CF Industries

Trafigura reports its first successful ship-to-ship transfer of ammonia has taken place in the Straits of Gibraltar. Around 6,000 tons of ammonia being shipped from CF Industries’ Donaldsonville complex in Louisiana was transferred between gas carriers, before being delivered to Fertiberia in Spain for the production of feritliser.

In this session at our 2023 annual conference, panelists discussed how ammonia certification methods should be data-centric, and focus less on colour labels. The panel featured Alicia Eastman (InterContinental Energy), Shigeru Muraki (Clean Fuel Ammonia Association), Wouter Vanhoudt (Hinicio), Linda Dempsey (CF Industries) and Conor Fürstenberg Stott (Fürstenberg Maritime Advisory).

Certification based on actual GHG emissions intensity is the principle on which the AEA’s certification system is being built, and the issue is becoming an increasingly important subject at international fora such as the IMO, the G7 and the G20.

CF Industries & POSCO will commence a FEED study on CCS-based ammonia production at CF’s Blue Point Complex in Louisiana as part of a potential joint venture in low-carbon ammonia production, with long-term offtake to South Korea.

OCI Global will supply clean ammonia to Korea from this year as part of a new agreement with Lotte Fine Chemical. The pair will also develop a global ammonia bunkering network by leveraging their existing infrastructure. Meanwhile, CF Industries and Lotte Chemical will explore new opportunities for clean ammonia production on the US Gulf Coast, as well as long-term off take to South Korea.

Electrolysis-based ammonia production peaked worldwide around 1970, before the economies of scale and cheap gas feedstock led to its decline. With decarbonization and climate-neutral industrial processes now a critical priority, electrolysis-based ammonia production has re-emerged as a long-term solution. From a base of 10,000 tonnes per year worldwide production in 2020, as much as 100 million tonnes per year of electrolysis-based ammonia could be produced by the end of this decade, driven by a dramatic roll-out of renewable energy generation and installed electrolyzer capacity.

This week we explore three new partnerships for CCS-based ammonia production in the USA:

• CF Industries, ExxonMobil & EnLink Midstream, for decarbonisation of the Donaldsonville production plant in Louisiana.
• Air Liquide, Chevron, LyondellBasell, and Uniper for a new production facility on the Gulf Coast.
• And Tallgrass & Equinor for the potential production of hydrogen and ammonia across the USA, leveraging Tallgrass’ existing infrastructure network.

This week we explore three announcements on the US Gulf Coast:

• North American pipeline giant Enbridge will join forces with Humble Midstream to develop a low-carbon ammonia export project near Corpus Christi, Texas. The project will be built within the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center, currently the largest crude oil storage and export terminal in the US.
• Talos Energy, Chevron and Carbonvert will jointly develop the Bayou Bend CCS project in eastern Texas, where 275 million tonnes of carbon emissions could potentially be sequestered beneath the sea bed.
• And more details have emerged about CF Industries’ joint CCS ammonia project with Mitsui. The greenfield facility is expected to cost around $2 billion, and will produce between 1 - 1.4 million tonnes of ammonia per year.

LSB Industries’ existing El Dorado ammonia production plant will be retrofitted to allow capture and sequestration of CO₂ emissions as part of a new partnership with Lapis Energy. Once operational in 2025, more than 375,000 tonnes CCS ammonia will be produced per year - about 75% of El Dorado’s total ammonia production capacity. El Dorado becomes the third publicly announced CCS ammonia plant in the US, with CF Industries and Air Products announcing projects last year.

This week: Mitsui & Co., CF Industries team up to explore blue ammonia opportunities (and to link up US and Japan), CCS hydrogen in Pennsylvania, and the Infrastructure Bill.

Welcome to the Ammonia Wrap: a summary of all the latest announcements, news items and publications about ammonia energy. This week: green ammonia from Haldor Topsøe and Aquamarine, "Transhydrogen Alliance", Origin Energy signs deal with Korean steel maker POSCO, Japanese electric utilities move towards ammonia, new funding for CF Industries low-carbon fertiliser in the UK, Japanese partners to study Indonesian blue ammonia output and Namibia's national hydrogen & ammonia strategy.

What key challenges lie ahead as ammonia producers embark on the transition to low and zero-carbon ammonia? What are the big producers already doing to smooth and later accelerate this transition? On November 19, 2020, the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) hosted a panel discussion moderated by Steve Crolius from Carbon Neutral Consulting, as well as panel members Sammy van den Broeck from Yara, Ashraf Malik from CF Industries, and Trevor Williams from Nutrien as part of the recent Ammonia Energy Conference.