Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) and Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. on March 31 announced the signing of a letter of intent to jointly develop and construct a world scale, low-carbon blue ammonia production facility as equal partners.
The proposed plant, which includes autothermal reforming with carbon capture, will be located at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC) near Corpus Christi, Texas. Once operational, the production facility will be capable of supplying low-carbon ammonia at an expected capacity of 1.2-1.4 million mt/y. Yara expects to contract full offtake from the proposed facility, the two companies said in a joint statement.
“Yara is pleased to be joining Enbridge in developing this significant clean ammonia project,” said Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, YCA President. “As presented at our Capital Markets Day, we are working systematically to develop project opportunities in the US and this project will significantly contribute to our strategy of decarbonizing agriculture as well as serving new clean ammonia segments such as shipping fuel, power production, and ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.”
If confirmed through the Front-end Engineering Design (FEED) phase and approved, the companies expect the total project investment to be $2.6-$2.9 billion, with production start-up in 2027/2028. The two companies stressed that the construction of any facilities will be subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
Approximately 95% of the CO2 generated from the production process is anticipated to be captured and transported to nearby permanent geologic storage. Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline is expected to provide the transportation service for feed gas that will be used for the production process, and Enbridge, along with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, is advancing a nearby CO2 sequestration hub as a potential destination for the captured CO2.
“We are excited to partner with Yara and collaborate on this clean energy project, especially given their expertise in global ammonia projects, operations, and distribution,” said Colin Gruending, Enbridge Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines. “EIEC is well positioned to become the most sustainable export terminal in North America through low-carbon fuel production, carbon capture, and solar self-power.”
This is the second blue ammonia project that YCA has announced in the US this year. In January, the company inked a Memorandum of Understanding with JERA Co. Inc., Japan’s largest power generator, to study the viability of collaborating on a 1 million plus mt/y blue ammonia project that YCA is considering developing on the Gulf Coast (GM Jan. 20, p. 1).
In May last year, Enbridge and Denver-based Humble Midstream LLC announced the joint development and marketing of a blue hydrogen and ammonia production and export facility at the EIEC (GM May 13, 2022). If built, the companies said at the time that the facility would cost roughly $2.5-$3 billion and could come online as early as 2026, with Enbridge and Humble jointly marketing the capacity.