After performing fairly well in the aviation and the shipping industries and achieving maximum fuel efficiency, ammonia is all set to be deployed in the heavy-duty vehicle industry as well. A Brooklyn-based start-up named “Amogy” has introduced ammonia-based fuel technology to power its tractors being used in the agriculture sector. According to the company, the approach is based on reducing the carbon footprint on the environment by using sustainable fuels that have zero carbon emissions.
The inclusion of ammonia as an environmentally green product to be utilized as fuel is not new, as it has already been deployed in a lot of vehicles and jet engines. Also, a lot of automobiles run on methane, which plays a pivotal role in cutting carbon emissions by up to 80%. But this John Deere tractor is going to be the first heavy-duty vehicle based on ammonia fuel, which also provides energy density five times greater than that of a lithium-ion battery.
According to Amogy’s CEO, Seonghoon Woo, “We’re thrilled to be demonstrating our zero-emission ammonia power solution in action in a tractor for the first time ever. Ammonia is a viable zero-emission fuel for all heavy-duty vehicles, but especially for farming and agriculture, where the readily available chemical has been used as a fertilizer for decades.”
The conserved ammonia from a tank is first converted into a liquid form and then poured into the tubes, which break it into two components, i.e., nitrogen and hydrogen. This hydrogen would then go further into the fuel processing unit, which ultimately becomes a source of fuel supply for a couple of hours. The same mechanism is consolidated in the John Deere tractor, which works with the highest level of efficiency as anticipated in research. However, the tractor has to be filled with ammonia fuel several times a day to continue with the farming, which is just like the conventional refueling process.
Woo stated, “As we continue our work to lead innovations in ammonia-based fuel solutions, the Amogy team believes this demonstration and future ones, including Class 8 trucks and shipping vessels to be demonstrated in the next 12 months, will accelerate the adoption of ammonia as the next generation fuel to replace polluting diesel engines with an emission-free solution among transportation industry sectors and investment partners.”
Hence, apart from incorporating ammonia fuel into the John Deere tractor, the company seeks to expand this technological innovation further in shipping as well as in other heavy-duty vehicles in an attempt to make the environment ecologically sound and sustainable.
