A consortium led by German-based Heraeus Precious Metals will study the efficient and sustainable supply of green hydrogen from green ammonia. The project is called “AmmoCatCoat” and in addition to Heraeus, includes partners Fraunhofer ISE, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Centre for Transmission Electron Microscopy (CAU), PYREG GmbH, and Purem by Eberspächer.
AmmoCatCoat is being funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is set to receive around €2 million, with a project duration of three years. It will demonstrate conversion to hydrogen from ammonia at the pilot scale and will seek to make the process as sustainable as possible exploring low-temperature operation, long-term material stability, and the use of renewable resources. The study will include exploring a catalyst carrier system with ruthenium coating on nitrogen-doped carbon from biomass.
The process of obtaining hydrogen from ammonia is known as cracking. The process may be used in instances where hydrogen is chemically stored as ammonia for more efficient transportation but needed as hydrogen at the point of use, in which case the ammonia will be converted back into hydrogen near the end user.