The Western Australian Government has allocated land to Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) in the proposed Pilbara Hydrogen Hub in the Maitland Strategic Industrial Estate 24 kilometers (km) west of the town of Karratha and 39 km south of the port of Dampier on the Burrup Peninsula, Yara International ASA said in a May 24 statement.
YCA is developing the Project Yuri renewable hydrogen plant at parent company Yara International’s Yara Pilbara ammonia operations just 40 km away (GM Sept. 24, 2021).Through Project Yuri, Yara will inject the first green molecules into the Pilbara ammonia plant.
The company is also working closely with the Pilbara Ports Authority on assessing the potential uptake of ammonia bunkering (refueling) at the region’s ports, particularly for iron ore carriers operating to and from key Asian markets. Last July, the two parties signed a Collaboration Agreement to jointly facilitate the uptake of clean ammonia as a marine fuel in the Pilbara region in Western Australia (GM July 29, 2022).
YCA President Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand said the company would now enter detailed discussions with the relevant government agencies and traditional owners, and undertake preliminary studies on the land allocation and a potential clean ammonia production site.
Perdaman Holdings Pty Ltd., whose subsidiary Perdaman Fertilisers and Chemicals Pty Ltd. last month began construction of a 2.3 million mt/y granular urea plant some 20 km north of Karratha, announced last month that it also had been allocated land in the Maitland Strategic Industrial Estate by the Western Australian Government, where it plans to construct a 100MW solar power facility and associated transmission infrastructure (GM April 28, p. 1). The development is part of the company’s efforts to decarbonise its urea plant.