New ISPT report: design and safety for large-scale ammonia pipelines
By on May 26, 2025
Click to learn more. The new ISPT report was launched at the recent World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam. Source: ISPT.
Last week, ISPT published its new report exploring the design, technical, and safety considerations of a theoretical 550 km ammonia pipeline linking the Netherlands and Germany. Design and Safety Aspects for large-scale Clean Ammonia Pipelines was launched during the recent World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam. Consultant DNV supported ISPT during the execution of the study, and project partners included Aramco Europe, Chane Terminals, EnBW, Equinor, Fluxys, Gasunie, Shell and OCI.
The best practices and safety aspects for ammonia pipelines discussed in the new ISPT study will be further explored in our upcoming webinar on Tuesday June 3rd @4PM CEST, which will also cover Sunoco LP’s existing pipeline in the US Mid-West.
Ammonia pipeline in the Netherlands and Germany
Click to expand. The route for the Netherlands-Germany ammonia pipeline studied in ISPT’s new report. Fig 7 from Design and Safety Aspects for large-scale Clean Ammonia Pipelines (May 2025).
The ISPT report includes design aspects, technology choices, safety considerations, as well as an economic evaluation for a 550 km ammonia pipeline from the Port of Rotterdam to Venlo in the Netherlands, thereafter crossing via Cologne to Karlsruhe in Germany. This trajectory is comparable to the proposed Delta Rhine Corridor linking the Netherlands and Germany. The route covers rural areas, as well as densely populated areas. The pipeline in the study is designed for an annual flow capacity of 7 million tons of ammonia.
The scope comprises a system with a single pipeline, booster pump stations, valve stations and interfaces to import terminals in the Port of Rotterdam and receiving terminals inland. Various pipeline configurations have been considered, with the base scenario consisting of 20″ pipes (15 mm wall thickness) with a design pressure of 50 barg and temperatures of 5-15°C, and three intermediate booster pump stations and 110 valve stations along the trajectory. The operating conditions align with well-recognized industrial best practices for ammonia transport via pipeline.
Click to expand. The proposed ammonia pipeline system, “Base scenario”. Fig 9 from Design and Safety Aspects for large-scale Clean Ammonia Pipelines (May 2025).
Cost of ammonia transport via pipeline
The investment for the ammonia pipeline system is estimated at around €2.1 billion, which combined with operational expenditures translates to a transportation cost at around €0.50 (0.57 USD) per ton hydrogen equivalent transported per km, or around €0.10 (0.11 USD) per ton ammonia transported per km (if converted on an energy basis, LHV).
For context, the 2019 IEA report The Future of Hydrogen estimated the transportation cost for ammonia via a newbuild pipeline at around 0.39 USD per ton hydrogen equivalent transported per km. This is well below the transportation cost that the IEA estimates for gaseous hydrogen transport: around 0.67 USD per ton hydrogen transported per km.
Note that the new ISPT report puts cost for gaseous hydrogen transport via the Delta Rhine Corridor at around €0.50 (0.57 USD) per ton hydrogen transported per km, leveraging portions of existing natural gas pipelines to minimize the investment required.
Other ammonia pipeline studies and announcements
Last November, North Sea Port (NSP, covering Vlissingen and Terneuzen in the Netherlands, and Gent in Belgium), Smart Delta Resources (SDR) and Provincie Zeeland (the Province of Zeeland in the south-west of the Netherlands) published the results from an ammonia pipeline feasibility study with consultancy WSP. Coincidentally, this pipeline would tie into ISPT’s main ammonia pipeline along the Delta Rhine Corridor, near Moerdijk (the Netherlands, around 55 km south-east of Rotterdam). The study concludes that an ammonia pipeline can be feasible if the annual throughput is at least 1-5 million tons of ammonia.
Recently, Envision Energy announced plans for a 300km liquid ammonia distribution pipeline, connecting its soon-to-be-online renewable ammonia production plant near Chifeng City to its ammonia export capabilities in Jinzhou Port.