Asia/Pacific News
India's Kandla to Supply Green Ammonia for Singapore Bunkering
L&T Energy GreenTech Ltd (LTEG), a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has partnered with Japan's Itochu Corporation to develop a green ammonia facility at India's Kandla with the fuel earmarked for bunkering operations in Singapore.
Under the agreement, Itochu will offtake green ammonia from the 300 KTPA plant for bunkering application, LTEG said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
L&T had earlier acquired land at Kandla for green energy projects, reinforcing its strategic presence across the green energy value chain.
The firm seeks to tap into India's renewable energy resources and competitive electricity costs for green ammonia production.
Unlike grey ammonia, green ammonia is produced using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The hydrogen is then combined with nitrogen from air through the Haber-Bosch process to produce green ammonia.
Ammonia is increasingly seen as a potential key future marine fuel for decarbonising shipping.
However, only a small number of vessels are currently capable of running on ammonia, with a few in pilot operation and others on order.
It could take several more years before ammonia-fuelled ships become a sizeable part of the global fleet.
"Through this joint development with one of the largest and most respected companies in India's private sector, L&T Group, our initiatives to introduce low-carbon ammonia to the maritime sector as an alternative zero-emission fuel will be reinforced," Hiroyuki Tsubai, executive vice president of Machinery Company of ITOCHU Corporation, said.
With this collaboration, Kandla, located on the west coast of India, will become the principal production centre of green ammonia for ITOCHU's bunkering operations in Singapore".
Itochu is also developing a 5,000 m3 ammonia bunkering vessel, and will be deployed in Singapore when delivered in September 2027.
