TotalEnergies looks into ammonia as marine fuel

French energy major TotalEnergies explores ammonia as an alternative marine fuel by participating in a series of relevant industry initiatives.

TotalEnergies entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 22 companies across diverse industries (energy, mining, power utility, chemical, terminal, shipping, shipbuilding, manufacturing, bunkering and classification society) to initiate a joint study on ammonia as an alternative marine fuel.

Ammonia is seen as a promising alternative fuel for large vessels and deep-sea shipping to significantly reduce ghg emissions within the shipping industry.

Green ammonia, produced from green hydrogen using renewable electricity, water and air, could play a major role in enabling the industry to meet the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) carbon emission reduction targets proposed by 2050.

This joint study framework will address common challenges that need to be overcome for ammonia to contribute to the decarbonisation of the shipping industry. This includes the safety assessment of an ammonia-fueled ship and ammonia bunkering, ammonia fuel specification and the net carbon emissions from ammonia production.

Vice president marine fuels at TotalEnergies Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet said: “Ammonia is seen as a promising future fuel for shipping from an emissions reduction and scalability perspective. However, safety, technology maturity and affordability remain key challenges which we need to overcome. In tandem with TotalEnergies’ R&D efforts, we are delighted to be part of these pioneering, industry-wide collaborations, to unlock ammonia as a cleaner marine fuel for ships.”

TotalEnergies has also recently started on a joint project with other maritime industry companies, through the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, to assess the technical, financial and environmental potential of converting existing vessels to future fuel solutions and technology, such as ammonia.

Since 2019, TotalEnergies is a member of the Ammonia Energy Association, a global industry association that promotes the responsible use of ammonia in a sustainable energy economy.

In July 2020, TotalEnergies also set up a Clean Hydrogen business unit.

All of these moves emphasise TotalEnergies’ efforts towards the energy transition; towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.