RCS - AFC Energy Plc - Funding Secured for Maritime Ammonia Cracker Trial

AFC EnergyAnnouncement

26/01/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240126:nRSZ9823Aa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 9823A  AFC Energy Plc  26 January 2024

 

26 January 2024

 

 

 

AFC Energy PLC

("AFC Energy" or the "Company")

 

Funding Secured for Clean Maritime Ammonia Cracker and Combustion Engine
Integration Trials

 

AFC Energy (AIM: AFC), a leading provider of hydrogen power generation
technologies, is pleased to announce it has been awarded funding under the UK
Government's Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (Round 4) (CMDC4),
funded by the UK Department for Transport ("DfT") and delivered by Innovate
UK.

 

CMDC4 is part of DfT's UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE)
programme, a £206m initiative focused on developing the technology necessary
to decarbonise the UK domestic maritime sector.

 

Highlights

 

·      AFC Energy led consortium awarded £676,500 to design and
integrate its proprietary ammonia cracker reactor technology with marine
purposed, ammonia fuelled internal combustion engines ("ICE").

 

·      Ammonia combustion is enhanced by the addition of an ammonia
cracker, allowing an engine to run on an energy dense fuel mix consisting of
hydrogen rich cracked gas and ammonia.

 

·      The demonstration if successful is targeting worldwide
application across maritime vessels seeking to adopt ammonia combustion as its
preferred zero carbon propulsion fuel.

 

·      Programme Partners include international leaders in engine
design, MAHLE Powertrain (wholly owned subsidiary of global Tier 1 automotive
supplier MAHLE GmbH), specially developed injectors and control valves from
Clean Air Power, with testing and evaluation from the University of
Nottingham.

 

·      Industry support from global shipping companies, Eastern Pacific
Shipping and Purus.

 

·      Funding commences Q1 2024 with results from the proof-of-concept
demonstration expected to be published twelve months later.

 

·      Ammonia crackers integrated with combustion engines provide a
scalable and flexible route which could extend the lifetime of currently
deployed onboard combustion engine assets.

 

 

Significant investment has been made by industry into multi-megawatt ammonia
combustion engines designed to support zero carbon emission propulsion of the
largest of marine vessels.  The aim is for ICEs to be used on their own or in
partnership with fuel cell technologies to support both propulsion and
auxiliary power needs of the vessel.

 

However, ammonia is not a simple swap in alternative fuel, there are several
modifications that would be required to support the combustion of ammonia in a
typical reciprocating engine - one of which is the addition of hydrogen to
increase the flame speed and improve other combustion properties of the
ammonia. By utilising an ammonia cracker, a Hydrogen rich cracked gas stream
could be generated on demand from a single fuel source thus negating the need
for multiple fuel storage solutions.

 

The CMDC4 funding will evaluate the feasibility of AFC Energy's ammonia
cracker technology aimed at improving the combustion and emissions of future
ammonia fuelled marine engines by supporting the development of a highly
efficient system that can be integrated with a multicylinder marine combustion
engine.

 

The Project partners will also incorporate their next generation technologies
to support the integration and testing of the AFC Energy ammonia cracker with
a typical combustion engine.

 

The feasibility study would include and measure the full impact of the cracker
on engine combustion, performance, fuel consumption and pollutant emissions
compared to a typical marine grade fuel. The project work will include formal
technical assessments of the practicality of the cracker system across
existing and future marine vessels of varying sizes and use, and portside
operations. The assessments will consider the impact of the system on vessel
design, performance, safety and cost.

 

The aim of the project is to help to rapidly accelerate the technology to
market, with subsequent steps progressing to full scale demonstration on an
operating vessel followed by commercialisation at global scale. In addition to
marine applications, the technology developed could also be used in other
applications such as large stationary power generators and large off-road
machinery, where AFC Energy is exploring multiple partnerships across global
OEMs in this sector.

 

The overall feasibility project cost is forecast to be £975.5k, with grant
funding awarded of £676.5k, representing substantial value for money,
especially considering the broad project scope, including development and
demonstration at system level. The remaining balance will be funded by
contributions from each of the Programme Partners.

 

AFC Energy is the lead partner and will provide expertise in ammonia cracking
technology, adapted for the unique use-cases of the maritime sector. Support
from the University of Nottingham and MAHLE Powertrain with access to their
test engine and facility, demonstrates a commitment to UK innovation and
supports development of intellectual property and expertise to enable the UK
to be at the forefront of energy transition within the maritime sector.

 

The project is being supported by two of the global maritime industry's
leaders in the sustainable transition, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Purus.
Each are active in their assessment of ammonia adoption and have agreed to
provide an industry review of the project, its progress, and adoption
potential in transport vessels and larger carriers ships.

 

The funding programme is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2024 and
last twelve months.

 

Adam Bond, Chief Executive at AFC Energy, said:

"We are pleased to have been recognised, along with our partners, by the UK
Government's CMDC4 funding programme, highlighting further commercialization
potential for our next generation ammonia cracker reactor.  AFC Energy has
been engaging with international shipyards, vessel owners, and designers over
the past year and we believe the adoption of ammonia as a decarbonisation
maritime fuel is yet another international market for our highly efficient
ammonia cracker reactor.  We look forward to providing industry with the
results of this project and playing our role in enabling the maritime sector
to achieve its sustainability targets."

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

AFC Energy
plc
+44 (0) 14 8327 6726

Adam Bond (Chief Executive Officer)
 
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
+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

 

 

 

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.

 

About MAHLE Powertrain

 

A global leader in powertrain engineering, including zero carbon internal
combustion engines, as well as electrified and hybridised systems. MAHLE
Powertrain will provide the advanced single cylinder research engine for use
in the experimentation, including novel jet-ignited combustion system and
fully configurable engine controller, as well as technical support and system
level simulation.

 

About Clean Air Power

 

An environmental technology company providing advanced injectors and control
valves for alternative fuels, will be providing ammonia and cracked gas
injectors to precisely meter fuel gas mixtures into the test engines.

 

About University of Nottingham (Powertrain Research Centre)

 

An Academic research centre of excellence in internal combustion engine
technologies; will be providing the testing facilities and in-depth data
analysis via access to engine test cells at their state-of-the-art UK
laboratory.

 

 

 

Notes for Editors

 

In March 2022, the UK Government announced the biggest government investment
ever in our UK commercial maritime sector, allocating £206m to UK SHORE, a
new programme within the Department for Transport focused on decarbonising the
maritime sector. UK SHORE is delivering a suite of interventions throughout
2022-2025 aimed at accelerating the design, manufacture and operation of
UK-made clean maritime technologies and unlocking an industry-led transition
to Net Zero.

 

The UK SHORE programme includes the flagship multi-year Clean Maritime
Demonstration Competition (CMDC) which provides match-funding to help bring
pre-commercial technologies closer to market readiness. CMDC4 allocated £33m
to 33 projects across the UK to deliver demonstrations, pre-deployment trials
and feasibility studies between April 2024 - March 2025. The projects are
supported by over 120 partners and will leverage more than £16m of private
investment.

 

CMDC4 follows the successful first three rounds of the CMDC, which allocated
over £95m to 105 projects. CMDC1 was launched in 2021, prior to UK SHORE.

 

 

This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  NRAFFFILLLIEFIS