Jera, Mitsubishi Heavy plan ammonia project in Japan
Jera and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plan to develop a technology to increase the ammonia co-firing rate at coal-fired boilers in Japan, they said on January 7.
The companies have received notice of acceptance of their grant application, under the Green Innovation Fund program of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, for the project.
This project aims to develop an ammonia single-fuel burner suitable for coal-fired boilers and to demonstrate operation of the burner at actual boilers. The term of the project is approximately eight years from 2021 to 2028.
By 2024, the companies plan to develop a new burner capable of single-fuel ammonia combustion and draw up a master plan for equipment to demonstrate its use in actual boilers. Based on the results, the two companies will decide whether to install the burners at Jera's coal-fired boilers made by MHI. For the actual plant demonstrations, they plan to verify co-firing with at least 50% ammonia at two units with different boiler types by 2028.
The companies said that ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide when burned so offers advantages in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "In order to achieve a decarbonised society, it is important to reduce CO2 emissions from thermal power generation by innovating to increase the co-firing rate of fuel ammonia," they said.