The SK Group-backed climate technology company 8 Rivers Capital LLC’s $1 billion Cormorant Clean Energy Project in Port Arthur, Texas, is expected to produce 880,000 mt/y of low carbon, blue ammonia, according to Bloomberg. Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas, was awarded a contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED) and procurement services for the project last fall (GM Oct. 13, 2023).
The plant will use proprietary oxy combustion technology, which 8 Rivers said captures CO2, eliminates emissions, and lowers production costs. It is expected to break ground in 2025 with commercial operation beginning in late 2027, according to Chief Operating Officer Steve Milward.
Ammonia produced from the plant will be sold at auction in South Korea, which has prioritized the fuel as a feedstock for coal-fired power plants, Milward said. Adding ammonia to coal in the production process, or “co-firing,” is part of the country’s decarbonization strategy. “There is going to be a very large demand for ammonia, I would say multimillion tons over the next decade into Korea,” Milward said in an interview with Bloomberg.
The emissions reduction benefit of this process has been challenged by some scientists, partly because burning ammonia can produce nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. In addition, low-carbon ammonia is expensive to combust, according to Adithya Bhashyam, an associate on BloombergNEF’s hydrogen team.
“While it’s something that has received a lot of political support in Japan and Korea, in particular, and some other Southeast Asian countries, we think the economics are really challenging,” Bhashyam said.