Syston-based off-grid energy supplier Flogas Britain and Cardiff University have been awarded £3.4m by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero to develop a world-first ammonia steam boiler to help decarbonise off-grid businesses across the UK.
Over the next two years, Flogas and the academics at Cardiff University’s Net Zero Innovation Institute will prove that ammonia is a viable, cost-effective renewable fuel for large energy users off the mains gas grid, helping contribute to legally binding net zero targets.
Using the funding from the UK Government’s £55m Industrial Fuel Switching Competition, as part of the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), they will develop a first-of-its-kind, 1MW ammonia-fuelled steam boiler. This will undergo trial at an active commercial manufacturing site, proving its advantages over other low-carbon solutions.
James Rudman, Business Development Director at Flogas, said: “The off-mains industry in the UK is notoriously hard to decarbonise, and a lot of it is still powered by carbon-heavy oil, so finding cleaner, greener alternatives is a significant, pressing challenge.
“Whilst LPG is an excellent transition fuel for oil users, cutting carbon by 20% as well as other polluting emissions – to help off-grid businesses get all the way to net zero, we’re expanding our portfolio of renewables, including a range of green gases.
“Ammonia is a key part of this; we believe it’s a compelling, highly effective renewable option for off-grid industry, and an extremely cost effective one too. Plus, businesses currently running on LPG will be able to switch to ammonia in the future with modification to equipment.”
Dr Syed Mashruk of the Net Zero Innovation Institute and School of Engineering adds, “In a net zero world, the oil used by businesses and industry must be replaced by a fuel that is cost-effective and zero carbon, and green ammonia is a promising alternative fuel. It can be distributed easily and stored inexpensively using infrastructure that has been well established already in the fertiliser sector.
“Over the course of this project, we will bring to life our conceptual design for a 1 MW ammonia-fed steam boiler, creating a prototype and rigorously testing and improving it. At the end of the project, we aim to have a boiler that’s fit for commercialisation, and fuelled only by clean ammonia, which Flogas will then supply to customers as an off-grid industrial heating option.”
