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Putting the pledge towards sustainable solutions to actionable words, KBR hosted a two-day virtual conference on sustainable ammonia on April 27 and 28, 2021. The event saw high-profile, industry experts and leaders come together from different parts of the world to share their valuable insights and ideas on how industries and governments could work together for greener and cleaner energy transition across the globe.

CEOs and experts also turned the spotlight on how we could transition to net-zero CO2 emissions via sustainable ammonia solutions, as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with ammonia as a zero-carbon fertilizer, chemical, fuel, and energy carrier.

On both days, over 600 attendees from all parts of the world attended the summit, which was aired live on Facebook. KBR’s Hari Ravindran, Sr. Vice President, introduced the event by shedding light on how businesses could achieve energy transition and decarbonization using renewable sources to realize sustainable goals.  

The keynote speaker for day 1, Shigeru (Sam) Muraki, Executive Vice President, Clean Fuel Ammonia Association (formerly Green Ammonia Consortium) and Executive Advisor, Tokyo Gas spoke on the implementation plan of clean fuel ammonia value chain.

“KBR is one of the key international members of Clean Fuel Ammonia Association and we appreciate all contributions of KBR… [The] Clean Fuel Ammonia Association just started work on the cost certification and regulation of fuel ammonia. We need to discuss with the government and potential supply countries in this regard and through the council we will try to promote strong collaborations between the governments and industries of the supply and consuming countries such as between the US, Australia and Japan. I expect KBR to assume an important role in this area,” said Muraki-san.

The panel discussion, led by Graham Hoar, Vice President, KBR, included inputs from Dr. Salim Al Huthaili, CEO - Alternative Energy, OQ; Ahmad Al Khowaiter, CTO, Saudi Aramco and Aman Ahmad, Senior Vice President, KBR.

The second day of the executive summit welcomed Dr. Shuchi Talati, Chief of Staff in the Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, as the keynote speaker, who spoke about the Office of Fossil Energy’s role in the Biden-Harris administration to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

Dr. Talati said, “Addressing the climate crisis is more urgent than ever before and many nations and, in fact, many cities and corporations have indicated goals and plan to transition to energy systems that emit zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, which is less than 30 years from now. If it is done thoughtfully and strategically, our transition to net-zero will not only help us tackle our climate challenges, but also provide better quality jobs and economic benefits that exceed costs. Ammonia has a critical role to play in this strategy and we plan to encourage further sustainable growth in this sector. KBR’s commitment to energy and environmental sustainability is really important and we are really looking forward to partnering with you in this effort.”

The engaging panelists at the executive roundtable were Juan Andres Errazuriz Dominguez, CEO, Enaex; Javier Goñi, CEO, Fertiberia; Magnus Ankarstrand, President, Yara Clean Ammonia and Doug Kelly, President, Technology, KBR.

KBR is fully committed to energy transition including its development of low-carbon and zero-carbon sustainable ammonia technologies, to substantially decarbonize the power generation, shipping, fertilizer and chemical industries.

And the demand for ammonia is poised to soar due to an increase in demand for clean fuel and power. It appears likely that blue ammonia will be required in the near term to supply the huge anticipated demand followed by green ammonia as renewable power becomes more competitive.

Paolo Brunengo, Director, KBR, detailed KBR’s sustainable ammonia technologies. KBR’s proprietary Purifier™ ammonia technology is globally No. 1 in terms of the market share, today and represents 50% of the world’s licensed capacity because it comes at the lowest CAPEX; lowest energy consumption (= lower OPEX and CO2 than competitors); lowest downtime and eliminates safety risk and cost of oxygen-based ATR processes.

KBR’s PurifierPlus™ Blue Ammonia technology offers the lowest CO2 emissions technology available in the market today and has been proven at large scale. The safety and cost advantages of KBR’s process over oxygen-based ATR processes remain even at a much larger scale.

KBR’s K-GreeN® technology is zero carbon-emission ammonia, produced via electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. To read more about KBR’s broad portfolio of proprietary ammonia and fertilizers technology, visit kbr.com. 

The three-hour summit ended with an interactive Q & A session and plenty of positivity in the future of green technologies being spearheaded by KBR.