As regular readers will know, South Korea is a key market to watch in the development of hydrogen.

It’s also one which has been very clear-sighted on the need for a significant amount of that hydrogen to be imported. Given hydrogen’s annoying physical properties, this creates a potentially significant role for ammonia; be that as a carrier or as an end-use fuel in its own right.

That latter opportunity has this week led ammonia-to-power company Amogy to “announce the expansion of its operations into South Korea with the opening of an office in the Pangyo Techno Valley”.

Power policy in the country is certainly helpful to ammonia and hydrogen proponents, not least through “a goal to commercialise ammonia-fuelled power generation by 2030”. The Korean government hope this will create generation of “2% of its electricity from hydrogen and ammonia by 2030, increasing to 7% by 2035”.

But Amogy’s use of ammonia for power is currently focused on smaller scales, using its technology which cracks ammonia on-demand, for use in fuel cells or engines. In particular, the company plans to grow on the back of the “latest successful demonstration of its technology in a maritime vessel”.

In this respect, South Korea is “home to three of the world’s leading shipyards” and a move there will thus bring the company “closer to key maritime and hydrogen technology supply chains”. In its press release, Amogy specifically makes mention of “established investors and partners, including SK Innovation, Samsung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai, Hanwha, SV Investment, Korea Zinc, and more”.

One of those companies, Hanwha, has also this week signed “a Joint Development and Collaboration Agreement (JDCA) for a new small-size turbine for ammonia applications” with Baker Hughes. The goal here is to “leverage Baker Hughes’ small-size gas turbine technology and Hanwha’s ammonia combustion system”.

Marine applications are once again seen as key to this venture: “Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s leading shipbuilders, will be the main beneficiary of the JDCA and will adopt the new solution as a propulsion system for their future vessels”. Beyond that, there is the somewhat vague mention of other “onshore and offshore applications, and for electric generation and mechanical drive”.

The turbine will be around 16 MW in power output, with the target being a “complete full engine test with ammonia by the end of 2027”. Commercial availability will follow after that.

Elsewhere in South Korea, boffins at The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) have being working with car companies Hyundai and Kia to “develop a two-litre ammonia-fuelled engine that could power heavy-duty mobility applications and industrial generators”.

So this is an internal combustion engine, rather than a turbine, and one which the researchers reckon can “overcome challenges with gaseous ammonia fuel such as unstable fuel output and emissions, thanks to the use of high-pressure liquid injection”.

With NOx and unburned ammonia being key environmental and health problems with the use of ammonia in engine applications, you’ll be delighted to hear that the work has “also created an after-treatment system to ‘minimise’” these nasty emissions.

It’s not just South Korea that may see ammonia arriving from elsewhere.