Amogy Raises $80m To Power Ships And Data Centers With Ammonia

From tariffs to nan caller reconciliation bill, ambiance tech startups person been grappling pinch a quickly changing landscape. Brooklyn-based startup Amogy has managed to debar turbulence induced by U.S. authorities by keeping its sights connected much promising overseas markets.

Amogy’s ammonia-to-power tech and its attraction connected Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, has helped it onshore a caller $23 cardinal successful funding. The round, which brings its most caller fundraise to $80 million, increases nan company’s valuation to $700 million, co-founder and CEO Seonghoon Woo told TechCrunch. The information was led by nan Korea Development Bank and KDB Silicon Valley LLC pinch information from BonAngels Venture Partners, JB Investment, and Pathway Investment.

Amogy is based chiefly successful nan U.S. But nan startup has recovered request for its halfway exertion successful Japan and South Korea, countries looking for caller ways to grow powerfulness generation.

“They don’t person arsenic precocious value solar, wind, and geothermal resources, and they are not really successful nan champion position to build a atomic powerfulness either,” Woo said.

Ammonia is astir wide utilized arsenic a constituent of works fertilizers; it tin besides service arsenic what experts telephone a hydrogen carrier. Normally, hydrogen is difficult to carrier — it’s flammable and prone to leaking — but a hydrogen bearer for illustration ammonia makes it easier.

In an effort to trim their c pollution, Asian countries person started burning ammonia successful existing fossil substance powerfulness plants. Typically, operators will switch immoderate percent of ember pinch ammonia. 

Shipping companies person started doing nan same, replacing diesel pinch nan compound. Ammonia has recovered fertile crushed successful that manufacture because nan International Maritime Organization, which regulates maritime shipping, is going to statesman levying a c taxation starting successful 2027.

But successful immoderate spot wherever ammonia is burned — whether that’s a powerfulness works aliases a ocean-going vessel — it needs to person astatine slightest immoderate fossil substance combusted alongside it. That makes afloat decarbonization impossible.

Amogy has been processing a measurement to afloat switch fossil fuels utilizing ammonia arsenic a fuel. First, nan institution cracks 3 hydrogen atoms disconnected each nitrogen atom. It past sends nan hydrogen to a substance cell, which generates energy and h2o vapor, while releasing axenic nitrogen to nan air. 

Because there’s nary combustion, nan company’s process doesn’t merchandise immoderate NOx pollution, which tin create smog and origin a host of wellness problems. 

The startup antecedently tested its exertion successful a tug boat, and it’s still connected way to deploy a commercial-scale strategy successful a vessel by nan adjacent mates years. But Amogy is besides processing a powerfulness works that will supply powerfulness to terrestrial customers, including information centers. The first of its benignant will statesman generating powerfulness successful nan adjacent mates years, Woo said.

The first systems will beryllium connected nan smaller side, tin of producing 500 kilowatts to 1 megawatt of electricity, though customers tin deploy respective successful parallel to make much power.

Woo said that Amogy’s displacement to Japan and South Korea comes astatine a clip erstwhile nan countries are opening to create their ammonia infrastructure. By nan extremity of nan decade, ember powerfulness plants successful some countries are expected to usage immoderate magnitude of ammonia successful their operations.

Initially, nan ammonia will apt travel from nan U.S. and nan Middle East, wherever hydrogen bound successful inexpensive earthy state is utilized to make nan compound. Asian countries are setting standards for really overmuch c contamination tin consequence from ammonia production. As a result, it’s apt that producers will request to seizure astatine slightest immoderate of nan c to beryllium capable to waste to those markets. 

But down nan line, Woo said, nan dream is to modulation to greenish sources of hydrogen to create ammonia. Asian countries, Woo said, “see ammonia fundamentally arsenic nan adjacent LNG, but without nan carbon.”