POSCO-Doosan Heavy Industries Join Hands to Develop Eco-Friendly Ammonia Fuel Power Generation

Doosan Heavy Industries & RIST Sign 'Clean Ammonia Gas Turbine R&D Agreement'
World's First Integrated Ammonia Decomposition and Combustion Power Generation Technology Development 추진

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] POSCO is partnering with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction to develop ammonia fuel power generation technology synthesized from green and blue hydrogen. Ammonia fuel power generation is considered an ideal eco-friendly power generation model as it emits no carbon dioxide. The two companies plan to develop the world's first power generation technology that integrates ammonia decomposition, mixed gas combustion, and turbine operation in one process.

On the 19th, POSCO announced that it held discussions with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) in Pohang regarding cooperation on ammonia fuel power generation technology and signed a 'Clean Ammonia Gas Turbine Research and Development Agreement.'

Under this agreement, POSCO will work with RIST to develop an ammonia decomposer. Ammonia will be synthesized and supplied using green hydrogen produced from projects POSCO is conducting overseas. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, which has been developing hydrogen co-firing and full hydrogen turbines after successfully domesticating gas turbines last year, will develop combustors and gas turbines that burn gases decomposed into hydrogen and nitrogen simultaneously based on its core technology.

Ammonia, composed of hydrogen and nitrogen, can store 1.7 times more hydrogen by volume compared to hydrogen itself using existing transportation and storage infrastructure. This makes it an optimal 'hydrogen carrier.' However, ammonia's combustion speed is only 20% of that of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the conventional gas turbine fuel, and its calorific value is about 50%, limiting its use as a power generation fuel. To overcome these limitations, POSCO, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, and RIST chose a method of decomposing ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen gases through a decomposer and then combusting these gases to drive the gas turbine, rather than burning ammonia directly. While there have been cases of separately developing decomposers and gas turbines, this is the world's first attempt to integrate them into a single power generation technology.

The three parties plan to begin full-scale technology development using ammonia combustion experimental facilities to be established at the Hydrogen Research Center of RIST in Pohang based on this agreement.

POSCO explained, "This technology can also be applied to LNG power generation to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. When ammonia is mixed with LNG at a 20% ratio by calorific value and combusted, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by about 20% compared to LNG-only power generation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.