Large-scale ammonia cracking facility at Port of Rotterdam viable – Fluor Study

Port of Rotterdam explored hosting a centralised ammonia cracking facility that can produce up to 1 million mt/year of hydrogen from around 20,000 mt/day of imported ammonia.

PHOTO: Bird's eye view of Uniper's Maasvlakte site at the port of Rotterdam. Uniper

The study was conducted by US engineering company Fluor on behalf of Port of Rotterdam and 17 other cross-sector companies including oil and gas giants Aramco and Shell, German energy major Uniper and industrial gas specialist Linde Gas.

The feasibility study revealed that producing 1 million mt/year of hydrogen from imported ammonia will require multiple process trains. In contrast to having multiple facilities at different locations, a centralised ammonia cracking plant with offloading and storage facilities has “clear capital cost benefits,” according to the Fluor study.

Using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier

Ammonia cracking is a process where ammonia molecules are broken down into hydrogen and nitrogen molecules. It is typically done at temperatures of 850-950°C using a nickel catalyst, according to the Ammonia Energy Association.

The centralised project will enable Rotterdam to safely import large amounts of ammonia from multiple global locations, reducing transportation and storage costs.

The study analysed ammonia cracking technologies developed by seven companies, which include Denmark-based ammonia producer Haldor Topsoe, German engineering company Thyssenkrupp and Spanish green hydrogen tech start-up H2SITE.

By Konica Bhatt

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