Air Products will lead construction of a USD 4.5 billion, 20 million cubic metres-per-day blue hydrogen & ammonia production plant in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Hydrocarbon feedstock will be used to produce hydrogen, with carbon emissions captured and permanently sequestered (the project will be the single largest instance of permanent sequestration in the world).
The Role of Low-Carbon Fuels in the Clean Energy Transitions of the Power Sector forecasts a significant role for low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia in decarbonising the power sector, and highlights the promising results of co-firing trials to date (both coal power plants and gas turbines). The report also outlines some key next steps to enable the widespread use of these low-carbon fuels.
In August, Robert Howarth and Mark Jacobson, respectively from Cornell and Stanford Universities, published “How green is blue hydrogen”, an examination of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of blue hydrogen, i.e., hydrogen from steam methane reforming with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). How valid were the assumptions behind the study, were the calculations correct and can a realistic case be argued for blue hydrogen going forward?
Mitsui & Co., Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and Wesfarmers will explore the feasibility of a blue ammonia production plant in Western Australia (WA). Emissions from hydrogen production will be stored in depleted gas fields in the Perth Basin (owned by Mitsui).
This week Horisont Energi, Equinor and Vår Energi entered into a new cooperation agreement for development of the Barents Blue facility, and also revealed the project is set to triple in size from 1 million tonnes per year blue ammonia to 3 million.
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.
As reported at Ammonia Energy in May, Abu Dhabi Ports and Helios Industry are developing the UAE's first renewable ammonia plant. The 200,000 tonnes per year, green ammonia facility in Abu Dhabi will be powered by a 800 MW solar farm, with Helios investing $1 billion in the plant's construction. The project has a new partner, with thyssenkrupp signing an agreement to perform a technical feasibility study on a plant based on thyssenkrupp's electrolysis technology.
Horisont Energi and the Port of Rotterdam announced a new MoU this week to set up a corridor for the transport of blue ammonia from northern Norway to Rotterdam. An FID for Horisont's 1-million-tonne-per-year Barents Blue project (the source of the blue ammonia) is due by the end of next year, with delivery to Rotterdam possible by 2025.