LONDON (Alliance News) - AFC Energy PLC said Monday its 18-month "ammonia to power" trial has ended successfully and the company now plans to build a scalable commercial system.
The system will use existing ammonia cracking technology alongside AFC Energy's fuel cell system, enabling the use of AFC Energy's fuel cells in off-grid locations where electricity would be generated through the consumption of ammonia.
AFC Energy said the availability of low cost hydrogen gas has been an "obstacle" to date of deploying its fuel cells in more remote, off-grid locations. Therefore, the company sought a replacement in the form of "readily available" ammonia.
AFC Energy said the 18 month trial showed "proof of concept" the company's fuel cell system, using cracked ammonia, can provide clean electrical power in remote, off-grid applications.
"The successful integration of the company's fuel cell system into an upstream hydrogen stream sourced from cracked ammonia is not only a unique selling point of the alkaline fuel cell, but also is a logical means to the unlocking of the multi-billion dollar off-grid stationary power market," said Chief Executive Adam Bond.
Bond continued: "The results of this demonstration, highlight the potential of ammonia as a long-term fuel to support the deployment of the company's alkaline fuel cell system, displacing diesel gensets and offering an alternative fuel source to the company's new Electric Vehicle charging unit. Utilising ammonia as a fuel is wholly consistent with AFC Energy's review of integrated fuel and power generation systems for off grid power generation and should be a key differentiator for us in our go to market strategy in this ever growing target market."
Shares in AFC Energy were down 0.2% on Monday at 4.28 pence each.
AFC Energy (AFC)