Mitsubishi to Develop World's First Ammonia-Fired Turbine
Mitsubishi has started developing the world's first 100% ammonia-fired 40-MW power turbine, the Japanese company reported on March 1.
Mitsubishi aims to commercialise the technology by around 2025, helping small- and medium-sized power stations decarbonise. One challenge with the combustion of ammonia is the production of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which Mitsubishi is looking to overcome by creating a turbine that combines selective catalytic reduction with a newly developed combustor to reduce the Nox emissions, it said.
The Japanese company is also working on switching natural gas-fired turbines to run on CO2-free hydrogen, and is developing a system in which waste heat from a gas turbine reconverts ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen for use in hydrogen gas turbines.
Ammonia is a "highly efficient hydrogen carrier," Mitsubishi said, noting that ammonia has been gaining more attention in recent years as a means of helping societies transition to hydrogen, to achieve carbon neutrality, and as a way of minimising the environmental impact of existing energy systems.
"Expectations are held that early introduction of ammonia-based power generation equipment at power companies and independent power providers will promote ammonia's future use as a carbon-free fuel," the company said.