Expanded Use of Hydrogen Energy

Using Ammonia as a Hydrogen Energy Carrier

There are high expectations surrounding the use of hydrogen, which does not emit CO2 during combustion, in addressing energy diversification and a lowcarbon society, both of which are global challenges. However, due to many issues regarding both cost and safety involved in transporting and storing gaseous hydrogen, it must be converted into an energy carrier such as ammonia, liquefied hydrogen, or organic hydride to facilitate use.
Ammonia generates power through direct combustion and emits no CO2 during the process because of its hydrogen and nitrogen composition. Also, infrastructure related to the transportation and storage of ammonia already exists. For those reasons, we are focusing on ammonia as a hydrogen energy carrier and are working to develop related technologies.

Development of a New Process for Ammonia Synthesis Using Hydrogen as a Raw Material

The current issue with ammonia synthesis is the large volume of CO2 emissions from the process of producing hydrogen using natural gas as raw material.
In order to reduce the CO2 generated in conventional synthesis, the development of hydrogen production methods involving electrolysis of water using renewable energy has been anticipated. However, energy efficiency has remained an issue due to pressurization of hydrogen for conventional ammonia synthesis, which is a necessary process as synthesis using renewable energy generates hydrogen at low pressure. In response to this issue, the company has developed a new catalyst for ammonia synthesis using low pressure hydrogen, and constructed a demonstration plant for producing ammonia at lower temperatures and pressures than conventional methods, using this catalyst. Going forward, we aim to establish hydrogen power generation technologies using ammonia as a fuel, and to conduct research on the further development of these technologies aimed at commercialization.

Use of ammonia as a hydrogen energy carrier