Tecnalia H2SITE is participating in a project aimed at developing the world’s first decentralized plant to convert ammonia into hydrogen. The initiative, with a budget of €7.8 million, is supported by the UK government, and British companies EQUANS, Gemserv, University of Birmingham and Tyseley Energy Park, as well as Norway’s Yara, are also involved.
Currently, transporting hydrogen over long distances is “a barrier to its widespread adoption,” Tecnalia points out, to determine that ammonia, for its part, is a molecule with a very high hydrogen density and “easy to transport and store on site. Specifically, H2SITE technology allows,” The start-up” for Tecnalia, “is converting this ammonia to hydrogen at end-user facilities at high levels of efficiency,” he explains.
In this context, the Tyseley Ammonia to Green Hydrogen Initiative was born in Birmingham, which aims to create and start up the “world’s most efficient” ammonia-to-hydrogen unit. The pilot plant, which is currently in the development stage, will produce 200 kilograms of hydrogen per day to feed the hydrogen refueling station located in the same park. The station will be equipped to serve the British city of Birmingham’s bus fleet and will be “the first in the world to convert ammonia into pure hydrogen to power fuel cells directly”.