Opening by chairman Bob Wind

Rotterdam aims to be the leading port for sustainable energy. An important part of Rotterdam as Europe’s Hydrogen Hub is the import of hydrogen. A lot of hydrogen is needed to replace natural gas, oil and coal.

It is estimated that the amount of green hydrogen coming in through Rotterdam in 2050 could rise to 18 million tons. Hydrogen has to be cooled down considerably to make it liquid. An alternative is to ‘pack’ (and unpack) hydrogen into another molecule, such as ammonia (NH₃), methanol or a Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC). In order to facilitate imports, various parties are now also looking at the development of import terminals. What are the expectations for Rotterdam?

Hydrogen and hydrogen carriers all have their specific advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, technology, land use, environment and risks. How does Ammonia perform compared to its competitors? 

Because of climate change the world is searching for more climate friendly energy sources. In search of these fossil free fuels and energy sources there is a spotlight on ammonia as an energy carrier (of hydrogen) and as a primary fuel. This will eventually lead to large amounts of  NH₃ to be transported from port areas to hinterlands, and it is not always possible to avoid urban areas. Transport via pipelines is a possible option, as is transport via rail. But in both options safety is an important issue, as well as public perception.

We will give an intro in the safety issues and the current public perception, and where to think about when you are developing plans. Not only organization your project on technical bases, but also stakeholder management is an indispensable issue.

Stamicarbon green ammonia technology is based on the proven Haber-Bosh process and a perfect match for Power to X small and medium size project. Its unique operational conditions and lean process design lead to a compact plant configuration with a minimum foot print requirement and thus a very competitive Capex when compared to other technologies.

Moreover, the relatively high operating pressure makes it possible to obtain a high conversion per path using a minimum volume of catalyst. Moreover the plants are highly modular in nature in turn reducing erection time and site works.

Duiker’s ammonia hydrogen converter is the most advanced, highly energy-efficient and innovative ammonia cracking technology on the market. It is based on over a decade of experience that Duiker has in low NOx ammonia combustion. Join us during this presentation to explore how this groundbreaking technology enables customers to establish and maintain the most sustainable ammonia cracking facility. Our presentation will focus on cost and emission reduction strategies for large-scale ammonia cracking.

In order to avoid stress corrosion cracking in tanks, pipes, and vessels when handling anhydrous ammonia, the ammonia must contain a minimum water content. Verifying this water content involves an ammonia sampling operation that has traditionally posed concerns related to safety, emissions, and consistency. Swagelok has developed a closed loop sampler that solves these challenges and enables closed loop sampling of anhydrous ammonia in a safe and consistent manner.

A new Casale technology and plant retrofit solution to decarbonise gas-based (grey) ammonia production by injection of a green hydrogen stream from a co-located water electrolyser which is operated in a load fluctuating mode – as inevitable consequence of being feed by renewable resource derived green kWh. The speech will demonstrate how the Casale solution addresses the challenges of time-variable hydrogen flow stream imposed on the grey plant, resulting in an economical and robust retrofit solution for a specific application case.

Nitrogenous fertilizer industry is a large energy consumer, Ammonia production is the most energy intensive step, accounting for 80-90% of the energy used in the fertilizer industry.

Today’s crisis is climate change and energy transition, there are different pathways for decarbonizing ammonia industry,  the first step  is Implementing a lot of energy efficiency improvement objectives and highly efficient equipment for the existing ammonia plants to save more energy, and reduce carbon emissions, the second is low carbon ammonia like electrolysis-derived hydrogen (Green Ammonia) and the use of Carbon Capture and Storage (Blue ammonia), Ammonia is considered the most cost-effective energy carrier, to overcome storage and distribution challenges of hydrogen.

Improving energy efficiency is an important way to reduce carbon emissions, look strategically at how energy is currently used in plants, systems, and production processes. Focus on the areas where you can generate the greatest savings, and continuously benchmark the company’s energy performance to continually improve this performance to maintain optimum energy procurement and ensure that it is sustained.

Addressing emissions from ammonia production is therefore a key component of the decarbonization of the fertilizers and agricultural sectors, furthermore ammonia plays vital role in not only food security but also in energy security and energy transition in the future.

Synthetic ammonia is arguably the most impactful invention of the 20th century. Without it as fertiliser, we would only have been able to sustain about half of the global population. The downside, however, is that (grey) ammonia production comes with greenhouse gas emissions: about 500 Mt CO2e per year globally.

Nevertheless, the ammonia demand has been predicted to increase in the coming decades through its use as fertiliser, hydrogen carrier, and sustainable fuel in the maritime industry. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that by 2050, the total ammonia market will be about four times as big as it is today. Keeping the two additional use cases in mind as well as the Net Zero targets, it becomes a lucrative investment opportunity and we simply cannot ignore green ammonia anymore.

Although that sounds promising, only tiny amounts of green ammonia are actually being produced at the moment. This is exactly why green ammonia is such an interesting space for venture capital funding: a market with huge potential that requires cash influx to flourish.

So how does a venture capital fund, like Extantia Capital, look at green ammonia? We will present the findings of our deep dive at the NH3 event, including our general investment criteria and a (startup) market analysis.

IHI is developing a wide range of ammonia utilisation technologies to contribute to decarbonise various fields, most notably the power sector. IHI is developing technologies to use ammonia directly as a fuel in gas turbines, in boilers and in SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells) with the support from the Japanese Government.