Mitsui & Co., Tokyo, will sell fuel ammonia into Japan made by CF Industries Holdings Inc., Deerfield, Ill., beginning in 2024, according to a Bloomberg report citing Yomiuri, a Japanese newspaper. Mitsui would import up to 2 million mt/y produced from a CF Louisiana plant. The amount would make up the bulk of the Japanese government’s 3 million mt/y target for ammonia use by 2030.
CF expects to produce up to 2 million tons per year of blue and green ammonia at its existing facilities beginning in 2024. CF said in May that recognizing the growing demand for blue ammonia in Asia, that it and Mitsui were discussing a commercial expansion of their joint venture to leverage Mitsui’s considerable marketing and distribution capabilities into that market (GM May 6, p. 1). While the marketing of all of the 2 million tons by Mitsui has not been confirmed, the May statement indicated it may have been under consideration.
The two also announced in May that they intend to jointly develop a greenfield blue ammonia facility in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, with the project expected to begin production in 2027 at the earliest. Once the unit is in service and sequestration is initiated, the facility will be able to produce up to 1.7 million tons of blue ammonia per year.