CF & Exxon: CCS ammonia production in Mississippi

By Julian Atchison on July 30, 2024

Decarbonising the Yazoo City complex

CF Industries' complex in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Click to learn more. CF Industries and ExxonMobil will develop a new CCS facility at CF’s existing complex in Yazoo City, Mississippi, allowing for the production of low-carbon ammonia and fertilisers. Source: CF Industries.

CF Industries will move forward with a carbon capture and sequestration project at its Yazoo City production complex in Mississippi, USA. The new, $100 million project is expected to capture and sequester up to 500,000 tons of CO2 from the complex each year. A commercial agreement with ExxonMobil has been signed for the transport and permanent geologic sequestration of CO2, starting in 2028. Once sequestration begins, CF expects the project to qualify for 45Q tax credits.

We are pleased to advance another significant decarbonization project that will keep CF Industries at the forefront of low-carbon ammonia production while also helping us achieve our 2030 emissions intensity reduction goal. This decarbonization project also will increase the availability of nitrogen products with a lower-carbon intensity for customers focused on reducing the carbon footprint of their businesses.

Tony Will, President and CEO CF Industries Holdings, in his organisation’s official press release, 25 July 2024

Ammonia produced by CF at Yazoo City is currently used onsite for the manufacture of fertilisers such as urea ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrate, or diesel exhaust fluid (AdBlue), which is used to reduce NOX emissions from heavy vehicles. Ammonium nitrate is also used by mining industry customers as a raw feedstock to manufacture blasting agents. Demand for these lower carbon-intensity products is growing, particularly low-carbon fertilisers.

CF is also developing another CCS ammonia project with ExxonMobil at the Donaldsonville complex in Louisiana. A facility to capture and sequester up to 2 million tons of CO2 each year is being constructed in Donaldsonville, with sequestration to begin next year. Donaldsonville is also the site of an electrolysis project being developed CF and thyssenkrupp Nucera, which is expected to begin operations this year.