Yara International ASA is commissioning its green hydrogen/green ammonia production pilot project at Herøya Industripark in Porsgrunn, Norway, and has started to produce fertilizers using the green ammonia output, Yara executives told investors and analysts at a company earnings call on Feb. 9.
Yara previously indicated that Yara Clean Ammonia’s (YCA) 24 MW green hydrogen pilot will provide enough hydrogen to produce 20,500 mt/y of green ammonia at the pilot plant (GM Feb. 10, 2023; Jan. 28, 2022).
YCA CEO and Yara Executive Vice President Corporate Development Magnus Ankarstrand told investors and analysts that the ammonia output will equate to 45,000-70,000 mt/y of finished fertilizer, depending on grade.
“We have during the commissioning produced the first tons and are testing the facility now, and will be ramping up during the year,” he said, adding that the phasing of the capacity ramp-up will depend on how the commissioning goes.
Yara said it has also taken the Final Investment Decision (FID) for its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Sluiskil, in the Netherlands, and estimates the start-up will take place in 2026. It plans to capture some 800,000 mt of CO2 from the process gas from its ammonia production each year at the Sluiskil plant, which it said would be an approximate 60% capture rate of the company’s total ammonia production capability at Sluiskil.
Yare signed a binding commercial agreement last November with Northern Lights JV DA whereby the CO2 captured at Sluiskil will be liquefied and shipped by Northern Lights to permanent storage on the Norwegian continental shelf, 2.6 kilometers under the seabed (GM Nov. 22, 2023). The first tonnes of CO2 are expected to be shipped in 2025 and would be the world’s first cross-border CCS-agreement in operation.
Yara last week also confirmed that it is continuing to work towards taking the FIDs on its two US-based blue ammonia projects, most likely in the second half of 2025. In parallel with that, the company said it is planning for the funding of the projects.
YCA and Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. in March 2023 signed a letter of intent to jointly develop and construct a world scale, low-carbon blue ammonia production facility as equal partners at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC) near Corpus Christi, Texas (GM March 31, 2023). The plant would have an expected capacity of 1.2-1.4 million mt/y.
In late June, YCA and German chemicals giant BASF announced that they were collaborating on a joint study to develop and construct a world-scale, low-carbon blue ammonia production facility with carbon capture in the US Gulf Coast region (GM June 30, 2023).
YCA and BASF are looking into the feasibility of a plant with a total capacity of 1.2-1.4 million mt/y, with Yara expecting to contract full offtake from the proposed facility. Yara and BASF are long-standing collaboration partners, operating a joint ammonia plant at BASF’s site in Freeport, Texas.