China, People’s Republic

Hydrogen is one of the most promising alternative sources to relieve the energy crisis and environmental pollution. Hydrogen can be stored as cryogenic compressed hydrogen (CcH2) to achieve high volumetric energy densities. Reliable safety codes and standards are needed for hydrogen production delivery and storage to promote hydrogen commercialization. Unintended hydrogen releases from cryogenic storage systems are potential accident scenarios that are of great interest for updating safety codes and standards. This study investigated the behavior of CcH2 releases and dispersion. The extremely low-temperature CcH2 jets can cause condensation of the air components including water vapor nitrogen and oxygen. An integral model considering the condensation effects was developed to predict the CcH2 jet trajectories and concentration distributions. The thermophysical properties were obtained from the COOLPROP database. The model divides the CcH2 jet into the underexpanded initial entrainment and heating flow establishment and established flow zones. The condensation effects on the heat transfer and flow were included in the initial entrainment and heating zones. The empirical coefficients in the integral model were then modified based on measured concentration results. Finally the analytical model predictions are shown to compare well with measured data to verify the model accuracy. The present study can be used to develop quantitative risk assessment models and update safety codes and standards for cryogenic hydrogen facilities.

Hydrogen leakage and explosion accidents have obvious dangers ambiguity of accident information and urgency of decision-making time. These characteristics bring challenges to the optimization of emergency alternatives for such accidents. Effective emergency decision making is crucial to mitigating the consequences of accidents and minimizing losses and can provide a vital reference for emergency management in the field of hydrogen energy. An improved VIKOR emergency alternatives optimization method is proposed based on the combination of hesitant triangular fuzzy set (HTFS) and the cumulative prospect theory (CPT) termed the HTFS-CPT-VIKOR method. This method adopts the hesitant triangular fuzzy number to represent the decision information on the alternatives under the influence of multi-attributes constructs alternatives evaluation indicators and solves the indicator weights by using the deviation method. Based on CPT positive and negative ideal points were used as reference points to construct the prospect matrix which then utilized the VIKOR method to optimize the emergency alternatives for hydrogen leakage and explosion accidents. Taking an accident at a hydrogen refueling station as an example the effectiveness and rationality of the HTFS-CPT-VIKOR method were verified by comparing with the existing three methods and conducting parameter sensitivity analysis. Research results show that the HTFS-CPT-VIKOR method effectively captures the limited psychological behavior characteristics of decision makers and enhances their ability to identify filter and judge ambiguous information making the decisionmaking alternatives more in line with the actual environment which provided strong support for the optimization of emergency alternatives for hydrogen leakage and explosion accidents.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) represent an important breakthrough in the hydrogen energy industry. The safe utilization of hydrogen is critical for the sustainable and healthy development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In this study risk factors and preventive measures are proposed for on-board hydrogen systems during the process of transportation storage and use of fuel cell vehicles. The relevant hydrogen safety standards in China are also analyzed and suggestions involving four safety strategies and three safety standards are proposed.

Given China’s ambition to realize carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutralization by 2060 hydrogen is gradually becoming the pivotal energy source for the needs of energy structure optimization and energy system transformation. Thus hydrogen combined with renewable energy has received more and more attention. Nowadays power-to-hydrogen power-to-methanol and power-to-ammonia are regarded as the most promising three hydrogen-driven power-to-X technologies due to the many commercial or demonstration projects in China. In this paper these three hydrogen-driven power-to-X technologies and their application status in China are introduced and discussed. First a general introduction of hydrogen energy policies in China is summarized and then the basic principles technical characteristics trends and challenges of the three hydrogen-driven power-to-X technologies are reviewed. Finally several typical commercial or demonstration projects are selected and discussed in detail to illustrate the development of the power-to-X technologies in China.

