The Port Bonython and Pilbara Hubs are part of a wider strategy by the Australian government to set up multiple hubs around the country to promote renewable hydrogen & ammonia production in Australia. Based on a common-user infrastructure approach and equal federal-state funding, other locations set to benefit from this initiative include Kwinana, Gladstone, Townsville, Bell Bay and the Hunter.
The West Australian state government has allocated land to four organisations as it progresses development of the Pilbara Hydrogen Hub. Fortescue Future Industries, Yara, Hexagon and Perdaman have all been selected to participate, adding to the list of ammonia projects already underway in the region.
The WA state government, the Port of Rotterdam and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will embark on a trilateral export study. The study will help fast-track development of Oakajee Mid West ammonia export hub. The state government has also launched new guidelines for land-use for large-scale renewable hydrogen projects, and announced the creation of three entities to help projects move through the approvals process.
FFI is among six organisations to be allocated land in the Oakajee Strategic Industrial Area, about four hundred kilometers north of Western Australia’s capital city Perth. Oakajee SIA is adjacent to huge solar & wind generating potential, and is envisioned to become a renewable hydrogen-based industrial precinct & export hub.
APA Group and Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers (WesCEF) have signed a new MoU to investigate the potential of feeding renewable hydrogen to existing ammonia production facilities in Kwinana, near Perth. Sections of APA’s existing Parmelia Gas Pipeline are being assessed for conversion to carry 100% hydrogen. If successful, the pipeline could become a “pure renewable hydrogen service”. In Kwinana, plans are already underway for multiple newbuild hydrogen & ammonia projects.
There were two new funding announcements last week concerning Yara’s YURI renewable ammonia project, to be built next to their Pilbara fertiliser plant in Western Australia. The Pilbara ammonia plant is an ideal demonstration site for green hydrogen and green ammonia at an industrial scale. This export-oriented plant has an annual capacity of 850,000 tons per year of ammonia, representing about 5% of the world’s merchant ammonia supply, and while the current site uses natural gas as fuel and feedstock it is situated adjacent to rich solar and wind energy resources. These announcements show that interest in YURI is strong from Australian local, state, and federal governments, with more funding opportunities in the pipeline.
Fortescue recently announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hyundai Motor Company and CSIRO for the “development and future commercialisation” of its metal membrane technology. This technology, which produces high-purity compressed hydrogen from liquid ammonia, was demonstrated in 2018. It enables PEM fuel cell vehicles to refuel using hydrogen that is generated on demand from ammonia. At scale, this technology could enable an ammonia-based hydrogen production, storage, and distribution infrastructure, lowering the barriers to implementation of a national network of hydrogen filling stations. Now, “Hyundai will seek to demonstrate the viability of the technology for renewable hydrogen production and vehicle fuelling in Korea.”
This week, Yara announced major progress toward producing "green ammonia" at its plant in Pilbara, Australia. Its new partner in this project is ENGIE, the global energy and services group, which last year made a major commitment to developing large-scale renewable hydrogen projects. I first reported Yara's plans for a solar ammonia demonstration at its Pilbara plant in September 2017. This week's announcement means that the Pilbara project has moved to the next feasibility phase. However, major elements of the project have already been designed and built: during last year's scheduled turnaround for plant maintenance, the hydrogen piping tie-in was completed - meaning that the Haber-Bosch unit is ready to receive hydrogen directly, as soon as an electrolyzer has been built to supply it with renewable feedstock.