New Products & Technologies JFE TECHNICAL REPORT

No. 29 (Mar. 2023)

Large-Scale Ammonia Receiving Terminal for Power

Generation
sive green hydrogen in Japan that are large enough to
1. ‌Introduction
meet demand, green hydrogen must inevitably be
A Cabinet decision on the “6 th Strategic Energy imported from overseas, where renewable energy is
Plan, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy” was abundant. In that case, the low temperature and low
adopted in October of 2021, and identified ammo- pressure liquid state is the optimal alternative in terms
nia-fired thermal power as a leading option for pro- of energy transportation efficiency, since the hydrogen
moting decarbonization of thermal power generation content per unit volume is large and upscaling of cargo
toward achievement of carbon neutrality, since burning tankers is possible. In fact, cryogenic liquefied ammo-
ammonia does not cause CO 2 emissions and many nia carriers with a capacity of several 10 000 m 3 scale
existing thermal power plants can be used as-is. The are already in commercial use.
“Action Plan of the Growth Strategy, Cabinet Secretar- Cryogenic liquefied ammonia receiving storage
iat” also targets introduction and popularization of facilities also exist already in Japan and other countries.
20% ammonia co-firing in coal-fired thermal power However, these facilities are used for chemical feed-
generation by 2030, and aims to introduce a maximum stocks, represented by raw materials for fertilizer, and
of 3 million tons of ammonia by 2030 and expand the as an additional problem, the number of these facilities
supply to around 20 million tons in 2050. Based on the in Japan is also extremely limited. Thus, new large-scale
fact that Japan’s domestic consumption of ammonia receiving terminals capable of handling cryogenic liq-
for use as a chemical feedstock in 2019 was approxi- uefied ammonia will be necessary in order to achieve
mately 1.08 million tons and imports accounted for large volume transportation of fuel ammonia.
about 20% of that amount, a large increase in the logis-
tics network will clearly be necessary in order to
3. ‌Cryogenic Liquefied Fuel Gas and JFE
achieve the targets for 2030 and 2050.
This paper introduces JFE Engineering’s track Engineering
record in the field of cryogenic liquefied fuel gas and
3.1 ‌Track Record
efforts in connection with large-scale fuel ammonia
receiving terminals based on those technologies. JFE Engineering has delivered cryogenic liquefied
fuel gas-related facilities for LNG, LPG and ethylene
for energy and chemical companies in Japan and other
2. ‌Large Volume Transportation of Ammonia
countries. Among these, the company began develop-
The states of ammonia in case of transportation ment of LNG storage tanks in the 1970s, which was the
and storage are considered to be normal temperature initial period of LNG introduction in Japan, and has
and low pressure (gas), normal temperature and high constructed a large number of plants for energy com-
pressure (liquid) and low (cryogenic) temperature and panies utilizing its total engineering technologies, which
low pressure (liquid). Many of the ammonia-related include receiving, storage and delivery facilities.
facilities which are already in operation in Japan are
used for NOx removal when treating combustion 3.2 ‌Fuel Ammonia
exhaust gas, and almost all of those facilities handle Table 1 shows the typical physical properties of var-
normal temperature and high pressure liquid ammonia ious fuel gases which are transported in the liquid
due to their small capacity (scale of several tens of phase. After ammonia is received as a low temperature
tons). liquid, comparing the liquid density, boiling point and
To be effective for carbon neutrality, ammonia must vapor pressure of ammonia and LPG (propane), it can
be synthesized using green hydrogen produced as a be handled at a temperature and pressure level similar
feedstock, but because there are no sources of inexpen- to that of LPG (propane) in secondary transportation
as a normal temperature liquid and in the process of
†
O
 riginally published in JFE GIHO No. 50 (Aug. 2022), p. 102−103 vaporization and combustion. This means that JFE

47
Copyright © 2023 JFE Steel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
 Large-Scale Ammonia Receiving Terminal for Power Generation

