Chemical Week - July 3/10
BASF, Yara partner on blue ammonia project on US Gulf
Sotirios Frantzanas 2023-07-06 23:46:25
BASF SE and Yara International ASA are planning a study to develop and construct a “world-scale” low-carbon blue ammonia production facility with carbon capture in the US Gulf Coast region.
BASF and Yara are looking into the feasibility of a plant with a total capacity of 1.2 million-1.4 million metric tons per year to serve the growing global demand for low-carbon ammonia, the companies said. They plan to complete the feasibility study by the end of 2023.
Approximately 95% of the CO2 generated from the production process is slated to be captured and permanently stored in the ground, the companies said. This would allow Yara to serve its customers with clean ammonia with a significantly reduced product carbon footprint, they said.
“We are working systematically to develop asset-backed supply to decarbonize agriculture as well as serving new clean ammonia segments such as shipping fuel, power production and ammonia as a hydrogen carrier,” said Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, president/clean ammonia at Yara.
For BASF, the new plant would act as backward integration to serve the company’s demand for low-carbon ammonia and would lower the carbon footprint of its ammonia-based products, the companies said.
Existing “sites in the region with integrated material flows and advanced infrastructure would be ideally suited for the integration of a new world-scale ammonia facility that has the potential to significantly improve the carbon footprint of both our own operations and the various industries we serve,” said Ramkumar Dhruva, president/monomers division at BASF.
BASF and Yara jointly own and operate a world-scale ammonia plant at BASF’s Freeport, Texas, site.
The product characteristics of blue ammonia are identical to conventionally produced ammonia, but because the CO2 generated in the production process is captured and not released to the atmosphere, blue ammonia plays a significant role in the transition to alternative, less-carbon-intensive products, the companies said.
BASF aims to reduce its absolute CO2 emissions 25% by 2030 compared with 2018, and achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Meanwhile, Yara said it has almost halved its emissions since 2004 and will reduce them by a further 30% by 2030. Yara also has an ambition to become climate neutral.
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