An Australian start-up hopes to revolutionise the production of ammonia after signing an exclusive licence for a potentially ground-breaking fossil-free process developed at Melbourne’s Monash University and raising $2.5 million in seed funding.
As RenewEconomy reported on Monday, scientists at Monash University have developed new, innovative processes for the production of ammonia that utilises electricity, allowing it to be produced using zero emissions renewable energy and eliminating the traditional dependence on fossil gas as a feedstock.
Ammonia is already produced in large quantities for use as a fertiliser and its production is responsible for around 2 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with around two tonnes of carbon dioxide released for each tonne of ammonia produced using fossil gas.
Ammonia has also emerged as a potential green fuel and as a storage mechanism for hydrogen, and so the ability to produce ammonia efficiently and with zero associated emissions has attracted increased attention.
Most of the world’s ammonia is produced using fossil gas as a key ingredient, and the new method to produce ammonia without the need for fossil fuels, developed at Monash University, is a significant breakthrough and could be the catalyst for a boom in a green hydrogen industry.
The Monash research, which unlocked promising new methods for producing hydrogen using an electrolysis technique, allowing it to be directly powered by wind and solar electricity supplies, has now been licensed to the university spin-off Jupiter Ionics, which has already secured $2.5 million in seed funding.
Jupiter Ionics’ CEO, Dr Charlie Day, said the start-up would accelerate the commercialisation of the potentially ground-breaking research, which could threaten to make fossil fuel-based ammonia production obsolete.
“Jupiter Ionic’s technology, exclusively licenced from Monash University, uses renewable electricity, air and water as inputs to make ammonia with zero carbon emissions,” Day said.
“The Monash team that developed the technology is internationally recognised as being on the cutting-edge of electrochemical ammonia technology.”
Green hydrogen is being touted as a high potential replacement for a range of fossil fuels, including for use in transport, energy storage and industrial processes, and countries like Australia are rapidly moving to establish themselves as global suppliers.
However, one challenge faced by prospective hydrogen exporters are the difficulties in the storage and transportation of hydrogen, which has so far proven to be energy-intensive and expensive. Ammonia, which can be used as a cost-effective storage medium for hydrogen, is significantly easier to store and transport with well-established industries and supply chains already familiar with the material.
Ammonia has the ability to be directly used as a transport fuel, particularly for heavy shipping, and as a storage medium for hydrogen – with ammonia molecules being a nitrogen atom bonded with three hydrogen atoms.
Researchers at the CSIRO are also developing new technologies for the efficient extraction of hydrogen from ammonia.
Monash University’s chemistry professor Doug Macfarlane, who helped lead the development of the innovative production technique, said it should gain an advantage over traditional ammonia production methods.
“Ammonia is recognised as a key challenge for global decarbonisation efforts, such as those that were discussed extensively at the recent COP26 meeting in Glasgow,” Macfarlane said.
“Our recent breakthroughs have opened up a new avenue to produce Green Ammonia which has several significant advantages over alternative approaches.”
Day said the global market for ammonia was already considerable and is expected to grow significantly larger as demand for zero emissions fuels continues to grow.
“The current global market for ammonia is worth around US$70 billion [A$112 billion], but proposed new uses for Green Ammonia as a shipping fuel and a form of energy storage mean it could be many multiples of that in the future,” Day said.
“This investment will enable us to fast track our development program, so we are well-positioned to meet the burgeoning demand.”
“Australia’s abundant reserves of renewable energy position us very well to play a leading role in the shift to a low carbon future,” Day added.
The Monash University research team said their new ammonia production technique could be scaled in accordance with its intended use, allowing for the cost-effective production of fossil fuel-free ammonia at both small and large scales.
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