Japanese firms to study blue ammonia in Alaska

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi and engineering firm Toyo Engineering will discuss with state-owned Alaska Gasline Development (AGDC) and Hilcorp Alaska on blue ammonia production in the US' Alaska.

The four companies on 4 October signed an agreement for a feasibility study on blue ammonia output, sourced from natural gas on the North Slope of Alaska with carbon capture and storage technology. The blue ammonia is expected to be exported from Alaska mainly to Japan, where fuel-ammonia demand is expected to rise sharply for such uses as power generation and marine fuel, Toyo said. Planned export destinations will be throughout Asia-Pacific.

A LNG and ammonia plant is planned for the Cook Inlet in southcentral Alaska, with proposed pipelines delivering North Slope natural gas to the LNG plant. Carbon dioxide emitted during natural gas output is expected to be injected into depleted oil fields, Toyo said.

An assessment project will further define Cook Inlet's sequestration potential and the economics for producing clean ammonia along with LNG in Alaska, AGDC said.

The companies will also discuss Alaska's advantages to transport ammonia to Asia-Pacific. Round-trip tanker transport from Alaska to key Asian markets is more than 12,000 miles (19,000km) shorter than from the US Gulf coast, reducing costs and shipping emissions, AGDC added.

Japan has set a goal of a 20pc ammonia co-firing rate at domestic coal-fired power generation plants by 2030 and above 50pc by 2050 to achieve the country's 2050 decarbonisation goal. The country expects ammonia demand as a fuel to increase to 3mn t/yr by 2030 and to 30mn t/yr by 2050.

By Maiko Nakashima