Green ammonia is coming to Louisiana.
CF Industries is implementing a green ammonia project at the company’s flagship Donaldsonville Nitrogen Complex, producing approximately 20,000 tons per year of green ammonia.
The company’s board of directors approved the move to install an electrolysis system at the south Louisiana facility to generate carbon-free hydrogen from water that will then be supplied to an existing plant to produce green ammonia. The cost of the initial project is expected to fit within the company’s annual capital expenditure budget, which has ranged from $400 million to $450 million per year.
The company, a global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, plans to support a global hydrogen and clean fuel economy, which is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, through the production of green and low-carbon ammonia.
Green hydrogen and ammonia are expected to be critical contributors to the world achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Industry experts project hydrogen will meet approximately 20% of the world’s energy need by 2050, up from less than 1% today. Ammonia, which is composed of three-parts hydrogen and one-part nitrogen, is a highly efficient transport and storage mechanism for hydrogen as well as a fuel in its own right.
“The world needs clean energy and hydrogen is a key to meeting this need. Low-carbon ammonia is the critical enabler for storage and transport of hydrogen and thus has a major role to play,” CF Industries Holdings President and CEO Tony Will said in making the announcement last week. “[The] commitment to decarbonize the world’s largest ammonia production network positions CF Industries at the forefront of clean hydrogen supply. Due to our unparalleled manufacturing and distribution network, our competitive advantage in producing low-carbon ammonia at scale is measured in terms of years and billions of dollars.”
As the world’s largest ammonia producer, CF Industries’ current asset base and technical expertise are well-situated to meet the anticipated demand for hydrogen and ammonia from green and low-carbon sources. The company’s approach will focus on green ammonia production, which refers to ammonia produced through a carbon-free process, and low-carbon ammonia, which relates to ammonia produced by conventional processes but with CO2 removed through carbon capture and sequestration and other certified carbon abatement projects.
“Our existing scale and commitment to produce green and low-carbon ammonia establishes CF Industries as the clear leader in providing clean fuels for a sustainable world, while also providing a growth platform to drive long-term shareholder value,” added Will.
Additionally, the company is developing CCS and other carbon abatement projects across its production facilities. The implementation of these projects will enable CF to produce low-carbon ammonia. The company estimates that over time it could produce approximately 3.5 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year, which represents about one-third of its annual ammonia production capacity, without affecting its current product mix.
