中國石化新聞網訊 據12月7日offshore energy消息：日本計劃將氨作為燃料引入航運業，並在21世紀20年代末將其商業化，作為其到2050年實現碳中和努力的一部分。
該解決方案在日本燃料氨理事會今天的會議上進行了研究。該理事會由來自公共和私營部門的代表組成，以解決引入和擴展使用氨作為燃料的技術和其他供應鏈障礙。另外，委員會還希望將氨氣引入火力發電的燃料混合物中。
氨預計將在2020年末作為商業燃料引入火力發電和航運，預計到2030年左右將大量使用。
氨加入了太陽能、風能、地熱、水能和生物質能等可再生能源的行列，因為它即使在燃燒時也不排放二氧化碳。由於它已經主要用於化肥應用，因此已經具備了國際貿易基礎設施，另外，在它作為燃料廣泛使用之前，還需要解決一些技術問題，包括安全增壓、液化和燃燒。
在大氣壓下，氨可以以液體的形式儲存在較高溫度下。然而，它的能量密度低於石油，這意味著船隻消耗的燃料量是石油的五倍。根據國際海運公會的數據，氨產量將不得不增加4.4億噸，是目前產量的三倍多，需要750吉瓦的可再生能源。
綠氨已被確定為最有前途的低排放燃料之一，國際能源信息署預測，到2070年，其運輸用途將達到1.3億噸，是2019年全球肥料生產的兩倍。
理事會同意對氨的採購進行可行性研究，以建立解決方案的供應鏈，並開展示範項目以促進使用氨作為燃料，考慮熱電聯產和在工業爐、船舶等中的使用。
第一次可行性研究預計將看到該國燃煤火力發電廠開始燃燒20%的氨。
今年8月，日本航運公司日本郵船，日本造船海洋聯合公司(JMU)和ClassNK籤署了一個聯合研發協議，將一艘以氨為燃料的氨氣運輸船(AFAGC)商業化，該船將使用氨作為主要燃料，此外還有一艘氨浮動儲存和再氣化駁船(A-FSRB)。
目前，氨的大型海上運輸主要採用多用途液化石油氣船。
NYK表示:「預計使用氨作為海洋燃料，將有助於遠洋船舶早日實現零排放。」
馮娟 摘譯自 offshore energy
原文如下：
Japan pushes ahead with ammonia as a shipping fuel of the future
Japan is planning to introduce ammonia as fuel into the shipping industry and make it commercially available in the late 2020s as part of its efforts to go carbon-neutral by 2050.
The solution was examined at today’s meeting of the fuel ammonia council, which was established back in October. The council is made up of representatives from the public and private sectors to solve technical and other supply-chain hurdles to the introduction and expansion of using ammonia as a fuel.
The council also wants to introduce ammonia into the fuel mix for thermal power generation.
「Ammonia is expected to be introduced as fuels on a commercial basis for thermal power generation and shipping in the late 2020s, and it is expected to be used for a significant amount by around 2030,」 Ryo Minami, director-general of oil, gas and mineral resources at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told the council meeting.
Ammonia joins renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and biomass, as it doesn’t emit CO2 even when burned.
Being already mainly used for fertilizer applications, it has an international trading infrastructure in place, however, there still a need for some technical issues to be resolved, incuding safe pressurization, liquefaction and combustion before it can become widely used as a fuel.
Ammonia can be stored in higher temperatures in a liquid form under atmospheric pressure.
However, it is less energy-dense than oil, meaning ships will consume up to five times as much fuel by volume. Ammonia production would have to rise by 440 million tonnes – more than treble current production – requiring 750 gigawatts of renewable energy, according to the International Chamber of Shipping..
What is more, since it is less flamable it needs a pilot fuel for combustion.
Green ammonia has been identified as one of the most promising low-emission fuels, with the IEA predicting that its use for shipping will reach 130m tonnes by 2070, twice as much as was used worldwide for fertiliser production in 2019.
The council agreed to carry out a feasibility study on procurement of ammonia with the aim of building a supply chain for the solution, as well as carry out demonstration projects to promote the use of ammonia as fuel, with consideration for co-firing in thermal power generation and use in industrial furnaces, ships, etc.
The first feasibility study is expected to see the country’s coal-fired thermal power plants start burning 20% of ammonia.
The shipping industry majors are moving forward with their research and development efforts.
In August, Japanese shipping company NYK Line, shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU), and ClassNK signed a joint R&D agreement for the commercialization of an ammonia-fuelled ammonia gas carrier (AFAGC) that would use ammonia as the main fuel, in addition to an ammonia floating storage and regasification barge (A-FSRB).
Large-scale marine transportation of ammonia is currently carried out by multipurpose liquefied petroleum gas vessels.
「It is expected that the use of ammonia, which is the cargo, as a marine fuel will contribute to the early realization of zero emissions for oceangoing vessels,」 NYK said.
Apart from AFAGC, the companies will be engaged in the R&D of a barge that is equipped with a floating storage and regasification facility exclusively for ammonia for the first time in the world.