Topsoe’s ammonia technology will enable Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) – through its CI Energy Transition Fund – and Sustainable Fuels Group (SFG) to produce blue ammonia from a planned facility on the US Gulf Coast, expected to be operational in 2027.
The facility will use Topsoe’s SynCOR technology, capture and sequestration of the CO2 from the production, resulting in 90% (well-to-gate) emissions reduction compared to traditional ammonia production, abating 5m tons of CO2 emissions per year.
The project has commenced front-end engineering and will consist of two trains, each with a capacity of 4,000t/ day of ammonia production
Henrik Rasmussen, MD Americas, Topsoe, said: “Supporting CIP, which is one of the world’s largest renewable energy investment funds, and SFG is obviously very exciting for us. This great project will result in blue ammonia that can be used for low-carbon fuels and chemicals to help meet global net zero targets.”
Søren Toftgaard, Partner in CIP, said: “We are developing a global portfolio of clean hydrogen and hydrogen-related products, such as clean ammonia. Blue ammonia is considered an important part of a successful energy transition, which can potentially help fill the ammonia shortage in Europe as well as being a steppingstone to the successful implementation of green projects, and we are excited to bring this project to the Gulf Coast region.”
Ramesh Raman, CEO Sustainable Fuels Group, said: “We selected Topsoe after a review of its superior technology. Topsoe’s SynCOR technology is a critical component in a plant design that will allow us to produce blue ammonia with 99% capture of the plant’s CO2 production and an industry-low well-to-gate CO2e footprint that is 90% below conventional grey ammonia. We look forward to serving traditional ammonia and fertiliser customers seeking to decarbonise their products as well as supporting a new industry of using blue and green ammonia as ultra-low-carbon liquid fuels and as an efficient medium to transport and deliver clean hydrogen.”
Blue ammonia is ammonia (NH3) that is produced from blue hydrogen. To produce blue hydrogen, natural gas and steam are reformed into two production streams of i) pure hydrogen (H2) and ii) pure CO2, with the CO2 stream captured and permanently sequestered, compared to a conventional ‘grey’ hydrogen production process that vents its CO2 production into the atmosphere. Combining this blue hydrogen with nitrogen harvested from the air makes blue ammonia. Capturing and sequestering nearly 100% of the CO2 produced by the blue ammonia plant mitigates the environmental impacts of producing ammonia. The blue ammonia can then be used as a low-carbon fuel. Topsoe’s SynCOR technology is the company’s industrially proven proprietary steam reforming technology used to create hydrogen from high-temperature steam and a methane source, such as natural gas. SynCOR enhances the ability to scale hydrogen production to size, while significantly reducing capital and operating costs.
