First Ammonia-Powered Tractor Revealed at AERTC

Amogy Inc. — a Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP) company at Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy Center (AERTC) — is a pioneer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions. On May 25, the company demonstrated the first-ever ammonia-powered, zero-emissions tractor at Advanced Energy Center in Stony Brook’s Research & Development Park.

Amogy tractor Photo Credit: Bryan Banducci

Amogy’s ammonia-to-power technology was successfully integrated into a John Deere mid-size standard tractor. The unique system includes a standard liquid-storage tank and highly efficient ammonia-cracking modules integrated into a hybrid fuel cell system, which can provide consistent primary power for several hours per refueling. Therefore, the pioneering vehicle maintains the functionality and duration requirements that operators rely on to support farming tasks, which has never been offered with other alternative energy solutions. Refueling a tractor with liquid ammonia is fast and simple, similar to gas or diesel refueling.

CEBIP addresses many key needs of early-stage, energy-based technology businesses, which is critical in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. Supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), CEBIP provides access to an unsurpassed team of partners and resources to maximize the prospects for new business ventures.

“Amogy has made tremendous progress over the past year, and they have impressed the CEBIP team continuously with their knowledge, drive, foresight and planning,” said CEBIP Director David Hamilton. “They have made huge strides and have very aggressive plans for the future. Their effort with the tractor reflects everything CEBIP is about … we helped partner Amogy with UTS, an AERTC company, who brought their expertise to the table to help Amogy realize the success they envisioned. Their partnership was realized with the successful testing and validation of the Amogy technology at the AERTC. This collaborative effort is what we all strive for, and we are very proud of the overall success of the project.”

“We’re thrilled to be demonstrating our zero-emission ammonia power solution in action in a tractor for the first time ever. Ammonia is a viable zero-emission fuel for all heavy-duty vehicles, but especially farming and agriculture, where the readily available chemical has been used as a fertilizer for decades,” said Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo.

Amogy has achieved a 20-fold increase in the power capacity of its technology over the past year. With support from its investors, Amogy is focused on expanding its platform to showcase the viability of compact ammonia-power technologies in other applications and vehicles, such as Class 8 trucks and shipping vessels, to be demonstrated in the next 12 months.

First Ammonia-Powered, Zero-Emissions Tractor Revealed at Advanced Energy Center