Amogy’s Ammonia-Powered Tugboat Completes Initial Demonstration

Amogy’s carbon-free, ammonia-powered maritime vessel—the NH₃ Kraken—successfully completed its maiden voyage on a Hudson River tributary, upstream from New York City. The vessel is a tugboat originally built in 1957, equipped with Amogy’s ammonia-to-electrical power system. In the coming months, the company will release a case study with additional technical details.

“Governments across the globe and industry organizations like the IMO have set aggressive goals to reduce global carbon emissions,” said Seonghoon Woo, CEO and Co-Founder of Amogy. “These goals seem daunting, but they’re necessary – and our successful demonstration of the world’s first carbon-free, ammonia-powered vessel proves that they’re achievable. By demonstrating our technology on the water for the first time, we’ve gained knowledge that will help us move quickly to commercialization and real-world applications.”

The demonstration, in addition to validating Amogy’s technology, supports ammonia as a carbon-free maritime fuel and moves the industry closer to the International Maritime Organization’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The NH₃ Kraken’s successful sailing joins Amogy’s demonstrations of an aerial drone, commercial farm tractor, and semi-truck. Hanwha Ocean and Terox are working with Amogy on real-world technology applications, including retrofit projects and newbuilds.

NH₃ Kraken tugboat; Image Credits: Amogy

“Ammonia is the world’s second most produced chemical, with around 20 million tons moving around the globe through 200 ports each year,” added Woo. “With that track record, shifting the industry mindset to use it as a fuel is completely achievable, and can happen at an accelerated pace.”

The ammonia-to-electrical power system cracks liquid ammonia into base elements, funneling hydrogen into a fuel cell to generate power with zero-carbon emissions. This ammonia technology offers a clean energy solution for hard-to-abate sectors like maritime shipping and stationary power generation. During the demonstration, the NH₃ Kraken was fueled with green ammonia produced via renewable energy, further reducing its carbon footprint.

Amogy’s Ammonia News

Last week, Amogy formed a strategic partnership with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), POSCO Holdings, Seoul National University (SNU), and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). The consortium will assess the technological feasibility of an offshore ammonia cracking solution to produce low-cost, accessible, and clean hydrogen fuel.

HD KSOE will design the ammonia supply system and integrate it into the overall system; Amogy will provide its ammonia-cracking technology; SNU will lend expertise in process design and simulation; POSCO Holdings will leverage its cracking process design technology to optimize systems for ship applications; and ABS will oversee design certification.

In March 2024, Green Ships Invest (GSI) and Amogy entered a contract to design and deploy ammonia-powered, carbon-free ePSVs, enabled by GSI’s purchase of Amogy’s ammonia-to-power solutions. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2023, and this deployment contract builds upon their existing partnership.

GSI will integrate 10 Amogy 200 kW ammonia-to-electrical power systems in the design of the eSPVs, which will also be equipped with 2 MW of ammonia-supported clean energy capacity. During the project’s second phase, GSI will apply Amogy’s systems in two additional vessels to support sustainable offshore operations. These vessels will be operated by Bourbon Horizon as part of their integration into the maritime industry.