Automotive

Modified John Deere makes tracks as world's first ammonia-fueled tractor

Modified John Deere makes tracks as world's first ammonia-fueled tractor
Amogy has fitted its ammonia-powered energy system to a standard John Deere tractor
Amogy has fitted its ammonia-powered energy system to a standard John Deere tractor
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Amogy has fitted its ammonia-powered energy system to a standard John Deere tractor
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Amogy has fitted its ammonia-powered energy system to a standard John Deere tractor
The world's first ammonia-powered tractor
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The world's first ammonia-powered tractor

Interest is growing in alternative fuel sources for tractors that help sidestep heavy diesel pollution, and given its widespread use as agricultural fertilizer, ammonia might just be a prime candidate. Brooklyn-based startup Amogy has broken important new ground in this area, fitting its zero-emissions energy system to a John Deere tractor to make the first ever tracks as an ammonia-powered heavy duty vehicle.

We've seen a number of interesting vehicle concepts aimed at cutting into the pollution created by tractors. This includes a number of electric options, some of which claim to be the smartest tractors in the room, and even ones powered by methane claimed to emit 80 percent less CO2.

Ammonia as a fuel source has started to show promise across a few modes of transportation, including shipping and aviation. Important questions remain over the most effective way to draw energy from ammonia, and how we can clean up the energy-intensive processes involved in its production, but Amogy believes its technology is poised to tap into its vast potential.

Its energy system consists of a tank to store ammonia in liquid form, which is fed into "highly-efficient" cracking modules that split it into nitrogen and hydrogen. The resulting hydrogen is what runs the system's fuel cell, which Amogy says can provide ongoing power for several hours at a time. The company says its solution offers five times the system-level energy density of a lithium-ion battery, at more than 700 Wh/kg.

This energy system was integrated into an otherwise-standard John Deere tractor with the ability to carry out regular farming tasks, but without the usual emissions. Amogy says the tractor was taken on several excursions with refueling in between, which it notes is as fast and simple as gas refueling of a conventional vehicle.

The world's first ammonia-powered tractor
The world's first ammonia-powered tractor

“We’re thrilled to be demonstrating our zero-emission ammonia power solution in action in a tractor for the first time ever," said Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo. "Ammonia is a viable zero-emission fuel for all heavy-duty vehicles, but especially farming and agriculture, where the readily available chemical has been used as a fertilizer for decades.”

The company says technological improvements over the past year have seen a 20-fold increase in the power capacity of its ammonia-based energy system. It sees this tractor demonstration as an important first step in its efforts to decarbonize other heavy-duty transportation such as trucking and shipping, with further demonstrations planned in the coming year.

“As we continue our work to lead innovations in ammonia-based fuel solutions, the Amogy team believes this demonstration and future ones, including Class 8 trucks and shipping vessels to be demonstrated in the next 12 months, will accelerate the adoption of ammonia as the next generation fuel to replace polluting diesel engines with an emission-free solution among transportation industry sectors and investment partners," said Woo.

Source: Amogy

12 comments
12 comments
Nobody
I've always hated putting ammonia on the fields at the farm. The thought of using it as fuel all year long will be miserable. Just the tiniest leak takes your breath away. More than once I have had to run for fresh air. You won't be able to do that when it is used as a fuel in a plane or truck.
michael_dowling
There was a New Atlas report about testing a jet engine fueled with ammonia next year. For cars,batteries have won the day,but for things like farm equipment,long haul trucking,cargo ships,and especially aviation,ammonia looks like a winner.
Jinpa
"Its energy system consists of a tank to store ammonia in liquid form, which is fed into "highly-efficient" cracking modules that split it into nitrogen and hydrogen." So, where does the nitrogen go, and in what form? Excess nitrogen can pollute in a lot of different ways.
rdp
Amogy is a overly ambitious in their claim that this is the first Ammonia fueled tractor. Jay Schmuecker modified a John Deere 7810 tractor nearly a decade ago -- and even built the hydrogen generation system to fuel it. See https://corridorbusiness.com/corridor-farmer-debuts-tractor-fueled-by-ammonia-hydrogen/ and https://solarhydrogensystem.com/history/ for details.
Enginer01
It has several times been said that ammonia is a convenient hydrogen-carrier, at much lower cost than the heavy cylinders for liquified or pressurized H2.
NH3 has be burned successfully in modified ICE such as a Plymouth, 30 years ago.
It has high flame temperature, low flame velocity, and >may< have high NOx emissions.
To "crack" ammonia to Hydrogn, a simple microwave oven part can be used.
John
My question is, How much does it cost to produce one gallon of ammonia compared to one gallon of diesel fuel? Then, how much does it cost to produce hydrogen by other means? I'm gathering that the idea is to fuel the tractor/vehicle with hydrogen. Water is the most abundant thing on Earth. (?) would it be easier to separate hydrogen from water than using ammonia? ( Which can be highly toxic.) I'm not a chemist.
Chunk Applegrabber
Does it use anhydrous ammonia, like the kind tweakers steal from farms to make meth?
Jay Gatto
@Nobody I worked with an old, battered, ammonia rubber-roller developer, aero parts developing of huge photosensitive sheets (1300x2500mm prints), coming out wet with ammonia, it wasn't too hard to control the fumes. Not been the same since, though...
Jim B
Get this ammonia fuel cell into Trams and Buses so that we can have clean public transport without the minor but still necessary cost of overhead wires. This will do more for trams than buses, but that is no bad thing as trams can carry more people. Trams initially cost more than diesel buses due to the need for rails in the ground and overhead wires, but save money in the long term due to much lower "road" wear due to being steel wheels on steel rails, and much much longer lasting vehicles due to having electric engines and a much smoother ride. Getting rid of the wires will lower the cost of new tram lines hopefully.
Thomas Hardy
This sounds like great news at the local level, and a debatable improvement for the overall climate. Apparently industrial ammonia is made from fossil fuels and contributes to huge CO2 emissions.

"That massive carbon footprint exists because although the Haber-Bosch process represents a huge technological advancement, it’s always been an energy-hungry one. The reaction, which runs at temperatures around 500 °C and at pressures up to about 20 MPa, sucks up about 1% of the world’s total energy production. It belched up to about 451 million t of CO2 in 2010, according to the Institute for Industrial Productivity. That total accounts for roughly 1% of global annual CO2 emissions, more than any other industrial chemical-making reaction."
https://cen.acs.org/environment/green-chemistry/Industrial-ammonia-production-emits-CO2/97/i24
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