Fuels Without Carbon

The report advocates for the development and deployment of zero-carbon hydrogen and ammonia to address sectors that are difficult to electrify. It details production methods such as steam methane reforming with carbon capture and storage (SMR+CCS) and electrolysis, while highlighting the scalability of ammonia due to existing global infrastructure. The document examines applications in heavy-duty transport, marine shipping, and grid-balancing, and calls for coordinated public-private initiatives to manage safety risks and establish supportive policy frameworks.

• Hydrogen and ammonia are identified as critical for decarbonizing sectors where electrification is limited. For example, IEA data suggests that even if all light-duty vehicles were electrified by 2040, demand from other transportation sectors like trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft would still exceed 35 million barrels of oil per day.
• Zero-carbon hydrogen and ammonia can be produced via steam methane reforming (SMR) combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or through the electrolysis of water using zero-carbon electricity. SMR+CCS is currently more cost-effective than electrolysis, though the latter is more amenable to modularization and smaller plant scales.
• Ammonia is highly scalable as a fuel because it is already the world's second most commonly synthesized chemical, with an existing global infrastructure producing around 180 million metric tons per year.
• Economic estimates suggest zero-carbon ammonia produced via SMR+CCS currently costs approximately USD$22/mmBtu, but could fall below USD$10/mmBtu at optimized, world-scale facilities, potentially making it competitive with gasoline (approximately USD$13/mmBtu).
• Ammonia is particularly suited for marine vessels and trains because these sectors can accommodate heavier engines and larger fuel tanks, and are operated by professionals trained in safety management.
• Hydrogen and ammonia can address specific decarbonization gaps, such as storing excess energy from variable renewable sources (wind and solar), co-firing in existing coal plants to reduce carbon intensity, and powering off-grid installations, such as the 800 telecom base stations in Kenya.
• While hydrogen and ammonia present safety risks—such as hydrogen's tendency to embrittle metals and ammonia's toxicity—the report states these are comparable to risks associated with gasoline and LPG and are manageable through established industrial protocols.

APA

Lewis, J. (2018). Fuels Without Carbon. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/21093838/Fuels_Without_Carbon.pdf

Chicago

Lewis, Jonathan. Fuels Without Carbon. Clean Air Task Force, 2018. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/21093838/Fuels_Without_Carbon.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lewis |first1=Jonathan |title=Fuels Without Carbon |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=December 2018 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/21093838/Fuels_Without_Carbon.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lewis2018fuels, author = {Lewis, Jonathan}, title = {{Fuels Without Carbon}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/21093838/Fuels_Without_Carbon.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }