Dr. Zac Cesaro
Research Engineer, University of Oxford / Siemens Energy
Interests:
Ammonia for dispatchable power in the electricity sector; Green hydrogen and ammonia in developing countries, especially India; ammonia cracking for hydrogen delivery.
Biography:
Zac is leading a new business venture within Siemens Energy on ammonia cracking. He’s currently developing a prototype ammonia cracker that’s hoped to produce very pure hydrogen that can subsequently be combusted in a PEM fuel cell, something that requires minimal residual ammonia residues.
He completed his DPhil on ‘The Role of Ammonia in Decarbonised Energy Systems’ at Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science in June 2022 as part of the OXGATE (Oxford Green Ammonia Technology) Group. In his doctorate he designed and modelled energy systems to 2050 which included the significant, sector-coupled role of hydrogen and ammonia, focusing on India's rapidly evolving electricity system and hydrogen policy as a relevant case study.
During this time he also published his paper ‘Ammonia to power: Forecasting the levelized cost of electricity from green ammonia in large-scale power plants’ (Applied Energy 2021). Further, he was the operator of the Green ammonia demonstrator built at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.