Clean energy technology company Monolith Materials, Lincoln, Neb., reports that it is planning a 275,000 mt/y carbon-free ammonia plant in Hallam, Neb. Monolith technology converts natural gas into carbon black and co-product hydrogen, with the latter expected to be used for ammonia production.
Monolith hopes to break ground in 2021 on Olive Creek 2, (OC2), a $1 billion complex, with completion expected in 2024. Ammonia production would be integrated with a new 180,000 mt/y carbon black production facility. Monolith expects to sell its ammonia into the Cornbelt, and told Green Markets that it is currently in discussions with area co-ops.
The company expects to use KBR, Houston, for its ammonia technology, and Kiewit Corp., Omaha, for its engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC).
“Since its inception, Monolith Materials has been committed to developing solutions that are environmentally transformative, technologically advanced, and financially viable,” said Rob Hanson, CEO of Monolith Materials, and the company’s co-founder. “Being able to produce one of the world’s most essential products in a way that is carbon-free is a significant step not only for our company, but for the industry and even society as a whole.”
Monolith is already producing carbon black and hydrogen at a smaller plant at Hallam. Ground was broken on Monolith’s first commercial scale carbon black (14,000 mt/y) plant (Olive Creek 1) in late 2016 at Hallam, and that facility is currently being commissioned. Carbon black, which is used in several industries, including batteries, plastics, ink, tires, and rubber, is in production and is expected to be shipped from the plant in the fourth quarter.
OC1’s hydrogen is currently being flared. Monolith said this is the first new carbon black plant to be built in the U.S. since the 1980s. OC1 was developed after Monolith, founded in 2012 in San Carlos, Calif., used a pilot plant to produce the product in Redwood City, Calif. While it still has offices in San Carlos, the company is now headquartered in Lincoln and has its Monolith Technical Center there, which includes a chemical laboratory, rubber compounding facility, and innovation center.
The Nebraska site was selected for three reasons: its proximity to natural gas; central shipping locations; and to be next to Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD) Sheldon Station. Hydrogen from OC1 was expected to be used by NPPD to replace an existing coal-fired boiler, with one fired by hydrogen. However, those plans were dropped in July as not financially feasible, according to the Lincoln Journal Star, leaving Monolith to find another market for its hydrogen.
Monolith estimates that current ammonia production practices account for approximately 1 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, or roughly the equivalent of the total emissions of the United Kingdom. The company said its carbon-free ammonia bonds Turquoise Hydrogen with nitrogen from the air using the Haber-Bosch process. Turquoise Hydrogen is derived using methane pyrolysis to split the methane molecules into carbon and hydrogen. The process generates no CO2. Monolith projects that it will create 3 mt of cleanly made carbon black for every 1 mt of hydrogen it produces. It said the new facility will run on 100 percent renewable electricity.
“This is great news for 21st-century agriculture, where we face the challenge of decarbonizing age-old processes at the same time as we must scale up production to keep pace with population growth,” said Trevor Brown, Executive Director, Ammonia Energy Association. “We need to deploy every available technology to accelerate this energy transition, and Monolith’s methane pyrolysis process has potential to deliver low-carbon ammonia in the right place at the right scale and at the right cost.”
Monolith is backed by Azimuth Capital Management, Cornell Capital LLC, and Warburg Pincus.