Ships and cars could be powered by ammonia in fertiliser rather than diesel within the next few decades, scientists have said.
In a bid to tackle climate change and C02 emissions, the key ingredient in manure can be harnessed to burn in a ships engine or get mixed with a fuel cell to produce energy in a car.
Although creating ammonia itself produces CO2, a report by the Royal Society new technology can create zero-carbon ammonia.
One way to do this is by trapping the emission when they are produced and burying them in underground rocks.
Alternatively, ammonia can be created CO2 free by using renewable energy.
One of the biggest questions however is whether there is enough clean energy to make large amounts of ammonia.
The report said the ingredient can be used “as a transport fuel, by direct combustion in an engine or through chemical reaction with oxygen in the air in a fuel cell to produce electricity to power a motor”.
It added: “Over the coming decades, ammonia has the potential to make a significant impact through enabling the transition away from our global dependence on fossil fuels and contributing, in substantial part, to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Already designer Man Energy Solutions said it is making an ammonia powered ship engine which it hopes will be ready by 2024.
Spokesman, Peter Kirkeby said he expected the fule to match the price of other alternatives such as liquefied natural gas or methanol.
“We see a very big interest from the market in ammonia as a fuel – even though there are challenges,” he told the BBC.
“We expect the first ships fuelled with ammonia will be existing tankers that are already transporting ammonia for fertiliser. They know how to handle it.”
Greener fuels are less efficient meaning that ships powered by ammonia will need more or it to complete the same journey.
Ammonia production currently creates 1.8per cent of global CO2 emissions – the most of any chemical industry.
