TWO companies have signed a joint research and development agreement to commercialise an ammonia floating storage and regasification barge (A-FSRB).
NYK Line, Nihon Shipyard, Class NK and IHI Corporation are to work through the research and development stages of the project.
An A-FSRB is an offshore floating facility that can receive and store ammonia that has been transported via ship as a liquid, warm and regasify ammonia according to demand, and then send it to a pipeline onshore.
According to a statement from NYK, an A-FSRB offers the advantages of shorter construction time and lower costs in comparison with construction of onshore storage tanks and regasification plants. In fact, the A-FSRB is expected to speed up the adoption of ammonia fuel and contribute to its wider use as a lower-environmental-impact next-generation fuel.
Because ammonia does not emit carbon dioxide when combusted, it is in line to be a cleaner fuel.
In Japan, technological development is underway for ammonia fuel mixed combustion power generation at coal-fired power plants as an innovative next-generation thermal power generation technology that contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