Increasingly stringent emission standards have led shippers and port operators to consider alternative energy sources which can reduce emissions while minimizing capital investment. It is essential to understand whether there is a certain economic investment gap for alternative energy. The present work mainly focuses on the simulation study of ships using ammonia and hydrogen fuels arriving at Guangzhou Port to investigate the emission advantages and cost-benefit analysis of ammonia and hydrogen as alternative fuels. By collecting actual data and fuel consumption emissions of ships arriving at Guangzhou Port the present study calculated the pollutant emissions and cost of ammonia and hydrogen fuels substitution. As expected it is shown that with the increase of NH3 in fuel mixed fuels will effectively reduce CO and CO2 emissions. Compared to conventional fuel the injection of NH3 increases the NOx emission. However the cost savings of ammonia fuel for CO2 SOx and PM10 reduction are higher than that for NOx. In terms of pollutants ammonia is less expensive than conventional fuels when applied to the Guangzhou Port. However the cost of fuel supply is still higher than conventional energy as ammonia has not yet formed a complete fuel supply and storage system for ships. On the other hand hydrogen is quite expensive to store and transport resulting in higher overall costs than ammonia and conventional fuels even if no pollutants are produced. At present conventional fuels still have advantage in terms of cost. With the promotion of ammonia fuel technology and application the cost of supply will be reduced. It is predicted that by 2035 ammonia will not only have emission reduction benefits but also will have a lower overall economic cost than conventional fuels. Hydrogen energy will need longer development and technological breakthroughs due to the limitation of storage conditions.

As one core component in hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolysis cells bipolar plates (BPs) perform multiple important functions such as separating the fuel and oxidant flow providing mechanical support conducting electricity and heat connecting the cell units into a stack etc. On the path toward commercialization the manufacturing costs of bipolar plates have to be substantially reduced by adopting low-cost and easy-to-process metallic materials (e.g. stainless steel aluminum or copper). However these materials are susceptible to electrochemical corrosion under harsh operating conditions resulting in long-term performance degradation. By means of advanced thermal spraying technologies protective coatings can be prepared on bipolar plates so as to inhibit oxidation and corrosion. This paper reviews several typical thermal spraying technologies including atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) and high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying for preparing coatings of bipolar plates particularly emphasizing the effect of spraying processes on coating effectiveness. The performance of coatings relies not only on the materials as selected or designed but also on the composition and microstructure practically obtained in the spraying process. The temperature and velocity of in-flight particles have a significant impact on coating quality; therefore precise control over these factors is demanded.

A novel multi-objective robust optimization model of an integrated energy system with hydrogen storage (HIES) considering source–load uncertainty is proposed to promote the low-carbon economy operation of the integrated energy system of a park. Firstly the lowest total system cost and carbon emissions are selected as the multi-objective optimization functions. The Pareto front solution set of the objective function is applied by compromise planning and the optimal solution among them is obtained by the maximum–minimum fuzzy method. Furthermore the robust optimization (RO) approach is introduced to cope with the source–load uncertainty effectively. Finally it is demonstrated that the illustrated HIES can significantly reduce the total system cost carbon emissions and abandoned wind and solar power. Meanwhile the effectiveness of the proposed model and solution method is verified by analyzing the influence of multi-objective solutions and a robust coefficient on the Chongli Demonstration Project in Hebei Province.

Hydrogen is regarded as an ideal zero-carbon fuel for an internal combustion engine. However the low mass flow rate of the hydrogen injector and the low volume heat value of the hydrogen strongly restrict the enhancement of the hydrogen engine performance. This experimental study compared the effects of single-injectors and double-injectors on the engine performance combustion pressure heat release rate and the coefficient of variation (CoVIMEP) based on a singlecylinder 0.5 L port fuel injection hydrogen engine. The results indicated that the number of hydrogen injectors significantly influences the engine performance. The maximum brake power is improved from 4.3 kW to 6.12 kW when adding the injector. The test demonstrates that the utilization of the double-injector leads to a reduction in hydrogen obstruction in the intake manifold consequently minimizing the pumping losses. The pump mean effective pressure decreased from −0.049 MPa in the single-injector condition to −0.029 MPa in the double-injector condition with the medium loads. Furthermore the double-injector exhibits excellent performance in reducing the coefficient of variation. The maximum CoVIMEP decreased from 2.18% in the single-injector configuration to 1.92% in the double-injector configuration. This result provides new insights for optimizing hydrogen engine injector design and optimizing the combustion process.

