Iowa developers demo zero carbon emission tractor that runs on ammonia, hydrogen

BLAIRSTOWN - A tractor able to run on two renewable fuels - hydrogen and ammonia - was demonstrated Monday by its developers, who cited sustainability and zero carbon emissions.

The tractor is outfitted with a 150-horsepower engine and operates at full power for up to four hours, or across approximately 45 to 50 acres, according to developer and owner Jay Schmuecker.

Schmuecker and Jerry Schaub of Hydrogen Engine Center, the Algona company responsible for the engine design, said the tractor's power is created by the combination of hydrogen and ammonia, as opposed to being purely hydrogen.

Both fuels are collected and stored at Schmuecker's Pinehurst Farm in Blairstown.

Schmuecker, developer and owner of the nine subsystems called the Raphael Schmuecker Memorial Solar Hydrogen System, said ammonia originally was intended as a backup fuel.

Once the development team realized the added power it provided, they looked into generating ammonia on the farm. They are able to make ammonia by harnessing solar energy for gas compression.

Schmuecker, a former member of Caltech's NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said around $1 million of his retirement fund and six years of development went into making the first model of the tractor. Schaub said it would cost half as much to make a second model.

Schmuecker said he doesn't expect to see the technology in widespread use during his lifetime, but he wanted to demonstrate it is possible to make the switch to renewable energy sources.

'Fossil fuels are not available indefinitely,” he said. 'At some point and time in the future, fossil fuels are going to be very, very expensive for use as a farm fuel and basis for farm fertilizers.”

While Schmuecker had farming in mind when working on the technology, his solar-hydrogen system could have far-reaching implications for renewable energy.

With the technology available, he believes renewable energy could become easier to harness across the board.

'We have to go about figuring out what we're going to leave for (the younger generation) to use as fuels and energy sources in future years,” Schmuecker said.