Startup Series: Unlocking Ammonia as Energy with Amogy

My Climate Journey

Dr. Seonghoon Woo is CEO and co-founder at Amogy. Amogy is building technology to unlock ammonia's potential as a clean energy fuel source for transportation and beyond. About a year ago, they raised a Series B of funding led by SK Innovations, with backers including Temasek, Aramco Ventures, Mitsubishi, DCVC, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Mitsui OSK Lines, and others.

Ammonia is a workhorse chemical in modern society. It's one of the most produced chemicals in the world today, and it's used primarily as the foundation of the nitrogen fertilizer industry, as a transport vessel for nitrogen. Chemically, ammonia is NH3, so in addition to nitrogen, it contains hydrogen. And hydrogen as we know has a strong potential as a low to zero emissions fuel source, depending on how it's produced.

But hydrogen is challenging to transport. Ammonia, therefore, also has the potential to be a transport vessel for hydrogen as a power source, and ammonia supply chains are already mature today. Amogy's unique innovation lies in cracking ammonia into hydrogen at the point of power generation and then powering vehicles via hydrogen fuel cells. They are targeting ocean shipping as most major companies seek solutions to decarbonize their supply chains.

In this episode, we cover:

• [02:21]: Dr. Woo’s background and journey to founding Amogy
• [05:16]: Co-founder roles and decision-making at Amogy
• [07:16]: The company’s impressive Series B funding round and key investors
• [09:45]: Overview of Amogy and its technology: converting ammonia to energy
• [11:14]: Importance of ammonia in global food production and fertilizer
• [15:07]: Ammonia as a hydrogen carrier and its applications beyond fertilizer
• [17:03]: Ammonia production processes, challenges of transportation and storage
• [19:47]: Amogy’s innovation to use ammonia as a fuel without combustion
• [24:35]: Ammonia compared with other renewable fuels like methanol and batteries
• [29:21]: Process and efficiency of converting ammonia to hydrogen on ships
• [31:32]: Safety considerations for storing and transporting ammonia on ships
• [34:40]: Amogy’s current traction and building the world's first 100% ammonia-powered vessel, a tugboat
• [38:57]: Where Amogy is looking for help today
• [42:07]: Future expansion of ammonia adoption in East Asia and globally

Episode recorded on May 9, 2024 (Published on May 23, 2024)

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