Fertiliser giant, Yara, has confirmed that it is building a green hydrogen plant as part of its plan to launch a fossil-free fertiliser by the middle of next year.
The company has signed a contract with Linde Engineering to construct a demonstration plant at the Yara production facility in Porsgrunn, Norway.
The project has been made possible as a result of a €28.3 million grant from the Norwegian government agency, Enova.
Yara said that the aim of the project is to show that ammonia produced using renewable energy “can reduce the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) in fertiliser production”.
The company is also going to work with local suppliers which it said “will contribute to creating new jobs and build valuable competence and experience for the green transition locally”.
The new plant will have an annual capacity of around 10,000 kg/day of hydrogen.
By replacing ethane as the raw material during production, Yara explained that 41,000t of CO2 emissions would be offset. That is the equivalent emissions of 16,000 passenger vehicles.
The process will involve water electrolysis to produce the green hydrogen using proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology.
President of Yara Clean Ammonia, Magnus Ankarstrand, outlined that the project will be Yara’s first step towards the decarbonisation of the ammonia industry.
“The project aims to supply the first green ammonia products to the market as early as mid-2023, both as fossil-free fertilisers, as well as emissions-free shipping fuel.
“Green ammonia is the key to reducing emissions from world food production and long-distance shipping,” Ankarstrand added.
Yara has estimated that 20,500t of ammonia will be produced annually, which can be converted to between 60,000 and 80,000t of green fertiliser.