Afc Energy moving into powering shipping !29 Jan 2024 10:38
RNS Number : 9823A
AFC Energy Plc
26 January 2024
26 January 2024
AFC Energy PLC
("AFC Energy" or the "Company")
Funding Secured for Clean Maritime Ammonia Cracker and Combustion Engine Integration Trials
AFC Energy (AIM: AFC), a leading provider of hydrogen power generation technologies, is pleased to announce it has been awarded funding under the UK Government's Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (Round 4) (CMDC4), funded by the UK Department for Transport ("DfT") and delivered by Innovate UK.
CMDC4 is part of DfT's UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme, a £206m initiative focused on developing the technology necessary to decarbonise the UK domestic maritime sector.
Highlights
· AFC Energy led consortium awarded £676,500 to design and integrate its proprietary ammonia cracker reactor technology with marine purposed, ammonia fuelled internal combustion engines ("ICE").
· Ammonia combustion is enhanced by the addition of an ammonia cracker, allowing an engine to run on an energy dense fuel mix consisting of hydrogen rich cracked gas and ammonia.
· The demonstration if successful is targeting worldwide application across maritime vessels seeking to adopt ammonia combustion as its preferred zero carbon propulsion fuel.
· Programme Partners include international leaders in engine design, MAHLE Powertrain (wholly owned subsidiary of global Tier 1 automotive supplier MAHLE GmbH), specially developed injectors and control valves from Clean Air Power, with testing and evaluation from the University of Nottingham.
· Industry support from global shipping companies, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Purus.
· Funding commences Q1 2024 with results from the proof-of-concept demonstration expected to be published twelve months later.
· Ammonia crackers integrated with combustion engines provide a scalable and flexible route which could extend the lifetime of currently deployed onboard combustion engine assets.
Significant investment has been made by industry into multi-megawatt ammonia combustion engines designed to support zero carbon emission propulsion of the largest of marine vessels. The aim is for ICEs to be used on their own or in partnership with fuel cell technologies to support both propulsion and auxiliary power needs of the vessel.
However, ammonia is not a simple swap in alternative fuel, there are several modifications that would be required to support the combustion of ammonia in a typical reciprocating engine - one of which is the addition of hydrogen to increase the flame speed and improve other combustion properties of the ammonia. By utilising an ammonia cracker, a Hydrogen rich cracked gas stream could be generated on demand from a single fuel source thus negating the need for multiple fuel storage solutions.