Thread by @HMcJeon3y4

🚨BRO🚨
It has come to my attention that some well-meaning bros think shifting to #Ammonia fuel for shipping is a good idea for decarbonization. After all, #Ammonia = NH3 is a zero-carbon fuel, right?

NO, BRO, THIS IS A BAD IDEA.

Let me dumb this down for @BrosForDecarb
🧵👇

We humans are causing this climate change problem by overusing carbon. Do you really want to fix it by overusing nitrogen?

THINK AGAIN.

Nitrogen pollution is yet another global-scale environmental problem and ...

... we’re already more than thrice over the Earth’s capacity for how much nitrogen we can dump in the ecosystem. Imagine dumping another 5x that amount from shipping fuels ALONE.
@BrosForDenitrogenization
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

The first problem with #Ammonia = NH3 is that it’s TOXIC.

Translation for @BrosForDecarb: if you drink it YOU WILL DIE.

3/

The second problem is that an imperfect combustion of #Ammonia will result in NOx. One of the worst air-pollutants.

Translation for @BrosForDecarb: if you inhale it YOU WILL GET ASTHMA.

4/

But the third problem is why I’m writing this thread for the bros: I know we’re all @BrosForDecarbonization now, but deep inside we should all be @BrosForDeGHGization. Just getting rid of carbon will not stop climate change, especially if you displace it with ...

... N2O, which is 298 times more potent GHG than CO2.

Smart people ran the numbers and at 0.4% leakage of N2O from ammonia shipping will wipe out any decarbonization benefit from eliminating carbon from shipping fuels. SO WHY ARE WE EVEN CONSIDERING THIS?
5/

All of these are written elegantly in the new commentary in @NatureEnergyJnl published today.

https://twitter.com/PaulWolfram2/status/1577685867661082628?s=20&t=uDEd1DY9Zj7t5Nb5rqXN_w

6/

I didn’t write this paper, and I rarely promote other bros papers. But I was sitting next door to the bros who wrote it and saw that this was too important an issue to pass up. I personally checked the math and I can fully vouch for the authors’ findings. #TrustMeImADoctor

Fin/

Ps/
It’s not just shipping! There are proposals to use #Ammonia to substitute other fossil fuels, such as burning it in the coal-fired powerplants!

BROS, THIS IS A BAD IDEA!

Pps/
Ok, so if not #Ammonia, what should we do about shipping decarbonization?

Well, first of all, stop buying so much junk from overseas!

...
Second, if you must, more R&D into REAL low-carbon fuels for shipping, not some nitrogen shell game. Electric ships? H2 ships? Wind powered ships? Nuclear powered ships?

Just anything but #Ammonia. ANYTHING BUT!

/reallyfin

If you want to help solve the Nitrogen problem, there’s a PhD position for you:

https://twitter.com/greeningxin/status/1569533171032805379?s=21

https://twitter.com/Greeningxin/status/1569533171032805379

And if you want to DECARB 24/7, there’s a Postdoc position for you:

https://twitter.com/hmcjeon3y4/status/1577467926260568064?s=21

https://twitter.com/hmcjeon3y4/status/1577467926260568064

I love @IEA and everything they do for DECARBONIZATION, but we need to nip this #Ammonia shipping craze in the bud!

https://twitter.com/maritimemag1/status/1304510886246256640

@Peters_Glen so a long way of saying that this would not be a good idea..

https://twitter.com/peters_glen/status/1440570770191630341

Good thing that as of yet no Ammonia powered ship has been delivered..

https://twitter.com/Ma_Deutsch/status/1547894701080002565?s=20&t=wQFFt7kGpx1BLAwaKq_aVw

CORRECTION: at least one dual-fuel Ammonia ship has been delivered..

https://twitter.com/MarineLog/status/1489720522187415563?s=20&t=wQFFt7kGpx1BLAwaKq_aVw