Amogy raises $56M to commercialize ammonia for heavy-duty transit

A New York–based startup that sailed what it says was the first ammonia-powered vessel announced Wednesday that it has raised $56 million in new venture funding.

Amogy, which was founded by three Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD graduates, aims to help decarbonize sectors like maritime shipping that are viewed as more difficult to shift away from fossil fuels. To do that, it created a chemical reactor that ​“cracks” ammonia — a compound often used in products like fertilizer — into nitrogen and hydrogen. The hydrogen then goes through a fuel cell that can power vessels, trucks, and other machinery, while the nitrogen is released into the air.

Aramco Ventures, an existing investor and the venture capital arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco, along with the Seoul-based venture capital firm SV Investment, co-led Amogy’s recent financing round. Amogy said that it plans to use the money to help commercialize its technology and also to bolster manufacturing as well as research and development.

The new investment follows a $139 million funding round the company announced almost two years ago. Amogy has raised more than $270 million since it was founded in 2020. In addition to testing ammonia in a tugboat this past September, Amogy has also used its technology to power a drone, a tractor, and a semi-truck.

“The latest technical demonstration — the successful sailing of the NH3 Kraken, our ammonia-powered tugboat — showcased that Amogy’s technology is a safe, viable, and effective solution for achieving decarbonization goals in heavy industries,” Amogy CEO and cofounder Seonghoon Woo said in a statement. The company is planning to commercially deploy its ammonia-to-power systems in 2026, he said.

Though Amogy has tested its technology in other sectors, the maritime industry presents a massive challenge on its own. Cargo shipping is responsible for around 3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide per year. While the industry has been exploring pathways to decarbonize, it’s difficult to find alternatives to fossil-fuel-powered ships given they often carry thousands of tons of cargo and sail for sometimes weeks without docking.

That’s where ammonia could come in handy. The chemical compound doesn’t produce carbon dioxide when it’s used for fuel, and it doesn’t need as much storage space as the equivalent amount of battery power. The compound, however, can be fatal in high concentrations and can also be corrosive, making its transportation a challenge.

Right now, ammonia is almost always produced using fossil fuels, and although it can be made using clean energy, efforts to build up a green ammonia industry are nascent. Nearly a third of ammonia is produced in China, according to the International Energy Agency.

For its tugboat demonstration in September, Amogy used green ammonia, produced using renewable energy. Woo said that the company’s technology can also utilize ammonia made using natural gas or where the carbon dioxide emitted from the production process is captured. He added that the company ​“is particularly excited about the global growth of clean ammonia projects and their potential to enable full well-to-wheel decarbonization.”

The International Maritime Organization has targets for the shipping industry to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2030 and by at least 70 percent by 2040, with the aim of hitting the net-zero mark around mid-century. The organization, which has 176 member states, said that it aims for at least 5 percent of the energy utilized by international shipping by 2030 to be from energy sources, fuels, or technologies that are net-zero or close to net-zero.

Over the longer run, some experts think that ammonia is one of the best-poised alternative fuels to help the shipping industry reach those goals. Ammonia and hydrogen together will make up 60 percent of the market for marine fuels if the globe hits net zero mid-century, the International Energy Agency said in a 2021 report, according to S&P Global.