Taipei-based Taiwan Fertilizer Company (TFC) plans to build two new ammonia storage facilities over the next several years to “meet the huge demand for ammonia as a low carbon alternative to fossil fuels.”
The company intends to build the new storage tanks at its Taichung plant, where the two existing storage facilities have a total capacity of 40,000 mt, according to a report by news outlet Focus Taiwan, citing recently appointed TFC President Chang-Lang Chang.
Chang-Lang said total annual ammonia shipments to the storage facilities could reach 120,000 mt “given a turnover ratio of three times per year,” adding that the ratio could be raised further to boost ammonia supply to the Taiwan market.
As the largest liquid ammonia supplier in Taiwan, TFC sees hydrogen development for the domestic clean energy market as a niche business. In cooperation with Saudi Arabian firm Al-Jubail Fertilizer Co., TFC will import ammonia from Saudi Arabia into Taiwan, according to the report.
Al-Jubail Fertilizer Co. is jointly owned by Riyadh-based SABIC Agri-Nutrients Co. Ltd. and SABIC Ltd., which in turn owns a 50.1% stake in SABIC Agri-Nutrients. SABIC Agri-Nutrients Co. in early June reported its first commercial shipment of low-carbon ammonia to TFC, comprising a cargo of 5,000 mt (GM June 9, p. 28).
TFC sees Taiwan Power Co. (TPC) as a potential customer for the ammonia as a raw material for TPC’s coal-fired power plants, to be co-fired with coal as a way of cutting carbon emissions.