The economic operation of the integrated energy system faces the problems of coupling between energy production and conversion equipment in the system and the imbalance of various energy demands. Therefore taking system safety as the constraint and minimum economic cost as the objective function including fuel cost operation and maintenance cost this paper proposes the operation dispatching model of the integrated energy system based on hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) including HFC photovoltaic wind turbine electric boiler electric chiller absorption chiller electric energy storage and thermal energy storage equipment. On this basis a distributionally robust optimization (DRO) model is introduced to deal with the uncertainty of wind power and photovoltaic output. In the distributionally robust optimization model Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence is used to construct an ambiguity set which is mainly used to describe the prediction errors of renewable energy output. Finally the DRO economic dispatching model of the HFC integrated energy system (HFCIES) is established. Besides based on the same load scenario the economic benefits of hybrid energy storage equipment are discussed. The dispatching results show that compared with the scenario of only electric energy storage and only thermal energy storage the economic cost of the scenario of hybrid electric and thermal storage can be reduced by 3.92% and 7.55% respectively and the use of energy supply equipment can be reduced and the stability of the energy storage equipment can be improved.

As the main contributor of carbon emissions the low-carbon transition of the industrial sector is important for achieving the goal of carbon dioxide peaking. Hydrogen-enabled industrial energy systems (HIESs) are a promising way to achieve the low-carbon transition of industrial energy systems since the hydrogen can be well coordinated with renewable energy sources and satisfy the high and continuous industrial energy demand. In this paper the long-term capacity expansion planning problem of the HIES is formulated from the perspective of industrial parks and the targets of carbon dioxide peaking and the gradual decommissioning of existing equipment are considered as constraints. The results show that the targets of carbon dioxide peaking before different years or with different emission reduction targets can be achieved through the developed method while the economic performance is ensured to some extent. Meanwhile the overall cost of the strategy based on purchasing emission allowance is three times more than the cost of the strategy obtained by the developed method while the emissions of the two strategies are same. In addition long-term carbon reduction policies and optimistic expectations for new energy technologies will help industrial parks build more new energy equipment for clean transformation.

With the increasingly severe climate change situation and the trend of green energy transformation the development and utilization of hydrogen energy has attracted extensive attention from government industry and academia in the past few decades. Renewable energy electrolysis stands out as one of the most promising hydrogen production routes enabling the storage of intermittent renewable energy power generation and supplying green fuel to various sectors. This article reviews the evolution and development of green hydrogen policies in the United States the European Union Japan and China and then summarizes the key technological progress of renewable energy electrolysis while introducing the progress of hydrogen production from wind and photovoltaic power generation. Furthermore the environmental social and economic benefits of different hydrogen production routes are analyzed and compared. Finally it provides a prospective analysis of the potential impact of renewable energy electrolysis on the global energy landscape and outlines key areas for future research and development.

The hydrogen energy industry as one of the most important directions for future energy transformation can promote the sustainable development of the global economy and of society. China has raised the development of hydrogen energy to a strategic position. Based on the patent data in the past two decades this study investigates the collaborative innovation relationships in China’s hydrogen energy field using complex network theory. Firstly patent data filed between 2003 and 2023 are analyzed and compared in terms of time geography and institutional and technological dimensions. Subsequently a patent collaborative innovation network is constructed to explore the fundamental characteristics and evolutionary patterns over five stages. Furthermore centrality measures and community detection algorithms are utilized to identify core entities and innovation alliances within the network which reveal that China’s hydrogen energy industry is drifting toward alliance innovation. The study results show the following: (1) the network has grown rapidly in size and scope over the last two decades and evolved from the initial stage to the multi-center stage before forming innovation alliances; (2) core innovative entities are important supports and bridges for China’s hydrogen energy industry and control most resources and maintain the robustness of the whole network; (3) innovation alliances reveal the closeness of the collaborative relationships between innovative entities and the potential landscape of China’s hydrogen energy industry; and (4) most of the innovation alliances cooperate only on a narrow range of technologies which may hinder the overall sustainable growth of the hydrogen energy industry. Thereafter some suggestions are put forward from the perspective of an industrial chain and innovation chain which may provide a theoretical reference for collaborative innovation and the future development and planning in the field of hydrogen energy in China.

To solve the problems of low utilization of biomass and uncertainty and intermittency of wind power (WP) in rural winter an interval optimization model of a rural integrated energy system with biogas fermentation and electrolytic hydrogen production is constructed in this paper. Firstly a biogas fermentation kinetic model and a biogas hydrogen blending model are developed. Secondly the interval number is used to describe the uncertainty of WP and an interval optimization scheduling model is developed to minimize daily operating cost. Finally a rural integrated energy system in Northeast China is taken as an example and a sensitivity analysis of electricity price gas production and biomass price is conducted. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy can significantly reduce the wind abandonment rate and improve the economy by 3.8–22.3% compared with conventional energy storage under optimal dispatch.

