World-first ammonia steam boiler moves to next phase of testing

Researchers at the Net Zero Innovation Institute, in collaboration with industry partner Flogas, have begun testing a new type of low carbon ammonia boiler on-site at Cardiff University.

Launched last year, the £3.4million Amburn project is funded by Department for Energy Security and Net Zero through the Industrial Fuel Switching Competition. The project team has designed world-first equipment that aims to tackle industrial carbon emissions by providing a greener solution.

Instead of using oil as its fuel, the new boiler burns green ammonia, which liquifies at lower temperatures and pressures and can be stored inexpensively. Many off-grid industrial sites are currently fuelled by carbon-heavy oil, consuming 4.5 million tonnes of oil annually, which equates to emissions of 14 metric tonnes.

Dr Syed Mashruk, Zero Carbon Fuels theme leader at Cardiff University's Net Zero Innovation Institute, leading the project, said: “These experiments will be the first of their kind and the ammonia powered novel combustion system designed by us at Cardiff University has the potential to change the way that we power industry.

Our testing will provide more insight into the applicability of this technology to decarbonise industry that doesn't have access to grid power. Learnings from these experiments will speed up the progress to net zero.”

Later in 2024, Cardiff University and Flogas will progress on to Stage two testing where the burner will be scaled up to 1MW capacity. Finally in early 2025, the burner integrated in a steam boiler will operate at 1MW at a Flogas customer site to demonstrate the technology’s real-world application. The team will aim to prepare the technology for a commercial rollout.

The Net Zero Innovation Institute is leading research and development activities in the novel use of ammonia as an energy vector. It has established the Centre of Excellence on Ammonia Technologies (CEAT) which aims to transition research from labs to industrial-scale testbeds, bring together experts from the clean fuel industry from across the globe, and make ammonia a key fuel in the 21st century's decarbonisation efforts.