Table 1 Properties of fuel gas transported in low temperature loading pump and then pumped to a vaporizer, where
liquid phase ammonia gas is produced by vaporizing the liquid by
LNG LPG NH 3 heat exchange with seawater, etc. This ammonia gas is
Gas ＊
(Methane) (Propane) (Ammonia) then transferred to a boiler for use in power generation
Liq. density or to some other facility. The other method is second-
(kg/m 3) 421 578 670
at 10 kPa (gauge) ary transportation, which also employs the same
Boiling point method of heat exchange with seawater, etc., but in this
(˚C) − 160 − 39.7 − 30.9
at 10 kPa (gauge)
case, the ammonia is stored temporarily in an interme-
Vap. pressure
(MPa) NA 0.844 0.862 diate storage tank as normal temperature and high
at 20˚C
pressure liquid and then delivered to customers via
Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 50.0 46.3 18.6
truck shipments.
Min. rate of
(cm/sec) 36 41 8
combustion
4.2 ‌Features of Operation and Requirements for
Min. ignition energy (mJ) 0.280 0.250 170 Equipment
＊
The values of pure components at lower row is listed.
Assuming a system in which one power plant with
All of values are estimation by JFE, or citation from the literature.
an output of 1 million kW × 2 units is supplied directly
with the received ammonia, and nearby power plants
Engineering can fully meet the mechanical design with an output of 100 000 kW × 3 plants are supplied
requirements for fuel ammonia based on its proven by trucks, the ammonia handling capacity required to
track record, as described above. cover an ammonia co-firing rate of 20% at all of the
plants is estimated to be approximately 1.3 million t/y
(delivery as gas: 1.1 million tons, shipment as liquid:
4. ‌Fuel Ammonia Receiving Terminals
200 000 tons). This value would exceed Japan’s total
annual consumption of feedstock ammonia in 2019, as
4.1 ‌General Flow
mentioned above.
Figure 1 shows a flow chart of a cryogenic liquefied This handling capacity supposes 30 ammonia
ammonia receiving terminal. After berthing of a cargo receiving operations per year in case of transportation
tanker (i.e., cryogenic liquefied ammonia carrier), the by 38 000-ton class LGC (semi-large class carrier), and
tanker is connected to the receiving storage tank by the about 40 shipments per day by truck (10-ton load).
liquid receiving piping and vapor return piping. The In other words, when a fuel ammonia receiving ter-
cryogenic liquefied ammonia is then repressurized and minal is compared with the existing terminals, the han-
pumped by a cargo pump installed on the ship side, dling capacity at one site will be extremely large, and
and is introduced into the land-side receiving storage the operating rate of the equipment must also be very
tank at almost the same temperature and pressure as in high. Moreover, considering the fact that a decrease in
the cargo tank, and is then kept in that state. Because the output of any of the power plants due to trouble
the liquefied ammonia in the receiving storage tank with the fuel ammonia supply facilities is unacceptable,
reaches the boiling state due to various types of heat the reliability of the facilities must be increased by
inputs, the ammonia gas that evolves in the tank is automation or redundancy, and continuous operation
vented, cooled and reliquefied, and then return the liq- must be maintained.
uid ammonia to the storage tank in order to maintain a
low temperature and low pressure condition. 4.3 ‌Large-Scale Receiving Storage Tanks
Two typical delivery methods are shown in Fig. 1. Carbon steel plates for pressure vessels for low tem-
In one method, the ammonia is repressurized by a perature service (SLA material) are used in parts of
cryogenic liquefied ammonia storage tanks that are in
contact with liquid or gaseous ammonia. However,
considering both the fact that there has been a series of
cases of stress corrosion cracking (ammonia SCC)
accidents of high strength steel, and the upper limit of
plate thickness at which on-site stress relief annealing
becomes necessary during welding, the upper limit of
the buildable storage tank capacity is approximately
40 000 tons.
On the other hand, in case ammonia is to be used as
Fig. 1 Flow sheet of Ammonia receiving terminal a fuel for power generation, an orientation toward

48 JFE TECHNICAL REPORT No. 29 (Mar. 2023)

 Large-Scale Ammonia Receiving Terminal for Power Generation

reducing transportation costs by using the largest scale carbon neutrality is increasingly important, and moves
cargo ships possible is likely. If the necessary separation to design a system for introduction and popularization
distance and other site restrictions, ease of operation, and establish international standards are accelerating
and construction cost are considered, the land-side day to day. JFE Engineering intends to contribute to
storage tanks for receiving and storing ammonia the decarbonization of electric power sources not only
should preferably be as large as possible. Concretely, through its experience and track record in the field of
this means the capacity should exceed 100 000 tons, cryogenic liquefied fuel gas, but also by promoting an
which will make it possible to receive the entire cargo acceleration of technical development related to fuel
of one Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) in one storage ammonia receiving terminals through cooperation and
tank. partnership with Ishii Iron Works Co., Ltd. and coop-
To meet these needs, JFE Engineering is engaged in eration with JFE Steel.
technical development of materials, structures and con-
struction methods that will contribute to larger scale For Further information, Please Contact:
receiving storage tanks. Power & Energy Industries Department, Sales & Marketing
Division, Energy Industries Engineering Sector, JFE Engineering
  Phone: (81)45–505–7216
5. ‌Conclusion
Social implementation of fuel ammonia to realize


JFE TECHNICAL REPORT No. 29 (Mar. 2023)49

Copyright © 2023 JFE Steel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.