In the quest to achieve “double carbon” goals the urgency to develop an efficient Integrated Energy System (IES) is paramount. This study introduces a novel approach to IES by refining the conventional Power-to-Gas (P2G) system. The inability of current P2G systems to operate independently has led to the incorporation of hydrogen fuel cells and the detailed investigation of P2G’s dual-phase operation enhancing the integration of renewable energy sources. Additionally this paper introduces a carbon trading mechanism with a refined penalty–reward scale and a detailed pricing tier for carbon emissions compelling energy suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint thereby accelerating the reduction in system-wide emissions. Furthermore this research proposes a flexible adjustment mechanism for the heat-to-power ratio in cogeneration significantly enhancing energy utilization efficiency and further promoting conservation and emission reductions. The proposed optimization model in this study focuses on minimizing the total costs including those associated with carbon trading and renewable energy integration within the combined P2G-Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) cogeneration system. Employing a bacterial foraging optimization algorithm tailored to this model’s characteristics the study establishes six operational modes for comparative analysis and validation. The results demonstrate a 19.1% reduction in total operating costs and a 22.2% decrease in carbon emissions confirming the system’s efficacy low carbon footprint and economic viability.

This paper proposes and assesses three different control approaches for the hydrocarbon natural gas (HCNG) penetrated integrated energy system (IES). The three control approaches adopt mixed integer linear programing conditional value at risk (CVaR) and robust optimization (RO) respectively aiming to mitigate the renewable generation uncertainties. By comparing the performance and efficiency the most appropriate control approach for the HCNG penetrated IES is identified. The numerical analysis is conducted to evaluate the three control approaches in different scenarios where the uncertainty level of renewable energy (within the HCNG penetrated IES) varies. The numerical results show that the CVaR-based approach outperforms the other two approaches when renewable uncertainty is high (approximately 30%). In terms of the cost to satisfy the energy demand the operational cost of the CVaR-based method is 8.29% lower than the RO one while the RO-based approach has a better performance when the renewable uncertainty is medium (approximately 5%) and it is operational is 0.62% lower than that of the CVaR model. In both evaluation cases mixed integer linear programing approach cannot meet the energy demand. This paper also compares the operational performance of the IES with and without HCNG. It is shown that the IES with HCNG can significantly improve the capability to accommodate renewable energy with low upgrading cost.

The sorption-enhanced steam gasification of biomass (SEBSG) is considered a prospective thermo-chemical technology for high-purity H2 production with in-situ CO2 capture. Fundamental concepts and operating conditions of SEBSG technology were summarized in this review. Considerable industrial demonstration units have been conducted on pilot scales for large-scale availability of the SEBSG process. The influence of process parameters such as reaction temperature Steam/Biomass (S/B) ratio feedstock characteristics cyclic CO2 capture capacity of CaO-based sorbents and catalysis were critically reviewed to provide theoretical recommendations for industrial operation. Bifunctional materials that have high catalytic activity and CO2 capture activity are crucial for ensuring high H2 production in the SEBSG. The application of density functional theory (DFT) and reactive force field molecular dynamic (ReaxFF MD) simulations on microcosmic reaction mechanisms in the SEBSG process such as pyrolysis WGS and reforming reactions and CO2 capture of CaO-based materials are comprehensively overviewed. Several research gaps like the exploitation of more efficient and low-cost bifunctional material integrated process economics and revelation of well-rounded mechanisms need to be filled for the following large-scale industrial applications.

In the context of energy interconnection and low-carbon power the power-to-gas (P2G) carbon trading mechanism is integrated into the integrated energy system (IES) model of multi-energy coupling units to achieve lowcarbon economic dispatch considering both the economic and environmental benefits of system operation. First the characteristics of each unit in the system are comprehensively considered and a joint dispatch structure for a regionally integrated energy system is developed including P2G equipment energy source equipment storage equipment and conversion equipment. The working mechanism of P2G is analyzed and its carbon trading model is established. Next a comprehensive energy system optimization model is formulated with the goal of maximizing system operating profit while accounting for carbon transaction costs. Finally Cplex and Yalmip software are used to perform simulation analysis in MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model in reducing system carbon emissions through participation in the carbon trading market ensuring system economy and reducing the dependence of the integrated energy system on the external market.

