IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i4p1453-d751198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Review of the Latest Trends in the Use of Green Ammonia as an Energy Carrier in Maritime Industry

Author

Listed:
  • George Mallouppas

    (Marine and Offshore Science, Technology, and Engineering Centre, Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute, Larnaca 6023, Cyprus)

  • Constantina Ioannou

    (Marine and Offshore Science, Technology, and Engineering Centre, Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute, Larnaca 6023, Cyprus)

  • Elias Ar. Yfantis

    (Marine and Offshore Science, Technology, and Engineering Centre, Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute, Larnaca 6023, Cyprus)

Abstract

This review paper examines the key barriers to using green ammonia as an alternative fuel in maritime industry. A literature survey is performed based on research articles and grey literature, with the aim of discussing the technoeconomic problems with and benefits of ammonia and the relevant technologies. The limitations of ammonia as a maritime fuel and its supply chain, the expected percentage demand by 2030 and 2050, its economic performance compared to other shipping fuels such as hydrogen, and the current regulations that may impact ammonia as a maritime fuel are discussed. There are several key barriers to ammonia’s wide adoption: (1) High production costs, due to the high capital costs associated with ammonia’s supply chain; (2) availability, specifically the limited geographical locations available for ammonia bunkering; (3) the challenge of ramping up current ammonia production; and (4) the development of ammonia-specific regulations addressing issues such as toxicity, safety, and storage. The general challenges involved with blue ammonia are the large energy penalty and associated operational costs, and a lack of technical expertise on its use. Regardless of the origin, for ammonia to be truly zero-carbon its whole lifecycle must be considered—a key challenge that will aid in the debate about whether ammonia holds promise as a zero-carbon maritime fuel.

