On the 23rd, a press conference on the major success of hydrogen-ammonia fusion zero-carbon combustion technology was held at Foshan Xianhu Laboratory. The reporter learned from the meeting that the world's first green ceramic tile fired with zero-carbon ammonia fuel was successf

html On the 123rd, a press conference on the major success of hydrogen-ammonia fusion zero-carbon combustion technology was held at Foshan Xianhu Laboratory. The reporter learned from the meeting that the world's first green ceramic tile fired with zero-carbon ammonia fuel was successfully released in Foshan City, Guangdong Province on December 18, marking an important step for my country's architectural ceramics industry to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.

The production of architectural ceramics requires firing at a high temperature of 1200°C. Currently, fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and heavy oil are mainly used, thus producing a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions. The use of advanced zero-carbon fuel is one of the most fundamental, direct and effective ways to reduce carbon emissions. This is an urgent need for high-temperature manufacturing in this new energy technology revolution.

Currently, there are only two zero-carbon fuels suitable for large-scale industrial applications: hydrogen (H2) and ammonia (NH3). Both contain no carbon, so they will not produce any carbon emissions when burned at high temperatures. Since the combustion of industrial kilns uses a huge amount of hydrogen, and large-capacity storage and transportation of hydrogen is difficult, this greatly limits the application of hydrogen as a fuel in high-temperature industries.

Ammonia is a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. Synthetic ammonia has a history of more than 100 years. It is currently mainly used to make agricultural fertilizers and chemical raw materials. The safe storage and transportation technology, infrastructure, and transportation standards related to ammonia are relatively mature. What is particularly important is that ammonia can be stored and transported in large volumes, and the cost is significantly lower (only about 1%) than that of hydrogen storage and transportation. The economy of ammonia fuel is significantly better than that of hydrogen fuel. However, ammonia is not easy to ignite and burn. It will produce nitrogen oxides when burned at high temperatures. These are challenges that must be solved in the development of ammonia zero-carbon combustion technology.

As early as December 2021, Foshan Xianhu Laboratory, Foshan Oceano Ceramics Co., Ltd. and Foshan Delitai Technology Co., Ltd. jointly established the "Advanced Zero-Carbon Combustion Technology Joint Innovation R&D Center", with Cheng Yibing, a strategic scientist at Foshan Xianhu Laboratory, as the director of the center. The center aims at the disruptive key technology of zero-carbon combustion in ceramic kilns, aims to explore new directions for my country's ceramic industry to achieve "dual carbon" standards, and aims to promote "advanced zero-carbon combustion technology" to other high-temperature manufacturing industries.

After nearly a year of technical research, the "Joint R&D Center" successfully designed and developed a new type of pure ammonia and natural gas mixed ammonia industrial burner and supporting technology. Delitai's industrial experimental furnace achieved stable ignition, stable combustion of mixed ammonia and pure ammonia, and effectively controlled nitrogen oxide emissions within the national standards. While developing zero-carbon combustion technology, the

team has also established a set of safe use systems and emergency management measures suitable for ammonia-fueled ceramic kilns, including operating procedures, ammonia gas storage, transportation and other key links. On this basis, the team successfully completed the transformation of a 30-meter-long roller kiln of Oceano Ceramics Company, converting the kiln from natural gas as fuel to pure ammonia and natural gas mixed ammonia as fuel. The

team also developed the liquid ammonia gasification and supply precise control system suitable for pure ammonia combustion, the flue gas residual ammonia online monitoring system, and jointly developed a complete set of technologies and equipment such as a high-efficiency liquid ammonia SCR destocking system with Guangdong Anqing Technology Co., Ltd.

In November 2022, the Guangdong Ceramics Association organized experts to conduct an on-site inspection and evaluation of the "Building Ceramics Industrial Kiln Ammonia Combustion (Zero-Carbon Fuel) Technology" project. The expert group spoke highly of this disruptive innovative technology and believed that the ammonia combustion technology of the building ceramic industrial kiln is safe and controllable. The developed technology and equipment have filled the domestic and international gaps, opening up a new energy technology path for the ceramic industry and even the entire building materials industry to achieve " carbon peak , carbon neutral ".

Foshan Xianhu Laboratory is currently actively negotiating with a number of leading companies in the ceramics and metal processing industries regarding cooperation on "zero-carbon combustion technology". However, as an industrial fuel, ammonia is about twice as expensive as natural gas. Cheng Yibing suggested that enterprise application costs can be further reduced through government subsidies and other methods.

[Reporter] Gao Xiaoping

[Author] Gao Xiaoping

[Source] Southern Newspaper Media Group Southern + Client