In this Technology Insights article, we explore the different technology options for low-emission ammonia production from gas feedstock. What are the different energy, carbon capture, scale and maturity trade-offs that need to be considered? What technology choices are project developers currently making?
ADNOC will acquire a 35% equity stake in the Baytown mega-project, which is targeting the production of 900,000 tons of CCS-based hydrogen per year. Mitsubishi and project lead Exxon will continue negotiations towards a formal offtake and equity agreement.
OCI will deliver a fully-staffed, fully-operational ammonia production facility in Beaumont, Texas to Woodside later this year. The greenfield, 1.1 million ton per year facility will be supplied with CCS hydrogen feedstock from Linde starting in 2026.
CF Industries and ExxonMobil will move forward with a carbon capture and sequestration project at CF’s Yazoo City production complex in Mississippi, USA. The new, $100 million project will begin operations in 2028.
KBR will provide its licensed ammonia synthesis loop technology for a new million ton-per-year ammonia plant in Duqm, Oman. Shell will produce CCS-based hydrogen feedstock at its adjacent Blue Horizons plant, a project launched last year with support from Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
Decarbonization of existing steam methane reforming-based ammonia plants is possible, and changes in gas and heat flows can be recovered via alternative technologies. Recap our workshop in Atlanta, where we discussed the use of upstream methane monitoring equipment, electrolysers, carbon capture, hydrogen burners, energy storage and electric heating to achieve decarbonization of conventional ammonia plants.
Join Nutrien and Argonne National Laboratory to explore the landscape of low-carbon ammonia in North America. Our speakers explore projects under-development, LCA considerations and the technologies on offer to bring low-carbon ammonia to life.
Bakken Energy, Mitsubishi Power Americas and MHA Nation have signed a new MoU for the redevelopment of the Great Plains Synfuel Plant: an existing ammonia production facility (>400,000 tonnes per year) near Beulah, North Dakota. The $2 billion facility will be renamed the Great Plains Hydrogen Hub, and is expected to be operational by 2027, producing 348,000 tonnes per year of hydrogen via ATR and CCS.
A new, million-tonne per-year blue ammonia project is under development in the Northern Territory, Australia, with gas from the Pedirka Basin (located near Alice Springs) to be used to produce hydrogen, and carbon emissions sequestered in a nearby geological formation. An MoU between project developer Hexagon Energy Materials and FRV Australia will see FRV-owned renewable power (existing or new build) provide electricity to Hexagon's to-be-built hydrogen and ammonia production facilities.
In Wyoming, North Shore Energy and Starwood Energy Group have received over $4 million in funding from the Wyoming Energy Authority for "Project Phoenix" - a state-of-the-art ammonia complex with on-site carbon capture and sequestration capabilities to be built near Evanston.
A new MoU between Linde and KazMunyGas (KMG, Kazakhstan's national oil & gas organisation) will see the two explore the feasibility of large-scale clean hydrogen & ammonia projects in Kazakhstan. The initial focus will be hydrogen & ammonia production from either natural gas with carbon sequestration, or water electrolysis. Development and construction of projects will follow a successful feasibility phase.