BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 27. By 2035, 174 export terminals around the world will predominantly shift their focus to converting hydrogen into ammonia, Trend reports.
As Rystad Energy, independent energy research and business intelligence company from Norway, said, on the background of hydrogen becoming more important, numerous significant infrastructure projects are exploring the use of ammonia as a safer and more cost-effective means of transporting large volumes of hydrogen.
Thus, the shift to ammonia is expected to account for 62 percent of the total exported volumes, equivalent to approximately 13.5 million tons per annum (tpa), the research said.
According to the company, in alignment with the broader energy transition goals, there is an expected significant surge in the transportation and trade of clean ammonia. Projections indicate that traded ammonia volumes are set to reach 76 million tons by 2035, marking a fourfold increase compared to the volume transported and traded in 2020. This increase, mainly originating from Africa and North America, is anticipated to result in a fivefold growth in ammonia exports by 2050, reaching 121 million tons.
Countries like Japan and Germany have already adjusted their individual national hydrogen strategies in anticipation of a more prominent role for this fuel, Rystad Energy noted. This underscores the crucial role hydrogen is expected to play in achieving net-zero emission targets. Despite the significant scale of export initiatives and uncertainties concerning future trade dynamics, certain project developers may opt for partial hydrogen conversion to ammonia or investigate alternative transportation methods. Meanwhile, investors are growing more confident in the ammonia market and making substantial near-term investments.