GIC & Hy24 will invest $115 million to accelerate the deployment of InterContinental Energy’s portfolio of ammonia mega-projects. In the USA, Electric Hydrogen has closed a $380 million Series C funding round, accelerating plans to build a gigafactory in Massachusetts and deliver its first PEM electrolysers in 2024.
KBR will integrate SolydEra’s solid oxide electrolysis technology into its proprietary K-GreeN® ammonia synthesis process thanks to a new MoU. K-GreeN® is the technology of choice for several significant ammonia mega-projects, including Avina Clean Hydrogen (Texas), and ACME Group (Oman).
OCI will offtake electrolytic hydrogen feedstock from New Fortress Energy’s ZeroParks facility from 2025, allowing for the production of 80,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia at its Beaumont plant in Texas. This “over-the-fence” feedstock approach will also be employed in the development of a new multi-million tonne per year, greenfield ammonia plant in Beaumont, with Linde to own & operate an adjacent, CCS-based hydrogen production plant.
“Green fertilizer” produced at Fertiberia’s Puertollano plant has been successfully used on barley & potato crops in Spain, paving the way for future supply chains. Both Heineken and PepsiCo are aiming to reduce agricultural emissions and intend to scale-up the use of green fertilizer, and Fertiberia is set to begin producing low-carbon fertilizer at its other Spanish production centres.
IHI Corporation will join the North Queensland Clean Energy Project, a consortium developing a GW-scale electrolysis, ammonia production and export facility in north Queensland, Australia. Project partners include Idemitsu Australia, CS Energy and Energy Estate.
Topsoe will supply its ammonia loop technology to the million tonne per year renewable ammonia project in Newfoundland. Crown lands application approval means that project developers World Energy GH2 have now secured full land capacity for both initial and potential expansion phases for the project.
Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolysis combines concepts from alkaline and PEM. Although AEM can potentially offer the best of both worlds compared to conventional technology, challenges such as oxygen sensitivity, stack scale-up and current density still need to be addressed. Germany-based Enapter is leading the commercialization of AEM systems, with other electrolyzer manufacturers now developing their own products.
The state government of Andhra Pradesh launched its new hydrogen and ammonia policy in June, including a production target of up to 2 million tonnes per year of renewable ammonia, plus a raft of incentives to attract project developers to the Indian state. The news comes as India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy sets the standard for “green” hydrogen produced in the country.
