28 February 2024
AFC Energy
PLC
("AFC
Energy" or the "Company")
Ammonia Cracker Milestones
Achieved
AFC Energy (AIM: AFC), a leading
provider of hydrogen power generation technologies, is pleased to
update the market on its ongoing successes evidenced from its next
generation modular ammonia cracker reactor
technology.
Highlights
· Latest
modular ammonia cracker architecture has achieved better than
expected operational efficiency achieving 9.5 kWh of electrical
power consumed per kilogram of hydrogen generated[1].
· This
is a 33% saving in electrical power over our 2023 design and has
hit our milestone of <10 kWh/kg, a year ahead of
schedule.
· The
European Parliament asserts[2] today's
electrolysers require between 50-55kWh/kg of hydrogen produced -
suggesting AFC Energy's ammonia cracker will deliver distributed
modular hydrogen at < 1/5th of the power demand of an
equivalent sized electrolyser.
· AFC
Energy's cracker design benefits from being able to utilise heat
and / or waste hydrogen byproducts to lower the electrical power
demand even further.
· The
cracker reactors have reached full operation within 10 minutes of
being started at room temperature, a further benefit of our modular
cracker architecture. Previous architectures have taken
several hours to achieve the same operating state, giving rise to a
flexible system that can rapidly respond to demand
profiles.
· AFC
Energy has successfully operated its proprietary fuel cell
technology with the latest generation of its ammonia cracker
reactor highlighting the potential hydrogen purity levels
achievable. The power from the fuel cell was used to charge
electric vehicles from ammonia fuel.
AFC Energy's latest generation
ammonia cracker technology affords world class efficiency in the
reconversion of hydrogen from ammonia at less than 10 kilowatt
hours / kilogram of hydrogen compared to electrolysers which are
generally rated between 50 and 55 kilowatt hours / kilogram of
hydrogen. This reaffirms the thesis that green hydrogen
production from green ammonia makes economic sense in grid
constrained and high power cost countries (such as Europe and the
UK).
The production of green hydrogen
through electrolysis (separating water into hydrogen and oxygen) is
an energy intensive process and therefore requires large volumes of
low cost renewable energy to be commercially viable. Those
countries that are forecast to be the largest producers of green
hydrogen are therefore likely to be those with the lowest cost
renewable sources such as solar, hydro and wind. For example,
the world's largest announced green hydrogen project is located in
Saudi Arabia as part of the US$8bn NEOM project where low cost,
abundant solar and wind power are to be used.
However, global demand for hydrogen
has been identified in locations such as Europe and Asia that do
not always benefit from such low cost renewable energy. For
this reason, the international trade of hydrogen as a fuel from
countries such as Saudi Arabia to Europe is growing. Like the
LNG industry, hydrogen gas is planned to be converted into liquid
form, such as ammonia, before export to maximise the energy density
of the fuel during transport (liquid is more energy dense than
gas). Again, the NEOM green hydrogen project is one such
example.
Upon arrival at its import
destination, the ammonia will be cracked to liberate hydrogen fuel
at the point of demand. AFC Energy's ammonia cracker has
the potential to play a key role in this process and the new
efficiency levels achieved support this.
Adam Bond, Chief Executive at AFC Energy,
said:
"AFC Energy's market leading ammonia cracker technology places
us in an excellent position to further build out our first series
of modular packaged units for customer evaluation. We have
welcomed many visitors to our larger cracker demonstration
utilizing prior year's technology since its launch during COP28 in
Dubai last year further evidencing the growth in market demand we
can expect for our cracker technology".
[1] When
run on 100% electrical power
[2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/641552/EPRS_BRI(2020)641552_EN.pdf
For
further information, please contact:
AFC
Energy plc
Adam Bond (Chief Executive
Officer)
|
+44 (0) 14 8327 6726
investors@afcenergy.com
|
Peel Hunt LLP - Nominated Adviser and
Joint Broker
Richard Crichton / Tom Ballard /
Georgia Langoulant
|
+44 (0) 207
418 8900
|
Zeus - Joint Broker
David Foreman / James Hornigold
(Investment Banking)
Dominic King (Corporate Broking) /
Rupert Woolfenden (Sales)
|
+44 (0) 203 829 5000
|
RBC
Capital Markets - Joint
Broker
Matthew Coakes / Teri Su
Eduardo Famini / Jack
Wood
FTI
Consulting - Financial PR Advisors
Ben Brewerton / Tilly Abraham / Evie Taylor
|
+44 (0) 20 7653 4000
+44 (0) 203 727 1000
afcenergy@fticonsulting.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About AFC Energy
AFC Energy plc is a leading provider
of hydrogen energy solutions, to provide clean electricity for on
and off grid power applications. The Company's fuel cell technology
is now deployable as electric vehicle chargers, off-grid
decentralised power systems for construction and temporary power
with emerging opportunities across maritime, data centres and rail
as part of a portfolio approach to the decarbonisation of society's
growing electrification needs.