JERA to conduct trial of co-firing ammonia at coal-fired power plant

• 8 months ago (2024-03-14)
• David Flin

Asia 892 Coal 296 Gas 393

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JERA has announced plans to co-fire 20 per cent ammonia with coal at its Hekinan thermal power station in Japan. It said that this would be the world’s first trial using a large amount of the gas at a major commercial plant.

The trial will be carried out with heavy machinery maker IHI from March 26 to June 19 and is part of JERA’s decarbonisation efforts. The project is aimed to cutting CO2 emissions by replacing some coal with cleaner fuels. JERA wants to gradually increase the ammonia component with a view to eventually reaching 100 per cent in its power plants. JERA, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power , plans to use 40,000 metric tons of ammonia for the demonstration.

Japan, the world's fifth-biggest CO2 emitter, aims to use ammonia and hydrogen as fuels for thermal power generation to help achieve its 2050 goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Katsuya Tanigawa, head of the Hekinan power station, said: “By conducting this demonstration and establishing combustion technology, we can take the first step toward promoting zero-emission thermal power plants.”

JERA aims to start ammonia co-firing on a commercial basis at Hekinan No.4 unit as early as 2027 and a trial of replacing 50 per cent of coal with ammonia at No.5 unit in around 2028.