Ammonia as energy

January 2023 Motion Control & Drives

A New York startup, Amogy says it has successfully demonstrated the world’s first ammonia-powered tractor. The ammonia-to-energy system was incorporated into a standard, medium-sized John Deere tractor. Amogy says the technology features a “liquid-storage tank and highly efficient ammonia-cracking modules integrated into a hybrid fuel cell system, which can provide consistent primary power for several hours.” The ammonia-powered tractor was driven for separate periods, with a refuelling session in between. Refuelling a tractor with liquid ammonia is fast and simple, similar to gas or diesel refuelling.

Amogy says ammonia is a viable, high density, zero-emission fuel for heavy-duty vehicles. The company believes this energy source has many more applications outside of agrotech and stresses that infrastructure for an ammonia rollout − like pipelines, terminals and storage methods − already exists globally. It says the latest demonstration will help the platform gain traction, with an overall goal to “support the decarbonisation of the broader transport sectors, including trucking, shipping and more.”

Therefore, the pioneering vehicle maintains the functionality and duration requirements operators rely on to support farming tasks, which has never been offered with other alternative energy solutions.

Ammonia is a viable zero-emission fuel for all heavy-duty vehicles, but especially farming and agriculture, where the readily available chemical has been used as a fertiliser for decades. Amogy is at the forefront of efforts to establish zero-carbon ammonia as a leading fuel for these vehicles.

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