Europe
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Spanish government launches support scheme for hydrogen valleys
Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has outlined a new subsidy program to help establish valleys or clusters for renewable hydrogen production. €1.2 billion in direct capital investment assistance will be allocated across a minimum of three projects, with an auction process to launch later this year.
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bp takes FID on Castellón, to acquire key stake in Oman mega-project
In its quarterly earnings call last month, bp unveiled progress in a number of key renewable hydrogen and ammonia projects. To help decarbonise its existing refinery in Castellón, Spain, a bp and Iberdrola-led consortium has taken FID on the HyVal project. bp also revealed that it will take an equity share and act as operator for the HYPORT Duqm project: a GW-scale ammonia export project being developed in southern Oman.
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R&D recap: the Journal of Ammonia Energy
Ahead of the 3rd Symposium on Ammonia Energy in Shanghai next month, we take the opportunity to highlight select papers and key results from the first two editions, starting with the 2022 Cardiff event:
- In an ammonia-diesel blending study, Orleans University and WinGD found that minimising the diesel fraction actually led to increased N2O emissions.
- In a bid to produce an optimal ammonia-hydrogen fuel blend, a University of Birmingham team characterised the ammonia cracking mechanism of a new, transition metal-promoted lithium amide catalyst.
- A KAUST study of swirl intensity of an ammonia-methane blended fuel finds that increasing the swirl number leads to a more compact flame, reducing NOX emissions.
- A team from the University of Minnesota found that combustion durations comparable to gasoline were obtained for ammonia-hydrogen fuel blends.
- And, as part of a joint academic-industry session on safety, it was recommended that a careful, proactive approach is taken towards new ammonia users, likely exposure risk points and deploying maritime ammonia fuel.
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Yara to supply low-carbon fertilizer to PepsiCo in Europe
By 2030, Yara will supply 165,000 tons per year of “Yara Climate Choice fertilizers” to PepsiCo Europe for distribution to participating farmers. This volume will cover around 25% of PepsiCo’s fertilizer needs in Europe, focusing first on potato crops, and then moving into other key crops such as oats and corn.
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Stolthaven Terminals picked to operate ammonia export terminal in Brazil
Together with Global Energy Storage, Stolthaven Terminals has been selected as the preferred choice to plan, design, build and operate an ammonia terminal in Pecém, Brazil. The new terminal will facilitate exports from a number of ammonia production projects planned for the area.
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AB Achema: decarbonised fertiliser production in Lithuania
The European Commission has approved a €122 million Lithuanian state grant to support AB AChema to decarbonise fertiliser production at its existing facility in Kaunas. A 171 MW electrolysis plant will be installed, producing enough renewable hydrogen to displace 30% of the current, gas-based feedstock used at the site.
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Fertiglobe success in H2Global pilot auction marks milestone in renewable ammonia supply for EU
Fertiglobe has won the first H2Global pilot auction for renewable ammonia, promising to deliver 397,000 tons of renewable ammonia between 2027 and 2033. H2Global’s announcement comes at the end of a two year auction process. Following the H2Global announcement, Fertiglobe committed to a twenty-year offtake deal for renewable hydrogen feedstock from the Egypt Green Hydrogen project, demonstrating the investor certainty fostered by the auction.