By Sofia Esquivel-Elizondo and Ilissa Ocko
Companies are announcing plans to use ammonia to decarbonize the power sector, because they view it as a carbon-free fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide and other carbon-based air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, when combusted.
But there are serious issues with this strategy, primarily because it doesn’t take ammonia production — which often requires fossil fuels — into account. Depending on how it is made, using ammonia for power generation can increase greenhouse gas emissions and be incompatible with temperature targets. And, even when production is clean, co-firing ammonia can be expensive, dangerous and worsen air quality.