RCS - AFC Energy Plc - Ammonia Cracker Milestones Achieved

AFC EnergyAnnouncement

28/02/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 6828E  AFC Energy Plc  28 February 2024

 

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  (#_ftn1) .

 

·      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  (#_ftn2) today's electrolysers
require between 50-55kWh/kg of hydrogen produced - suggesting AFC Energy's
ammonia cracker will deliver distributed modular hydrogen at < 1/5(th) 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  (https://www.rnssubmit.com/ns/#_ftnref1)  When run on 100% electrical
power

 2  (https://www.rnssubmit.com/ns/#_ftnref2)
 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/641552/EPRS_BRI(2020)641552_EN.pdf

For further information, please contact:

 

 AFC Energy plc                                                 +44 (0) 14 8327 6726

 Adam Bond (Chief Executive Officer)                            investors@afcenergy.com (mailto:investors@afcenergy.com)

 Peel Hunt LLP - Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker             +44 (0) 207 418 8900

 Richard Crichton / Tom Ballard / Georgia Langoulant
 Zeus - Joint Broker                                            +44 (0) 203 829 5000

 David Foreman / James Hornigold (Investment Banking)

 Dominic King (Corporate Broking) / Rupert Woolfenden (Sales)

 RBC Capital Markets - Joint Broker                             +44 (0) 20 7653 4000

 Matthew Coakes / Teri Su

 Eduardo Famini / Jack Wood

 FTI Consulting - Financial PR Advisors                         +44 (0) 203 727 1000

 Ben Brewerton / Tilly Abraham / Evie Taylor                    afcenergy@fticonsulting.com (mailto: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.

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