Invitation to comment on the Green Ammonia Protocol
GH2 invites stakeholders to comment on the Draft Green Ammonia Protocol for inclusion in GH2’s Green Hydrogen Standard.
The Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2) invites stakeholders to comment on the Draft Green Ammonia Protocol for inclusion in GH2’s Green Hydrogen Standard. A draft of the protocol is attached. Interested stakeholders from government, industry, academia, development and civil society organizations are invited to send any comments by Friday 2 December to GH2’s Director of the Green Hydrogen Standard, Sam Bartlett: sam.bartlett@gh2.org. The protocol will then be finalized for consideration by the GH2 Board.
Background
A substantial proportion of export-oriented green hydrogen projects plan to ship ammonia. Ammonia is preferred for hydrogen exports for three reasons: its energy density; its proven synthesis technology and existing supply chains; and its potential to drive decarbonisation in its own right. There are well developed standards addressing the production, storage and transportation of ammonia, but limited guidance regarding GHG emission standards and thresholds.
Requirement 5E of the Green Hydrogen Standard expects project operators to calculate and report on the emissions associated with the storage, conversion and delivery of H2 and its derivatives. Recent research (see for example here) suggests that a reasonable estimate for green ammonia production with PEM technology requires 7.76 kWh electricity to generate 1 kg of ammonia. (The nitrogen production with PSA requires 0.24 kWh electricity while ammonia production with H-B needs 2.3 kWh of electricity. So, 10.3 kWh of renewable electricity per kg NH3 total). If we are conservative and assume 11 kWh and apply the same capacity factors as currently used in the Standard (20g CO2 / kWh), this yields a threshold of .22kg. Accordingly, GH2’s proposed definition suggests a threshold of .3kg, which allows for some flexibility on equipment efficiency and capacity factors.
Accordingly, GH2’s Draft Green Ammonia Protocol includes the following definition of Green Ammonia:
Ammonia produced using green hydrogen (as defined above) with 100% or near 100% renewable energy with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions (<=.3kg CO2e per kg NH3 taken as an average over a 12-month period).
Stakeholders are invited to comment of this definition and on any other aspect of the Draft Green Ammonia Protocol. The protocol will then be finalized for consideration by the GH2 Board.