Topsoe teams up with CIP for US Gulf Coast blue ammonia plant
The blue ammonia plant on the US Gulf Coast will have two production phases, each with 4,000 mt/day of production capacity and a total of nearly 3 million mt/year.
PHOTO: Topsoe's proprietary ammonia technology installed in Perdaman's ammonia plant. Topsoe
Topsoe will use the "Haber-Bosch" process to first produce “grey” ammonia by combining airborne nitrogen with hydrogen produced from steam methane reforming of natural gas feedstocks - in the presence of iron catalysts. Carbon dioxide (CO2) that is emitted during production process is captured and stored with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology, resulting in "blue ammonia."
The project, which is a joint venture between Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and US-based Sustainable Fuels, is estimated to become operational in 2027.
Topsoe’s steam reforming technology will allow the companies to “produce blue ammonia with 99% capture of the plant’s carbon dioxide (CO2) production,” says Sustainable Fuels chief executive Ramesh Raman.
The companies have not yet reserved any of this low-carbon blue ammonia for use as a shipping fuel, but ammonia is gaining popularity in the maritime sector in general. Clarksons Research data shows that there were 150 ammonia-ready vessels on order as of last year. One of the leading ammonia producers, Yara Clean Ammonia, projects that around 39%, or 182 million mt, of demand for its ammonia will be from ships by 2050.
There are a number of companies that are investing big money to scale up production of blue ammonia, which is considered a cleaner alternative to traditional marine fuels since CO2 is captured during production.
Among its key projects, Yara Clean Ammonia has invested in a large-scale blue ammonia project in the US with a production target of 1.1 million mt/year from 2028-2030. Nearly 400,000 mt/year of grey ammonia will be converted to blue ammonia at its upcoming Sluiskil plant in the Netherlands by 2029. Yara Clean Ammonia’s president Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand believes that blue ammonia is a reliable long-term solution since “carbon capture technologies can be obtained at cost-competitive rates.”
Abu Dhabi's ADNOC and ADQ are developing a “first-of-its-kind large-scale low-carbon ammonia project” in the Middle East. The plant will be located in the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in the UAE and have capacity to produce 1 million mt/year of low-carbon blue ammonia.
By Konica Bhatt
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