As ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide at the time of combustion, the co-firing of this fuel can greatly reduce emissions at thermal power plants.
The Marubeni-led technical study - running through to the end for February 2021 - prepares a trial for direct usage of ammonia as a fuel in JERA’s thermal power plant. Researchers are also scrutinizing the economics of equipment cost, operational expenses as well as the cost for producing and transporting ammonia to the power stations.
The trial runs of ammonia co-firing are in line with Japanese government’s efforts to implement hydrogen-based energy projects. Dubbed NEDO, the research project seeks to develop multi-burner ammonia co-firing technology for pulverized coal boilers, which can later be amended for use in gas-fired power units.
JERA is looking to find out the necessary capital investment to retrofit its existing plants with the novel ammonia co-firing technology, once it is ready for commercialization. To this end, it is allowing researchers to carry out tests and trial runs at some of its thermal power plants.
Australia-based Woodside Energy is also participating in the study, striving to identify challenges related to realizing large-scale ammonia production lines.