Researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Engineering and Net Zero Innovation Institute have successfully burned 100% ammonia at 0.5 MW scale in an innovative boiler system.

The £3.4million Amburn project seeks to explore the potential of green ammonia as a fuel for off-grid industrial sites, which currently use 4.5million tonnes of oil every year, equating to 14 Mt/CO2/y. It was carried out by Cardiff University funded by the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s £55 million Industrial Fuel Switching Competition, and was delivered in partnership with Flogas.

The patented system developed for the project is called the Integrated Cracking Burner (ICB) system. The ICB system burns ammonia cleanly whilst also producing hydrogen to support ammonia combustion by cracking ammonia with waste heat from combustion, eliminating the challenges of hydrogen transport and storage. This innovation is described as a major step forward in achieving maximum decarbonisation and creating industrial value.

Initial tests were completed at 300kW thermal power with various ammonia/propane blends, before being scaled up. Stage 1 testing has demonstrated the potential for the technology to be used in an efficient, stable, low polluting manner.

The project will now progress to Stage 2 testing over the coming months, scaling up to 1MW capacity.