Governments and organisations are trying to reduce environmental impact and pollution, transitioning towards green energy and fuels. Power conversion from ammonia stands out as a promising green energy technology. However, despite its potential advantages for the maritime sector in the form of green fuel cells and engines, current conversion methods suffer from inefficiency and inflexibility. With this in mind, the EU-funded APOLO project aims to develop innovative ammonia cracking technology characterised by scalability, adaptability, and enhanced efficiency. Subsequently, the technology will undergo testing and demonstration on vessels with 1 to 10 MW propulsion, with efforts directed towards minimising the ecological footprint.
Through a holistic approach, APOLO aims to tackle the challenges of power conversion from ammonia and develop an efficient and flexible ammonia cracking technology. This technology will be coupled with fuel cells and engines to achieve complete decarbonization of the maritime sector.
As the main objective of the call is to demonstrate scalability beyond 3MW, the consortium will focus on showcasing the following demonstration units:
i) A 125kW power conversion system that utilizes an ammonia cracker coupled with a PEM fuel cell system, achieving an overall system efficiency of 51% to 54%. The ammonia cracker will be customized to work with different pressure conditions and efficiency levels of PEM fuel cells. A comparison of efficiency levels will be conducted to evaluate the flexibility of the cracking system for all types of PEM fuel cells.
ii) A 125kW partial ammonia cracker coupled with a 4-stroke engine, exhibiting an overall system efficiency above 45%
APOLO is dedicated to minimizing the ecological footprint of transportation and energy, focusing on the maritime sector. To achieve this, we're actively developing innovative power conversion technologies such as cracker, fuel cell, and engine, and utilizing life cycle assessment (LCA) at various stages of product development.
The technologies developed in APOLO are capable of targeting the first 30,000 ships in the market. Initially, the focus will be on vessels with 1 to 10 MW propulsion, with a significant number of them being around 3 MW in the next decade, as these are the first vessels relevant for ammonia-powered solutions.