Wärtsilä and Höegh LNG win grant to develop ammonia as hydrogen carrier

Marine technology group Wärtsilä, Höegh LNG and other partners have won funding of about €5.9 million ($6.5 million) from the Norwegian government to develop infrastructure that will enable ammonia to be used as a hydrogen carrier.

PHOTO: Wärtsilä and Höegh LNG partner to develop a floating ammonia-hydrogen conversion terminal. Wärtsilä

The government grant, which is part of Norway's Green Platform initiative, covers about half the total budget for a joint project that the partners are working on, Wärtsilä says in a statement.

The project partners plan to build a system that can convert ammonia back to hydrogen onboard a Höegh LNG vessel. By using the vessel as a floating terminal that can receive ammonia, they hope to make it easier to supply converted hydrogen to buyers.

Ammonia is easier and more cost-effective to transport and store than hydrogen, and existing infrastructure exists for moving it by sea. By comparison, hydrogen is difficult to store and transport due to its low volumetric energy density and potential for large vaporisation losses, Wärtsilä says.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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