CORE POWER launched some results from its study on mass-production of zero-carbon fuels for shipping, using advanced nuclear technologies offshore.
CORE POWER modelling shows that with current technology it is possible to produce 1 million tonnes of ammonia per year using 1.2 GW of electric power, reducing to 0.9 GW by 2050. This is the equivalent of 440,000 tonnes of very low sulfur fuel oil (VLFSO) and it would allow the decarbonisation of a significant number of vessels.
The flexible nature of these systems will mean it will also be possible to provide a mixture of electricity, hydrogen, and ammonia for other applications, including chemical manufacturing and aviation
says the company.
However, while the largest 17,000 ships are unlikely to find economic value in using hydrogen-derived green fuels, a very large portion of the world fleet may find green ammonia to be a viable pathway to zero-emissions.
Our concept design is for an offshore facility partnering advanced nuclear power with an offshore ammonia production facility, which will create green ammonia from abundant seawater and air. No emissions would come from the plant
explains Dr Rory Megginson, CORE POWER’s Director of Analytics, adding also that the production of green ammonia at sea using advanced nuclear power would be superior to both production from renewables and non-marine atomic systems because
What is more, he noted that atomic power has the highest capacity factor of any power generation method whereas intermittent renewables, wind and solar have the lowest.
Furthermore, CORE POWER believes that moving the reactors to sea will allow for a large reduction in costs due to the lack of a need for expensive civil engineering as well as opening the possibility of shipyard construction
By moving to the production of modular ‘nth-of-a-kind’ rather than the unique ‘first-of-a-kind’ reactor, that has kept nuclear generation prices elevated up until now, costs can be lowered by the efficiency and process gains of mass-manufacturing