To reduce hydrogen consumption by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) an adaptive power-following control strategy based on gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network operating condition recognition was proposed. The future vehicle speed was predicted based on a GRU neural network and a driving cycle condition recognition model was established based on k-means cluster analysis. By predicting the speed over a specific time horizon feature parameters were extracted and compared with those of typical operating conditions to determine the categories of the parameters thus the adjustment of the power-following control strategy was realized. The simulation results indicate that the proposed control strategy reduces hydrogen consumption by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) by 16.6% with the CLTC-P driving cycle and by 4.7% with the NEDC driving cycle compared to the conventional power-following control strategy. Additionally the proposed strategy effectively stabilizes the battery’s state of charge (SOC).

Recent advancements in membrane-assisted seawater electrolysis powered by renewable energy offer a sustainable path to green hydrogen production. However its large-scale implementation faces challenges due to slow powerto-hydrogen (P2H) conversion rates. Here we report a modular forward osmosis-water splitting (FOWS) system that integrates a thin-film composite FO membrane for water extraction with alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) denoted as FOWSAWE. This system generates high-purity hydrogen directly from wastewater at a rate of 448 Nm3 day−1 m−2 of membrane area over 14 times faster than the state-of-the-art practice with specific energy consumption as low as 3.96 kWh Nm−3 . The rapid hydrogen production rate results from the utilisation of 1 M potassium hydroxide as a draw solution to extract water from wastewater and as the electrolyte of AWE to split water and produce hydrogen. The current system enables this through the use of a potassium hydroxide-tolerant and hydrophilic FO membrane. The established waterhydrogen balance model can be applied to design modular FO and AWE units to meet demands at various scales from households to cities and from different water sources. The FOWSAWE system is a sustainable and an economical approach for producing hydrogen at a record-high rate directly from wastewater marking a significant leap in P2H practice.

Energy scheduling for hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is of critical importance to their safe and stable operation. However traditional approaches predominantly rule-based often lack the dynamic adaptability and stability necessary to address the complexities of changing operational environments. To overcome these limitations this paper proposes a novel energy scheduling framework that integrates the Model Predictive Control (MPC) with a Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm specifically the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG). The proposed method is designed to optimize energy management in hydrogen-powered UAVs across diverse flight missions. The energy system comprises a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) a lithium-ion battery and a hydrogen storage tank enabling robust optimization through the synergistic application of MPC and DDPG. The simulation results demonstrate that the MPC effectively minimizes electric power consumption under various flight conditions while the DDPG achieves convergence and facilitates efficient scheduling. By leveraging advanced mechanisms including continuous action space representation efficient policy learning experience replay and target networks the proposed approach significantly enhances optimization performance and system stability in complex continuous decision-making scenarios.

The integration of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power at high proportions has become an inevitable trend in the development of power systems under the new power system framework. The construction of a microgrid system incorporating hydrogen energy storage and battery energy storage can leverage the complementary advantages of long-term and short-term hybrid storage achieving power and energy balance across multiple time scales in the power system. To prevent frequent startstop cycles of hydrogen storage devices and lithium battery storage under overcharge and overdischarge conditions a coordinated control strategy for power distribution in a microgrid with hydrogen storage is proposed. First a fuzzy control algorithm is used for power distribution between hydrogen storage and lithium battery storage. Then the hydrogen storage tank’s state of health (SOH) and the lithium battery’s state of charge (SOC) are compared with the goal of selecting a multi-stack fuel cell system operating at its optimal efficiency point where each fuel cell stack outputs 10 kW. This further ensures that the SOC and SOH remain within reasonable ranges. Finally simulations are conducted in MATLAB/Simulink R2018b to verify that the proposed strategy maintains stability in the DC bus and alleviates issues of overcharge and overdischarge ensuring that both the system’s SOC and SOH remain within a reasonable range thereby enhancing equipment lifespan and system stability

This paper proposes a novel dual-fuel dual-mode dual-thermodynamic cycle aviation propulsion system for the first time and conducts theoretical research on it based on a moderately simplified mathematical model. It is specifically designed to significantly reduce carbon emissions for wide-body aircraft. A comprehensive thermodynamic model is developed for this hybrid power system which integrates a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell with a dual-rotor turbofan engine. The matching characteristics between aircraft and engine performance are analyzed by systematically varying the fuselage length of the dual-fuel aircraft configuration. Results show that the specific fuel consumption of the proposed engine is decreased by 12.6% compared with that of the traditional turbofan engine as the Mach number increases. Conversely as the relative physical rotational speed decreases the thrust of the novel engine is increased by 10%. With a 20 % extension in fuselage length the dual-fuel aircraft operating on 100 % hydrogen fuel can achieve an endurance exceeding 17 h representing a 20 % endurance improvement over conventional aviation kerosene-powered aircraft. In this case the aircraft weight can be reduced by 96.79 tons and CO2 emissions can be decreased by 301.65 tons.

