Yara and BASF to work on low-carbon blue ammonia project in U.S.

Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA), a subsidiary of Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International, and BASF, a German-based chemical producer, are collaborating on a joint study to develop and construct a low-carbon blue ammonia production facility with carbon capture in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.

According to Yara, the companies are looking into the feasibility of a plant with a total capacity of 1.2 to 1.4 million tons p.a. to serve the growing global demand for low-carbon ammonia.

Approximately 95% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated from the production process is aimed to be captured and permanently stored in the ground, Yara said, noting that this would allow it to serve its customers with clean ammonia with a significantly reduced product carbon footprint. For BASF, the new plant would act as backward integration to serve the company’s demand for low-carbon ammonia, and would lower the carbon footprint of its ammonia-based products.

Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand, President of Yara Clean Ammonia, stated: “In line with Yara Clean Ammonia’s strategy, we are working systematically to develop asset-backed supply to decarbonize agriculture as well as serving new clean ammonia segments such as shipping fuel, power production and ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.”

Ramkumar Dhruva, President Monomers Division, BASF, commented: “Our existing Verbund sites in the region with integrated material flows and advanced infrastructure would be ideally suited for the integration of a new world-scale ammonia facility that has the potential to significantly improve the carbon footprint of both our own operations and the various industries we serve.”

To remind, Yara and BASF are long-standing collaboration partners and operating a joint world-scale ammonia plant at BASF’s site in Freeport, Texas.

As part of its journey to decarbonize agriculture and serve clean ammonia segments, Yara recently announced it will boost its clean ammonia operations by investing in blue ammonia capacity in the U.S.

It noted its ambition is to be the leading distributor across green, blue and grey ammonia, both for fertilizer production and for Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) customer segments such as shipping and energy.

• Yara to invest in blue ammonia capacity in U.S.
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