Ammonia cracking and hydrogen purification

Ammonia is now recognized as a promising highly efficient carbon-free energy vector across industrial sectors. It shows high energy density and relies on an established and flexible infrastructure capable of mitigating hydrogen’s key drawbacks related to long distance transport and storage. Additionally, ammonia can be used as a fuel and it is becoming particularly interesting for the maritime sector. A key element in the ammonia supply chain is the cracking and purification processes required to deliver hydrogen at end-destination or at the user sites, as they need to be as energy efficient as possible for ammonia to be competitive.

The department of Environmental Industrial Processes at IFE develops new advanced catalysts for ammonia cracking at lower temperatures and novel ammonia adsorbents for the downstream purification of hydrogen. Our top-class laboratories include synthesis and characterisation equipment, as well as automated experimental rigs for performance testing (TGAs, flow-reactors, fixed/fluidized bed reactors).

Additionally, our new ammonia test facility at the IFE-Hynor Hydrogen Technology Centre will include a flexible experimental set-up for testing at TRL 4-5 different cracker prototypes and hydrogen purification equipments.

We are currently involved in a national project financed by the Norwegian Green Platform program, Ammonia as hydrogen vector in the energy market, Ammoniakk som hydrogenvektor til energimarkedet – Prosjektbanken, where we, in collaboration with Wärtsilä Gas Solutions and HoeghEVI, develop and test novel ammonia adsorbents for the purification of the hydrogen product. We are also partner in the European Defence Fund project CALIPSO where we will test in our facilities a novel palladium-membrane ammonia cracker reactor for military maritime application.