Japan MHI to develop ammonia fired gas turbine

Mitsubishi Power (an energy solutions company and a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group) has started developing a 40-MW class gas turbine that would run on 100% ammonia, aiming to help in decarbonisation.

The company plans to commercialise the technology over the next five years. It claims that the turbine is the first of its kind on this scale in the world. The power stations for industrial applications or remote islands can be the primarily targeted users of the turbine.

Mitsubishi Power has been working on advancing its technology to transit from using natural gas fuel in gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) systems to emission-free hydrogen. Even natural gas fuel turbines emit less CO2 compared to thermal power generation systems. Mitsubishi is also developing a system in which the waste heat from a gas turbine reconverts ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen for hydrogen gas turbines.

Ammonia is a compound composed of hydrogen and nitrogen, which is used as a hydrogen carrier and can be directly combusted as fuel. However, the direct combustion of ammonia also results in the emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx), which is caused by oxidation from the nitrogen component’s combustion in the fuel. Mitsubishi aims to resolve this issue by combining selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with an innovative combustor for installation in its 40MW class H-25 Series gas turbines.