Frequently Asked Questions
The project requires Carbon Sequestration – I’ve heard lots of mixed messages, does it actually work?
There are many successfully operating CCS projects around the world but the two elements of the specifics around the capture stage and the sequestration stage are critical to how technically challenging it is. Carbon capture from the WAH₂ plant should be relatively straight forward because there are only two products from the process, Hydrogen and CO₂. CO₂ has 30 times the density of Hydrogen and so the two gasses are easy to separate and so the CO₂ stream is very pure and very consistent. This is contrasted to some other processes and projects that may have a mix of SO₂, NO₂, & CH₄ that are much harder to isolate from each other and add complexity to the compression and cooling of the gas in preparation for sequestration.
The other differentiating factor is the void in which the gas is going to be permanently sequestered (stored). The projects that NH3 will use are depleted gas fields. By definition, these voids have contained gas for millions of years and are just replacing the natural gas that has been extracted with CO₂. A lot of the pipeline infrastructure that was used to extract the gas can be repurposed to carry the CO₂ to the well head for sequestration. By contrast, some other projects are trying to use aquifers, salt caverns or abandoned mines which are much more technically challenging.
I’ve read that the NH3 project is using “Dom gas” what does that mean and what are the implications?
Dom gas is an abbreviation for domestic gas. The WA government, through long-term agreements executed between the themselves and LNG exporters, has a policy that requires LNG exporters to reserve gas equivalent to 15% of LNG production for the WA market and make it available to consumers and industries in the state. This gas is typically sold to industrial customers like NH3 on long term offtake contracts with a fixed price + indexing. Under the MoU announced by the Company in November 2024, NH3 will have a gas supply at a fixed price + indexing at the CPI for ten years with a 5 year option to extend.
Who are the IMO and what is the Net Zero Framework?
The IMO is the International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships.
In April 2025 they agreed a framework for reducing the carbon emissions from maritime to net zero by 2025. Under this framework, from 2027, there will be a decreasing threshold and an increasing penalty for CO₂ emissions by ship operators which seeks to make it economically advantageous to operate ships using low or no emissions fuels. Ammonia marine fuel is at the forefront of this transition.
Does NH3 earn carbon credits for the CO₂ that they sequester?
Yes, the company does earn ACCUs and uses the value of those to help to offset the cost of CO₂ sequestration.
One of the markets that NH3 is looking to serve is ammonia powered ships. Are there any ammonia powered ships, how many are expected, how much ammonia would they consume?
Ammonia Energy Association tracks the number of ammonia powered vessels. There database has information on the types of ships (bulk carriers, container ships, bulk gas and liquid transporters, car transporters etc) what stage of commissioning they are at (currently on the water, under construction, in design or announced etc) and who the owners and operators are. The AEA currently has xxx vessels on their register.
One I remember reading that NH3 was going to supply ammonia to Japan and Korea for power stations – how does that work?
The Japanese and Korean governments have undertaken that as part of their initiatives to meet their GHG emissions targets they will aid their electricity generation companies to co-fire their thermal power stations with a blend of ammonia to displace coal. Jera (which part owned by Japan’s largest power company TEPCO) has already trialled co-firing in power stations. The Japanese subsidy scheme is administered by METI (The Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry) and in Korea, by MOTIE (the Ministry Of Trade, Industry and Energy)
How is NH3’s ammonia going to get to customers?
The ammonia goes from the Maitland plant to the bulk liquids wharf at the port of Dampier via pipeline. From there it gets loaded onto either a bunker ship to refuel ammonia powered vessels or on to a bulk liquids carrier. The biggest of the VLACs (Very Large Ammonia Carriers) currently in construction has a capacity of 93,000m³ of ammonia which is about 68,000tonnes.