Port of Rotterdam launches study into large-scale ammonia cracking

Eighteen partners, one million tonnes per year

The Port of Rotterdam Authority will lead a feasibility study into the establishment of an onsite, million-tonne-per-year ammonia cracker. Hydrogen will be used at the port or directed into the under-construction pipeline transportation network, en route to major industrial clusters in the Netherlands and northeast Europe. Texas-based engineering firm Fluor has been commissioned for the study, and the list of consortium partners includes some familiar faces: Air Liquide, Aramco, bp, E.ON, ExxonMobil, Gasunie, HES International, Koole Terminals, Linde, OCI, RWE, Shell, Sasol, Uniper, and Vopak. The first findings are due early next year.

Europe will need large amounts of hydrogen to reach its climate objectives and a significant share of this can be imported via the port of Rotterdam. Ammonia is one of the most efficient ways to transport hydrogen and by establishing one central ammonia cracker, we can save time, space and resources to enable the imports of a million tonnes of hydrogen per year.

Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO Allard Castelein in his organisation’s official press release, 6 Dec 2022

2022 has been a year of progress for the Port of Rotterdam (PoR), with preparations well underway to receive ammonia imports into Europe:

• A green shipping corridor between Rotterdam and Algeciras (Spain) will be operational by 2027, with renewable ammonia or methanol to be shipped from the Mediterranean.
• PoR and the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore will establish a green shipping corridor by 2027.
• At our Australia conference in August, PoR Hydrogen Program Manager Martijn Coopman presented the under-development import infrastructure, including eight different terminals covering a variety of hydrogen vectors.
• Several ammonia import terminals were launched – Air Products & Gunvor, OCI N.V., ACE Terminal (HES, Vopak and Gasunie) and Koole Terminals.
• After the successful feasibility study into ammonia imports from South Australia last year, the Queensland state government announced they would embark on a similar assessment for ammonia exports from northern Australia to Europe.
• A new study into fast-tracking ammonia exports from Western Australia to Rotterdam was just launched.
• And a target of 4.6 million tonnes per year of imported hydrogen by 2030 was set by PoR.