We often hear posts to reduce pollution is to use electric vehicles (EV), solar and hydrogen. All three of these power sources have already been used in Malaysia with the government having several initiatives to increase the use of EVs. But ammonia-powered vehicles are an alternative that is still unknown to many. In Singapore, an ammonia-powered ship has successfully completed its first cruise test.
The Fortescue Green Pioneer vessel was operating on a mixture of ammonia and diesel fuel in the port of Singapore last week, making it the first time this alternative fuel has been used on a marine vehicle.
Ammonia fuel is taken from the Vopak Banyan terminal located in Jurong. Previously the Fortescue company successfully ran a prototype engine in their test laboratory in Australia. Ammonia is seen as the cheapest carbon-less fuel at this time because it can be stored at a temperature of -34 Celsius compared to Hydrogen which is stored at a temperature of -253 Celsius. Ammonia carrying equipment has also been around for decades because it is used in the fertilizer manufacturing industry.
Even so, Fortescue Green Pioneer is still not able to move using 100% ammonia at this time. There is also a risk if there is a leak, ammonia is a toxic gas. Currently the shipping industry is the sixth largest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions into the air. The use of ammonia is expected to reduce it. In the automotive industry, GAC has produced the world's first ammonia car engine but has not yet been used in a real vehicle.