Graeme wrote:T, Thanks for trying to find an alternative to our transport fuels. Your choice is interesting because ammonia has been used as a fuel in the past and when it's burnt there are no carbon emissions. Ammonia is hence a better choice than say biofuel or LPG/CNG if states have to comply with zero carbon emission rules.
Assuming that owners of ICE vehicles cannot afford to buy an EV, do you know how much it would cost to modify ICE engines?
Would the fuel be always cheaper than gasoline?
Are there any existing retail outlets?
Could owners be assured of sufficient supply (that doesn't compete with fertilizer production) until our entire fleet runs on electricity?
Cost of conversion about the same as converting to Propane, the tanks, hoses and software modifications are almost identical.
Cost of fuel will vary widely from place to place, just like Gasoline does in the USA. A great deal depends on what the hydrogen source is (Coal, Methane, Water) and which catalyst method is used to bind it to atmospheric Nitrogen to manufacture the Ammonia.
The only current retailers in the USA are Agricultural distribution nodes where farm workers pick up tanks of Ammonia for use in field fertilizing equipment. There are some precautions needed for handling Ammonia, it is extremely hygroscopic and in vapor form will attack the eyes and mucus membranes if you are exposed. On the other side of the coin Ammonia like Methane is lighter than air so after a few minutes to an hour a significant spill in an open space will rise and dissipate to safe levels. It also has the advantage that it will not burn at standard atmospheric pressure, it will only burn under compression. This means there is no explosion/flash fire hazard from spills.
For your last question there are so many variables in the real world it is impossible to predict. If we use water as the hydrogen source and nitrogen from the air the only limit is how much energy we have available to put into the process. If we go the Coal route as a source of Hydrogen we have to do something with the resulting Coke that sequesters that carbon long term. If we continue to use Methane we should seek ways to effectively sequester that carbon as well.