New CCS partnerships in the USA

By Julian Atchison on October 20, 2022

CF Industries & Exxon Mobil

Infographic showing CF Industries’ planned process for CCS at its ammonia production facility at Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Source: CF Industries.
Click to enlarge. Infographic showing CF Industries’ planned process for CCS at its ammonia production facility at Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Source: CF Industries.

The pair have signed a commercial agreement for the capture and permanent storage of up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from the Donaldsonville ammonia production facility, starting in 2025. Last November, CF’s board approved a $200 million investment for construction of a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at Donaldsonville, allowing for transportation of captured emissions. Exxon Mobil intends to transport the CO2 via Enlink Midstream’s pipeline network to permanent geologic storage sites it owns in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.

As we leverage proven carbon capture and sequestration technology, CF Industries will be first-to-market with a significant volume of blue ammonia. This will enable us to supply this low-carbon energy source to hard-to-abate industries that increasingly view it as critical to their own decarbonization goals.

CF Industries Chairman Tony Will in his organisation’s official press release, 12 Oct 2022

Air Liquide, Chevron, LyondellBasell, and Uniper

The group will explore the development of a new hydrogen and ammonia production facility of unspecified size along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Hydrogen production via two pathways will be explored: from gas feedstock coupled with CCS, and from electrolysis. Multiple Gulf Coast production projects have been announced this year, featuring a variety of ammonia energy players.

Tallgrass & Equinor

A map of Tallgrass’ infrastructure in the US, which will be leveraged for large-scale, CCS-based hydrogen & ammonia production. Source: Tallgrass.
Click to enlarge. A map of Tallgrass’ infrastructure in the US, which will be leveraged for large-scale, CCS-based hydrogen & ammonia production. Source: Tallgrass.

The pair will explore large-scale, CCS-based hydrogen production (minimum of 95% emissions sequestered) at multiple locations in the USA, coupled with ammonia production for “efficient transportation and storage”. Tallgrass will leverage an extensive network of pipeline, refinery, storage and processing facilities across the Midwest and Western USA.