Vopak, Air Liquide partner to study ammonia-to-hydrogen infrastructure on Jurong Island

VOPAK and Air Liquide have joined hands to study how they might produce and distribute low-carbon hydrogen on Jurong Island, with an aim to support Singapore’s national hydrogen strategy.

Hydrogen is a cleaner energy source because the only by-product from its usage is water, and the city-state’s strategy proposes that hydrogen could supply up to half of its power needs by 2050.

One of the sources of hydrogen is ammonia, and liquid bulk storage giant Vopak owns and operates Singapore’s only ammonia tank. The tank sits at the company’s Banyan terminal – the biggest of the three terminals it operates on Jurong Island.

On Monday (Mar 11), Vopak and French industrial gases company Air Liquide said they have signed a memorandum of understanding to study and explore the development of low-carbon ammonia supply chains in Singapore.

Air Liquide is building an industrial-scale ammonia cracking pilot plant in Belgium.

It is looking to apply its expertise to crack ammonia in Singapore as well, said Zhang Xi, Air Liquide Singapore’s South-east Asia cluster vice-president and managing director. Ammonia cracking involves heating to the point of evaporation, then feeding the gas into a reactor that splits it into parts.

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The agreement with Vopak spans the potential development of ammonia cracking facilities, associated ammonia storage and handling infrastructure at the Banyan terminal, and the distribution of low-carbon hydrogen through a pipeline network, the partners said.

Apart from its ability to support greener power generation, ammonia is also touted as a possible alternative maritime fuel.

Vopak Singapore’s president Rob Boudestijn said that as Singapore gears up for receiving and handling ammonia for power generation and bunkering, cracking of ammonia into hydrogen presents an additional application to help the industry shift to lower carbon feedstock.