Enhancing system durability and fuel economy stands as a crucial factor in the energy management of fuel cell hybrid vehicles. This paper proposes an Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) aiming to minimize the overall operating cost of the system. First this study establishes a dynamic model of the hydrogen–electric hybrid vehicle a static input–output model of the hybrid power system and an aging model. Next a speed prediction method based on an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is designed. This method fits a predictive model by collecting historical speed data in real time ensuring the robustness of speed prediction. Finally based on the speed prediction results an adaptive Equivalence Factor (EF) method using a GA is proposed. This method comprehensively considers fuel consumption and the economic costs associated with the aging of the hydrogen–electric hybrid system forming a total operating cost function. The GA is then employed to dynamically search for the optimal EF within the cost function optimizing the system’s economic performance while ensuring real-time feasibility. Simulation outcomes demonstrate that the proposed energy management strategy significantly enhances both the durability and fuel economy of the fuel cell hybrid vehicle.

During the development of hydrogen fuel cell systems with the augmentation of power conventional air-cooling systems which are frequently employed in portable scenarios encounter difficulties in maintaining the balance between radiator heat dissipation and power consumption. In contrast liquid-cooling systems are widely adopted in high-power applications. In this regard aiming to address the heat dissipation problem and make use of the wastewater from the stack tailpipe a novel spray cooling system integrated with the traditional air-cooling for the radiator of hydrogen fuel cell systems is put forward. Through experimental investigations based on heat transfer theory and the design principles of fuel cell systems it is discovered that under specific nozzle apertures and spray water pressures the heat dissipation rate can be enhanced by 40 % and 30 % respectively. With particular radiator internal water flow rates and fan speeds the heat dissipation rate can be increased by 30 % and 108 % respectively. And the spray angle of 60 ◦ is the best angle. In contrast to the conventional air-cooling system the spray-air cooling system exhibits a heat dissipation rate that is approximately 50 % higher. Exper imental analyses demonstrate that the new system effectively harnesses water resources and enhances the heat dissipation performance of the radiator thereby providing a technical reference for the application of spray cooling in the radiators of hydrogen fuel cell systems.

Ammonia a molecule that is gaining more interest as a fueling vector has been considered as a candidate to power transport produce energy and support heating applications for decades. However the particular characteristics of the molecule always made it a chemical with low if any benefit once compared to conventional fossil fuels. Still the current need to decarbonize our economy makes the search of new methods crucial to use chemicals such as ammonia that can be produced and employed without incurring in the emission of carbon oxides. Therefore current efforts in this field are leading scientists industries and governments to seriously invest efforts in the development of holistic solutions capable of making ammonia a viable fuel for the transition toward a clean future. On that basis this review has approached the subject gathering inputs from scientists actively working on the topic. The review starts from the importance of ammonia as an energy vector moving through all of the steps in the production distribution utilization safety legal considerations and economic aspects of the use of such a molecule to support the future energy mix. Fundamentals of combustion and practical cases for the recovery of energy of ammonia are also addressed thus providing a complete view of what potentially could become a vector of crucial importance to the mitigation of carbon emissions. Different from other works this review seeks to provide a holistic perspective of ammonia as a chemical that presents benefits and constraints for storing energy from sustainable sources. State-of-the-art knowledge provided by academics actively engaged with the topic at various fronts also enables a clear vision of the progress in each of the branches of ammonia as an energy carrier. Further the fundamental boundaries of the use of the molecule are expanded to real technical issues for all potential technologies capable of using it for energy purposes legal barriers that will be faced to achieve its deployment safety and environmental considerations that impose a critical aspect for acceptance and wellbeing and economic implications for the use of ammonia across all aspects approached for the production and implementation of this chemical as a fueling source. Herein this work sets the principles research practicalities and future views of a transition toward a future where ammonia will be a major energy player.