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Not necessarily. Ammonia burns to water and nitrogen, primarily. But the process is complicated, goes through many intermediate compounds and radicals, and wo
by 08-15 6y ago
Not necessarily. Ammonia burns to water and nitrogen, primarily. But the process is complicated, goes through many intermediate compounds and radicals, and won't have time to complete in a piston engine. The exhaust will therefore contain both some nitrogen oxides and some unreacted ammonia.
The good news is that catalytic converters to destroy NOx are established technology, and they happen to use ammonia as a reductant. This is definitely doable for ships, probably doable for heavy trucks, and a bit annoying for smaller cars.
- mr_toad 6y agoI can see a problem with older ships not being well maintained, and with companies cutting corners on the converters. Fuel leaks would be a disaster.
- 08-15 6y ago> Fuel leaks would be a disaster. Not at all. Fuel leaks are a disaster today. Ammonia is different. It will dissolve into water, get diluted quickly, and bacteria will degrade it. A fuel leak on an ammonia fueled ship is just like fish peeing into the water. Admittedly, a whole lot of fish, so it's still a local problem that takes a while to solve itself. Likewise, a fuel spill on land would be a brief local problem. Today, if a truck spill its guts, we have to scramble to absorb the fuel oil before it contaminates soil or gets into the sewage system. With ammonia, we'd just flush it down with an excess of water. In soil, it is fertilizer, and in a sewage treatment plant, it gets biodegraded.