Liquid Ammonia Bravely Faces Its Challenges
Ask and ye shall receive. I happened to mention that I’d like a bit more information on ammonia as fuel – and moments later I got that information in spades. In particular, I had been wondering why more people weren’t studying this subject, given its potential to resolve so many of our energy problems — and the floodgates opened.
The nature of the opportunity is coming into focus — but so is the scope of the challenges: the clean energy “triumvirate” as I call them – the technology, the economics, and the politics surrounding the migration to renewables. It’s clear that ammonia must find its way across significant hurdles in all three.
Helping me come to a better understanding of all this was John Holbrook, a man who wears many hats when it comes to this fascinating subject, including his role as the executive director of the non-profit Ammonia Fuel Network. Though John is acutely aware of the challenges presented by big money and big politics, his main focus is the technology – in particular, the development of Solid State Ammonia Synthesis or SSAS – a process of creating ammonia out of water and atmospheric nitrogen such that no expensive, energy-intensive electrolyzers or high pressures are required.
But the clean and inexpensive formulation of ammonia is just one of a few important chasms to be crossed. What about distribution and consumption? There are thousands of miles of ammonia pipeline already in place — and there are 800 NH3 “fueling stations” (fertilizer outlets) in Iowa alone — but, like hydrogen or EV charging stations, we’re not exactly right around the corner from having safe and ubiquitous dispensers to fill up our cars with liquid ammonia.
And let’s not ignore the political challenges. Imagine for a moment that John and the other high-level minds working on this problem are successful, that the technology is fully in place, and that we could, if we wanted to, formulate huge supplies of safe and inexpensive ammonia. Now, realize that this fuel you will be producing is regarded by neither the US Department of Energy nor the Environmental Protection Agency as a fuel at all. DOE recognizes NH3 as a hydrogen carrier — not a direct fuel. But, since DOE has discouraged the idea of on-board vehicle generation of H2 (“on-board reforming), DOE has no use for NH3, which is the universe’s best hydrogen carrier — all punctuated by DOE’s dismissive white paper of 2006.
Bottom line: You have a product with no demand. Your breakthrough — even when you make it happen — is like launching the I-Pad — in 1958. You have a world in which there is very little capital — financial or political — behind ammonia as fuel — in both the public and private sectors.
But John remains upbeat: “I’ve learned to be patient. And hey, we’re making progress. Matt Simmons is a great example.”
Though he’s right, what we have here in essence is a huge educational challenge. My fondest hope is that John and his people align themselves with someone with a proven track-record in marketing, which I define as “the ability to communicate value.” We can formulate and deliver ammonia. But can we formulate and deliver the story that will make this breakthrough meaningful? We’ll have to wait and see.