Suggested Citation

  • George Mallouppas & Constantina Ioannou & Elias Ar. Yfantis, 2022. "A Review of the Latest Trends in the Use of Green Ammonia as an Energy Carrier in Maritime Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:4:p:1453-:d:751198
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1453/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1453/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Itf, 2018. "Decarbonising Maritime Transport: Pathways to zero-carbon shipping by 2035," International Transport Forum Policy Papers 47, OECD Publishing.
    2. Afif, Ahmed & Radenahmad, Nikdalila & Cheok, Quentin & Shams, Shahriar & Kim, Jung H. & Azad, Abul K., 2016. "Ammonia-fed fuel cells: a comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 822-835.
    3. Andrea Guati-Rojo & Christina Demski & Wouter Poortinga & Agustin Valera-Medina, 2021. "Public Attitudes and Concerns about Ammonia as an Energy Vector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Thomas Buckley Imhoff & Savvas Gkantonas & Epaminondas Mastorakos, 2021. "Analysing the Performance of Ammonia Powertrains in the Marine Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-41, November.
    5. Michail Cheliotis & Evangelos Boulougouris & Nikoletta L Trivyza & Gerasimos Theotokatos & George Livanos & George Mantalos & Athanasios Stubos & Emmanuel Stamatakis & Alexandros Venetsanos, 2021. "Review on the Safe Use of Ammonia Fuel Cells in the Maritime Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Seamus P. Kane & William F. Northrop, 2021. "Thermochemical Recuperation to Enable Efficient Ammonia-Diesel Dual-Fuel Combustion in a Compression Ignition Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Muhammad Aziz & Agung Tri Wijayanta & Asep Bayu Dani Nandiyanto, 2020. "Ammonia as Effective Hydrogen Storage: A Review on Production, Storage and Utilization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pivetta, Davide & Tafone, Alessio & Mazzoni, Stefano & Romagnoli, Alessandro & Taccani, Rodolfo, 2024. "A multi-objective planning tool for the optimal supply of green hydrogen for an industrial port area decarbonization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    2. Wahyu Prasetyo Utomo & Hao Wu & Yun Hau Ng, 2022. "Quantification Methodology of Ammonia Produced from Electrocatalytic and Photocatalytic Nitrogen/Nitrate Reduction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Rafael Estevez & Francisco J. López-Tenllado & Laura Aguado-Deblas & Felipa M. Bautista & Antonio A. Romero & Diego Luna, 2023. "Current Research on Green Ammonia (NH 3 ) as a Potential Vector Energy for Power Storage and Engine Fuels: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-33, July.
    4. Nami, Hossein & Hendriksen, Peter Vang & Frandsen, Henrik Lund, 2024. "Green ammonia production using current and emerging electrolysis technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    5. George Mallouppas & Elias Ar. Yfantis & Constantina Ioannou & Andreas Paradeisiotis & Angelos Ktoris, 2023. "Application of Biogas and Biomethane as Maritime Fuels: A Review of Research, Technology Development, Innovation Proposals, and Market Potentials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-25, February.
    6. Sebastián Mantilla & Diogo M. F. Santos, 2022. "Green and Blue Hydrogen Production: An Overview in Colombia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Qichen Wang & Zhengmeng Hou & Yilin Guo & Liangchao Huang & Yanli Fang & Wei Sun & Yuhan Ge, 2023. "Enhancing Energy Transition through Sector Coupling: A Review of Technologies and Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-31, July.
    8. Deger Saygin & Herib Blanco & Francisco Boshell & Joseph Cordonnier & Kevin Rouwenhorst & Priyank Lathwal & Dolf Gielen, 2023. "Ammonia Production from Clean Hydrogen and the Implications for Global Natural Gas Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-28, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Namsu Kim & Minjung Lee & Juwon Park & Jeongje Park & Taesong Lee, 2022. "A Comparative Study of NO x Emission Characteristics in a Fuel Staging and Air Staging Combustor Fueled with Partially Cracked Ammonia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Egerer, Jonas & Grimm, Veronika & Niazmand, Kiana & Runge, Philipp, 2023. "The economics of global green ammonia trade – “Shipping Australian wind and sunshine to Germany”," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    3. Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Murtaza, Sana Z.M. & Al-Othman, Amani & Alami, Abdul Hai & Singh, Karnail & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2022. "Ammonia: A versatile candidate for the use in energy storage systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 955-977.
    4. Ruifeng Shi & Xiaoxi Chen & Jiajun Qin & Ping Wu & Limin Jia, 2022. "The State-of-the-Art Progress on the Forms and Modes of Hydrogen and Ammonia Energy Utilization in Road Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    5. Jorgen Depken & Alexander Dyck & Lukas Roß & Sören Ehlers, 2022. "Safety Considerations of Hydrogen Application in Shipping in Comparison to LNG," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Hong, Sanghyun & Kim, Eunsung & Jeong, Saerok, 2023. "Evaluating the sustainability of the hydrogen economy using multi-criteria decision-making analysis in Korea," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 485-492.
    7. Lee, Boreum & Park, Junhyung & Lee, Hyunjun & Byun, Manhee & Yoon, Chang Won & Lim, Hankwon, 2019. "Assessment of the economic potential: COx-free hydrogen production from renewables via ammonia decomposition for small-sized H2 refueling stations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Richard P. van Leeuwen & Annelies E. Boerman & Edmund W. Schaefer & Gerwin Hoogsteen & Yashar S. Hajimolana, 2022. "Model Supported Business Case Scenario Analysis for Decentral Hydrogen Conversion, Storage and Consumption within Energy Hubs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    9. Roy, Dibyendu & Roy, Sumit & Smallbone, Andrew & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2024. "Assessing the techno-economic viability of a trigeneration system integrating ammonia-fuelled solid oxide fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    10. Michail Cheliotis & Evangelos Boulougouris & Nikoletta L Trivyza & Gerasimos Theotokatos & George Livanos & George Mantalos & Athanasios Stubos & Emmanuel Stamatakis & Alexandros Venetsanos, 2021. "Review on the Safe Use of Ammonia Fuel Cells in the Maritime Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Muhammad Aziz, 2021. "Liquid Hydrogen: A Review on Liquefaction, Storage, Transportation, and Safety," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-29, September.
    12. Li Chin Law & Epaminondas Mastorakos & Stephen Evans, 2022. "Estimates of the Decarbonization Potential of Alternative Fuels for Shipping as a Function of Vessel Type, Cargo, and Voyage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-26, October.
    13. Yapicioglu, Arda & Dincer, Ibrahim, 2019. "A review on clean ammonia as a potential fuel for power generators," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 96-108.
    14. Muhammad Aziz & Agung Tri Wijayanta & Asep Bayu Dani Nandiyanto, 2020. "Ammonia as Effective Hydrogen Storage: A Review on Production, Storage and Utilization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    15. Wang, Cong & Feng, Yu & Liu, Zekuan & Wang, Yilin & Fang, Jiwei & Qin, Jiang & Shao, Jiahui & Huang, Hongyan, 2022. "Assessment of thermodynamic performance and CO2 emission reduction for a supersonic precooled turbine engine cycle fueled with a new green fuel of ammonia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    16. Sreedhar, I. & Kamani, Krutarth M. & Kamani, Bansi M. & Reddy, Benjaram M. & Venugopal, A., 2018. "A Bird's Eye view on process and engineering aspects of hydrogen storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 838-860.
    17. Lukman Ahmed Omeiza & Abdalla M. Abdalla & Bo Wei & Anitha Dhanasekaran & Yathavan Subramanian & Shammya Afroze & Md Sumon Reza & Saifullah Abu Bakar & Abul Kalam Azad, 2023. "Nanostructured Electrocatalysts for Advanced Applications in Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-22, February.
    18. Fengyuan Yan & Xiaolong Han & Qianwei Cheng & Yamin Yan & Qi Liao & Yongtu Liang, 2022. "Scenario-Based Comparative Analysis for Coupling Electricity and Hydrogen Storage in Clean Oilfield Energy Supply System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    19. Bargiacchi, Eleonora & Antonelli, Marco & Desideri, Umberto, 2019. "A comparative assessment of Power-to-Fuel production pathways," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1253-1265.
    20. Lee, Ju-Sung & Cherif, Ali & Yoon, Ha-Jun & Seo, Seung-Kwon & Bae, Ju-Eon & Shin, Ho-Jin & Lee, Chulgu & Kwon, Hweeung & Lee, Chul-Jin, 2022. "Large-scale overseas transportation of hydrogen: Comparative techno-economic and environmental investigation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:4:p:1453-:d:751198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.