Ammonia has strong potential as hydrogen carrier

Higher energy density, existing traded market and possibilities of blending offer opportunities for green ammonia

Ammonia has great potential as a hydrogen carrier due to its ease of storage and transport and its potential use directly in combustion, speakers said at an energy and climate tech conference in Tokyo in early October. Ammonia—currently mostly produced by combining grey hydrogen and nitrogen—is already an established market serving the fertiliser, chemicals and plastics sectors. Some 35mn t/yr of grey hydrogen is used to produce 200mn t/yr of ammonia. “Ammonia has huge potential for our carbon-free future,” Ann-Kathrin Merz, a research assistant at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), told the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum. “Ammonia has huge potential for our