Chemical firms explore blue ammonia production in US Gulf Coast

Norwegian chemical company Yara International and chemical giant BASF have partnered to jointly conduct a study to develop a blue ammonia facility in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.

PHOTO: An aerial view of BASF and Yara’s ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas. BASF

To meet "the growing global demand for low-carbon ammonia," the companies are assessing the feasibility of building a plant with a total capacity of 1.2 to 1.4 million mt/year of blue ammonia.

Blue ammonia is made through steam reforming of natural gas with carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

The companies intend to supply this blue ammonia “as shipping fuel, power production and ammonia as a hydrogen carrier,” Yara Clean Ammonia’s president Krogh Ankarstrand says.

Both companies intend to permanently store 95% of the CO2 that will be generated during the production process underground.

BASF’s “existing Verbund sites in the region with integrated material flows and advanced infrastructure would be ideally suited for the integration of a new world-scale ammonia facility that has the potential to significantly improve the carbon footprint of both our own operations and the various industries we serve,” BASF’s Monomers division president Dr Ramkumar Dhruva adds.

BASF and Yara anticipate completing the feasibility study of the ammonia production facility by the end of 2023.

Currently, the companies jointly operate an ammonia plant at BASF’s site in Freeport, Texas.

By Tuhin Roy

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