Ammonia Used to Power a Semi Truck

Amogy Inc., a pioneer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions, announced today the successful testing of the first-ever ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi truck. Amogy has received $150 million in funding.

The system has 5x higher system-level energy densities compared to lithium batteries. The volumetric energy density of liquid ammonia is almost 3x greater than that of compressed hydrogen. Over an equivalent distance, fueling a vehicle solely using ammonia would require approximately three times the internal tank volume needed for conventional diesel fuel but three times less than the volume required for compressed hydrogen.

Portable
It’s easy to store. Although ammonia is a gas at ambient temperatures, it can be stored as a liquid at approx. -34°C (-29°F). This reduces the cost, complexity, and space requirements for storage compared with liquid hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG). At an ambient temperature, ammonia can also be stored as a liquid with only mild pressure.

Tens of millions of tons of ammonia is used in the agriculture sector as a fertilizer. Ammonia production, transport and usage already have the technological maturity, infrastructure, and familiarity of the public to expand in the transportation sector.

The shipping industry accounts for approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions. The sector is largely dependent upon oil-derived fuels such as heavy fuel oil (HFO), very low sulfur fuel oil, and marine gas oil (MGO) to meet its energy needs. Together these fuels represent approximately 221 million tons of oil demand per annum. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) accounts for a smaller proportion of shipping fuel demand, with 2.3 million tons of the fuel consumed in 2021. The only low carbon fuels deployed beyond pilot project scale are marine biofuels, which make up less than 0.1% of the sector’s fuel supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Ammonia is compatible with more than one ship propulsion technology. In smaller ships, it can be used as a hydrogen carrier for fuel cell-based electric propulsion systems, where an onboard cracker splits ammonia to provide the hydrogen source. In larger vessels, where energy density or efficiency considerations mitigate against fuel cell technologies, it may be suitable for injection into adapted internal combustion engines (ICEs). Use within ICEs entails relatively minor alterations to the layout of propulsion systems in comparison with fuel cell adoption. However, due to ammonia’s narrow flammability range, the shipping industry envisions using the fuel in combination with a smaller quantity of ignition fuel—either MGO or hydrogen extracted from the ammonia using a cracker. Two leading engine manufacturers, Wärtsilä and MAN Energy Solutions, have already announced plans to introduce ammonia-fueled combustion engines to market by 2024.

Trucking
Road freight is a vital component of economic activity. The pandemic highlighted the sector’s importance as an increasing number of trucks were deployed to deliver products to end consumers. Guidehouse Insights forecasts the global fleet of heavy duty vehicles to reach 94 million by 2030, up 30% from 2020’s estimated 74 million. Most of this growth is expected to come from developing markets. Trucks currently make up around 87% of the heavy duty vehicles market and represent one of the fastest growing segments. However, trucks also represent a transport segment that is in dire need of decarbonization. In 2021, medium- and heavy duty trucks emitted 1.8 gigatons (Gt) of CO2, thereby accounting for 23% of all transport-related emissions and 9% of global carbon emissions.

Many Other Companies Area Working on Ammonia for Energy/b>

21 thoughts on “Ammonia Used to Power a Semi Truck”

  1. Safety with proper protocols and design. So many aspects of heavy transport are dangerous, but with training, operator licensing, AI safety supervision … it can be safe.

  2. Just a note. The conversion of battery-stored energy into kinetic energy is almost 100% while the conversion of Ammonia or hydrogen is about 35%. So you need about 3x more energy. Also, we aren’t near the limits of battery technology and there is a lot of R&D money available to improve them.

  3. Some inaccuracy: “Amogy has received $150 million in funding”. That was just in the latest funding round .. Total funding is $219 million ..

  4. Like everyone else said, this stuff is toxic. But it is not just accidents, this will be a major hazard for mechanics, and anyone near a semi mechanic shop. Filling station workers could also have health effects. I prefer electric semis with, say, 150 miles range, but can operate like a trolley using pantograph where there are electrical lines above all the major highways (at least one lane). No separate charging network for semis required, they not only move on the highways powered by the wires above the designated lanes, but the wires charge the batteries at the same time.
    Most of the destinations for semis are within 75 miles of the highway, usually much less distant.
    They, of course, could be fully electric like the Tesla Semi, but then you need large charging stations and a lot more batteries. The 500-mile variety tractors would also be fairly expensive. Unless much cheaper batteries were developed, like sodium, sulfur, aluminum or zinc.
    The pantograph solution has its drawbacks. Lots of new infrastructure required, It needs to be complete, and sparks may distract some drivers early on, especially at night, but maybe there could be shields on the pantographs to minimize that.

    • Methanol is an alternative to Ammonia for use in fuel cells, the shipping industry is looking at this.

  5. Anhydrous ammonia is a major health risk that in industrial plants requires engineered safety systems to protect the public in event of leaks. The stuff is lethal to plants and animals in the environment.

    If you spill gasoline or diesel, the fumes will not kill you. Fueling ammonia powered trucks and cars presents some rather problematic safety issues.

    Not so sure it is a great idea to have tens of thousands vehicles with tanks of ammonia driving all over the highways. The risks are very high and the benefits are vanishingly small.

  6. Hilarious when the NO2 dissolves your lungs. Now if only there was a fuel reaction that produced N2O…

  7. Re Table 2
    When I Googled HFO I got “Heavy Fuel Oil”
    When I Googled MGO I didn’t get anything relevant to running engines.
    What is MGO in this context?

  8. What is the energy density of liquid Ammonia compared to Gasoline? Can it be manufactured as cheap as Gasoline?

  9. I have to ask: is this really going to be emissions free? Because ammonia isn’t exactly something we should be breathing. That’s just an off the cuff question, since I haven’t had time to read the abstract, yet.

    • Good question. I’ve been exposed to ammonia, servicing an old fashioned blue print machine; Even at levels that aren’t acutely toxic, it’s pretty unpleasant. And serious ammonia spills are inevitable if this technology were adopted.

      • Safer in some regards, more dangerous in others; Hydrogen is a lot less toxic.

        Personally, I rather like the concept that used sodium hydride encapsulated inside polyethylene balls. (“Power balls”) When the balls were cut open in contact with water, they produced hydrogen gas and a sodium hydroxide solution. The hydrogen could be used for energy, the sodium hydroxide recycled to sodium hydride.

        In the event of a spill only the balls whose liners were broken would react, rendering the process a lot safer in the event of spills, and no cryogenic temperatures or high pressures were involved.

        • But price might be too high. Similar concept in nuclear energy (very little fuel) still not take off yet.

          • Gasoline really is the cheapest option right now. If it ever seems otherwise, it’s because a lot of the price you see at the pump is taxes, and the federal government is currently deliberately driving the price up by restricting supplies of oil, and limiting refining capacity. They figure that if they can make gasoline expensive enough, people won’t mind it when they ban everything but electric cars.

    • The ammonia is cracked to extract the Hydrogen, which in road applications, is used to run a fuel cell. Ammonia is simply being used as a relatively dense, and relatively easy to transport hydrogen carrier. It’s been identified as a lead case zero carbon fuel for blue water marine applications.

Comments are closed.