Hydrogen energy storage in AMMONIA: Fantastic future or fossil fuel scam?

Hydrogen energy storage in ammonia is not something that would be instinctively obvious to most of us, but the folks in the energy industry are apparently getting quite excited about the concept. It's a far safer, easier and more energy dense way to transport hydrogen around the world and could be the final cog in the gears of a true hydrogen economy of the future. But some warn that it could actually be a smokescreen enabling the fossil fuel industry to continue burning huge quantities of natural gas and maintain their vice-like grip on the global energy market.

Video Transcripts available at our website

Help support this channels independence at

Or with a donation via Paypal by clicking here

Download the Just Have a Think App from the AppStore or Google Play

Interested in mastering and remembering the concepts that I present in my videos?

Check out the FREE DiveDeeper mini-courses offered by the Center for Behavior and Climate. These mini-courses teach the main concepts in select JHAT videos and go beyond to help you learn additional scientific or conservation concepts. The courses are great for teachers to use or for individual learning.

Check out other YouTube Climate Communicators

zentouro:
Climate Adam:
Kurtis Baute:
Levi Hildebrand:
Simon Clark:
Sarah Karver:
ClimateTown:
Jack Harries:
Beckisphere:
Our Changing Climate :

This week's Research links

Robert Service article

Douglas MacFarlane Paper

Article in The Chemical Engineer magazine

Recharge Article : hydrogen on offshore platforms

EU Hydrogen Strategy

DESMOG article

US DoE Investment in Hydrogen

Global Ammonia Market Trends

Ammonia for heavy trucks in Canada

Ammonia as a jet fuel

WSJ on Hydrogen Projections

Colorado School of Mines

Hydrogen boiler trial in Scotland

#hydrogeninammonia #climatecrisis #actnow

[squares]

Yet another well researched presentation. You should be commended for all your work.

[OwenEdwards]

I love that these videos provide ideas for solutions. They make me feel inspired, informed and motivated rather than overwhelmed and helpless

[tylower]

Best eco-tech channel on YouTube. Bravo, sir.

[TheOneWhoMightBe]

I've long been an advocate for Ammonia as either an Hydrogen carrier (if we really, really must), or as a direct fuel source itself. However, it still only makes sense once you have sufficient green energy sources to power the processes, otherwise it's little more than shuffling deckchairs, if not actually making things worse.

[HerreNeas]

Awesome again Dave, thanks for keeping us all up to speed.

[joecraven]

What a smart, concise overview of an important topic. Easy to understand and full of information without hype. I'll keep watching these. Thanks.

[xDanossx]

Direct Amonia Fuel Cells/ Ships/ Jet Engines sound hella interesting! Maybe worth a future video going more into detail?

[barnowl]

It would appear that one of the newer small atomic reactors, used on site, would solve the problem of supplying a lot of high temperature heat for the conversion process. Not more efficient but no carbon in the process.

[RikkerdHZ]

There's recently been a breakthrough in green ammonia production. Very promising stuff, especially since it seems to be very scallable. A fridge-sized ammonia plant can power a farmhouse and a bigger one a town. It's called the Monash ammonia project!

[ronkirk]

Even if we just used these new Ammonia processes using green energy to produce agricultural fertilizer instead of using the Haber process, it would be a big plus for the environment. It is encouraging to hear about new chemical processes being developed to replace older energy inefficient and polluting methods. We need to attack the greenhouse gas problem on all fronts at once and quickly.

[davidhicks]

I have only just come across your site - very interesting commentary and extremely well presented. A new technology we do have here in Australia is the capture of CO2 from emitters, processing using a our patent 'Annulus Core Reactor', to product a reactant solution of ammonia bicarbonate. We then further process this into add-value products for the agriculture, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Whilst still advancing and moving on from our 2nd pilot plant, already engineering confirmed along with independent analysis of by-product - 99.3 & 100%. We see it as exciting times to assist in both the transitioning period and also future negative carbon footprints.

[matthewdunstone]

I have dismissed hydrogen as a fuel source in the past, but thanks to this content, I can see that there may be a place for it in the future as ammonia. Thanks for the excellent video. I got a lot out of it.

[milesj]

This is a interesting subject, I had not heard of this so thank you for bringing it to my attention, you do a great job with your videos. As with all new technology, I don't see why we have to be one type of another and not use all these great forms of energy for the price point that they work best for. I am all for having a clean environment, so that means we use all the resources at our disposal to accomplish this.

[BluegroperAuWeb]

Thank you our CSIRO are working on hydrogen production, converting it to ammonia to store and transport and converting it back to hydrogen at point of use. But as you outlined there is a possibility just to create ammonia and use that in a fuel cell! I think we will get there because there there has been a lot of good R&D!

[madsam]

Fast forward into the future.
Robot 1: why do we still need humans?
Robot 2: we still need them, for their wee.

[colindavidson]

When I was a youngster, lo these many years ago, my father worked at a Wall's Ice Cream factory on the outskirts of Gloucester. They used large amounts of ammonia in industrial refrigerators (which I believe is a still-used technology). Through him I learned that there were civic contingency plans to evacuate half of the city, should a major ammonia leak occur. Yes, ammonia is hydrogen-dense and may by a good way of storing hydrogen, but another problem with it, besides the current lack of efficient, carbon-free industrial scale production technologies, is the not inconsiderable toxicity.

[ronmasters]

So much better than the common breathless excitement about some new technology. Knowing the obstacles really helps.

[chrisgrant]

Very clear and informative, many thanks. I am editor of a magazine for more than 1500 large boat owners on inland waterways of Europe and am very interested in the future for driving these boats when old diesels become banned. Weight is not necessarily a problem on a 20-30m 60 ton barge so ammonia in tanks of would be a great solution. We often have 1000 to 2000 litres of diesel carried on board delivered by tanker at the start of the season. I will follow with interest. Thanks again.

[custos]

Interesting. Never would've guessed we could go from hippie vans that smell like fries going down the road to semis that reek of old cat lady.

[carlrehnberg]

Superb summup of the current state of affairs. It is also something that is warm at my heart since we at Mantlepower Geothermal is planning for a geothermal plant producing hydrogen/ammonia/fertilizer, through one of the processes mentioned in here.