Demonstration of Direct Ammonia Fuel Cells for Maritime Propulsion

Ammonia is a highly attractive energy vector, especially for the maritime sector. It acts as a dense and transportable store of hydrogen that offers an excellent route to enabling heavier duty transport applications to utilise renewable electricity. Fuel Cells can convert Ammonia into electrical energy without generating the nitrogen oxides that pollute our cities and ports. Additionally, utilising high temperature fuel cell technology to directly convert Ammonia offers simpler and more efficient systems. Here, we seek to implement a novel fuel cell system that has been demonstrated for direct conversion of Ammonia directly into water and nitrogen, yielding electric power. We seek to exploit anticipated advantages in terms of cost and lifetime, allowing the development of a robust and highly competitive product.

This project comprises of university studies to optimise electrodes for Ammonia conversion, developing cell fabrication technology, and improving current collection to develop the technology base. The core activity will be to develop an operational stack targeting kW operation on ammonia fuel. This will be supported by developing the electrical system to work with this and developing the operational parameters demanded for successful demonstrations both on-vessel and shoreside implementations. This partnership seeks to implement direct ammonia fuel cells, establishing pathways to early markets and an important new supply chain for clean Maritime Transport.