According to a press release on Monday (March 25th), Japan's largest power company JERA announced an alliance with American energy giant ExxonMobil to jointly explore the development of a low hydrocarbon and ammonia production project in the United States.
This move aims to respond to the increasingly severe global climate change issue and the Japanese government's demand for low-carbon energy. It is reported that the project will focus on the potential of hydrogen and ammonia as clean energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Steven Winn, Senior Executive Officer of JERA, stated, "Collaboration between top companies is crucial for establishing supply chains for ammonia, hydrogen, and other products, which are key to zero emission thermal power generation."
Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil's Low Carbon Solutions, pointed out that "building world-class projects for new markets requires synchronous supply, demand, and regulatory support."
Future Energy
Ammonia is considered an effective future energy source. It does not emit carbon dioxide when burned, but its production process involves the participation of fossil fuels, which means it will emit carbon dioxide during production. Therefore, how to produce low-carbon ammonia has become the focus of this cooperation.
The collaboration project will take place at ExxonMobil's Baytown complex located east of Houston, Texas. ExxonMobil plans to build it into the world's largest low-carbon hydrogen production plant, with an annual production capacity of approximately 900000 tons of hydrogen and over 1 million tons of ammonia. It is reported that the project is scheduled to start production in 2028.
The company stated in a statement that under the agreement, JERA may invest in the project and purchase approximately 500000 tons of low-carbon ammonia annually from the project to meet Japan's demand.
As the world's fifth largest emitter of carbon dioxide, Japan has been promoting the use of ammonia as an alternative fuel to help coal-fired power plants and other factories reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Japan's goal is to increase the demand for ammonia as a fuel to 3 million tons by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
This week, JERA will begin testing at its Hekinan thermal power plant located in central Japan, co firing 20% ammonia with coal. The company stated that this will be the world's first test using a large amount of ammonia in a large commercial power plant.
However, environmentalists criticize this as a way to extend the lifespan of coal-fired power generation, which is the most polluting form of power generation.