Posted on 29 Jan 2025
US technology company Syzygy Plasmonics and South Korean chemical manufacturer Lotte Chemical have commissioned and completed performance testing of an all-electric ammonia cracking system in Ulsan, South Korea.
Due to its high energy density and established storage and transport infrastructure, ammonia is considered the ideal energy carrier for transporting hydrogen. Once ammonia is transported to the end-use point, it is “cracked” back into hydrogen and nitrogen using ammonia-cracking technology.
Syzygy’s ammonia e-cracking technology is centred on the so-called Rigel reactor cells, which use light instead of combustion to crack ammonia. The company claims the technology facilitates hydrogen production at a lower levelised cost.
Lotte installed Syzygy’s Rigel reactor cell at its facility in Ulsan with shipping and logistical support from Japan-based Sumitomo Corporation Group. While the plant construction was completed last November, field testing was completed in December, Kallanish notes.
After KOSHA certification and installation, Syzygy claims the cell “immediately hit desired performance levels and operated flawlessly” throughout the trial. By adjusting flow rate and light intensity across different testing phases, the cell produced “all-time best achievements” of 11 kilowatt-hour/kilogram (kWh/kg), 81% energy efficiency, 99% conversion, and 290 kg/day of hydrogen. The companies claim this is the world’s largest all-electric ammonia cracking system.
Syzygy expects the data from the trial to help it achieve 8 kWh/kg of hydrogen at the cell level in future designs. This is the company’s second installation of the Rigel reactor cell, with the first located at its demonstration facility in Houston, Texas.
“This is the breakthrough that Korea, Japan, and Eastern Europe have been waiting for,” comments Suman Khatiwada, co-founder and chief technical officer at Syzygy. “They now have an efficient, proven way to crack imported ammonia for hydrogen.”
The two companies will work together to commercialise the technology in South Korea. They also plan to build a small commercial plant together in the coming years, adds Hans Shin, project manager at Lotte.
Source:Kallanish
