The head of the COP 28 climate summit, Ahmed al-Jaber, heads a company that markets blue ammonia as an environmentally friendly fuel with a low carbon footprint. But research now shows that the fuel can actually be three times worse than diesel from a climate point of view.
– When I first heard about blue ammonia, it seemed like a scam, frankly. And in a way it is, says Robert Howarth, the researcher behind the study.
Cold Facts has previously reported on Ahmed al-Jaber, chairman of the ongoing climate meeting in Dubai, and his company ADNOC.
It concerns shortcomings with the company’s carbon dioxide capture, where there is a risk of the carbon dioxide leaking out when it is pumped into old oil wells.
Now Kalla fakta can tell you that the company also uses carbon dioxide capture to produce so-called blue ammonia – that is, ammonia that is painted by the industry as an environmentally friendly alternative to use as fuel in ships or airplanes.
ADNOC writes in press releases that blue ammonia has a lower carbon footprint than other fuels.
Robert Howart, professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University in the USA, has studied the process.
– When you add it all up, the carbon footprint of blue ammonia is about three times worse than diesel, he says.
80 times worse than carbon dioxide
Ammonia is produced from, among other things, natural gas, which is a more than 80 times worse climate gas compared to carbon dioxide. What Robert Howearth’s studies show is that the natural gas that seeps out, both at the gas sources and in pipes, plays a significantly greater role than previously thought.
Even if part of the carbon dioxide from the manufacture is stored in the ground, according to Robert Howarth, the overall result is a significant negative for the environment.
He believes that this product is a marketing ploy by the industry.
– If you really want to keep your fossil fuel industry alive, then you want to reach out for technical designs like this and try to market them.
Cold facts have contacted ADNOC by email and phone, but have received no response.
The review is a collaborative project within the framework of the EIF Environmental Investigative Forum.
Therefore, blue ammonia is a climate culprit
In his study, Howarth estimates that 3.5 percent of the natural gas leaks out in pipelines and at sources. Howarth has further calculated that the energy to convert hydrogen gas to ammonia and then back to hydrogen gas is twice as great as the energy needed to manufacture hydrogen gas.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ese3.956