is an active topic of research, we could find no reports on the development of 100% ammonia-fired boilers for use in powerplants. By contrast, several companies report working on 100% ammonia-fired turbines. The main technological challenge is the development of a combustor that prevents excessive NOx production. It seems unlikely that this technology reaches the required maturity by 2035.

Dit project is medegefinancierd door TKI Nieuw Gas | Topsector Energie uit de PPS-toeslag onder referentienummer TKI2023-HyDelta