Mitsubishi Heavy to invest in Starfire Energy for green solutions

LONDON (ICIS)–Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on Friday announced it is one of several companies to invest in Starfire Energy, a US developer of modular chemical plants for green ammonia and hydrogen production.

The partnership with the Colorado-based company will “advance the development of commercial scale applications to decarbonise ammonia production and unlock its potential as a zero-carbon energy carrier”, MHI said in a news release.

“The investment has been executed through MHI America, joining a consortium of investors, including AP Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, New Energy Technologies and Osaka Gas USA.”

Used in global fertilizer and chemicals production, ammonia’s energy density is comparable to fossil fuels and significantly higher than Li-ion batteries, compressed or liquid hydrogen.

It can be stored and transported relatively cost-effectively, and there are established infrastructure and shipping networks.

It can be used directly as a fuel or it can be “cracked”, and its hydrogen harvested, to provide a “stable, efficient means of hydrogen storage and transportation”.

“Starfire Energy’s ‘Rapid Ramp NH3’ ammonia synthesis technology produces zero carbon ammonia using only renewable energy, air and water as inputs,” MHI continued.

“The company has also developed their ‘Prometheus Carbon-free Fire’, a system to crack ammonia back into hydrogen, providing an efficient means of green hydrogen storage and transportation.

“This investment enables both companies to strengthen and diversify the ammonia and hydrogen value chain,” MHI concluded, without revealing the size of the investment in the Denver business.

Starfire’s solutions are expected to provide carbon-free fuel to power utility gas turbines, large scale ships, process heat for industries like steel, cement and fuel cell vehicles.

“MHI views clean ammonia as an important new energy source for fuel use and hydrogen carriers and we are committed to expanding the hydrogen and ammonia value chain from production to utilisation by developing technologies such as the hydrogen and ammonia gas turbine,” said Ricky Sakai, VP of new business development at MHI America.

“We are very excited to be partnering with such notable global partners as we continue to scale up our systems and operations,” commented John LoPorto, CEO of Starfire Energy.