World’s first cargo of blue ammonia arrives in Japan for zero-carbon power generation

Richard Ewing

02-Oct-2020

LONDON (ICIS)–Aramco on Friday provided ICIS with fresh details of the world’s first ever cargo of blue ammonia, with the Saudi energy major confirming the environmentally friendly fertilizer is now in Japan,

Comprising just 40 tonnes – ammonia cargoes from the kingdom’s fertilizer giants SABIC and Ma’aden are usually 20,000-40,000 tonnes – the material was delivered in late September for zero-carbon power generation.

Aramco partnered up with the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) and SABIC for the ground-breaking development, with support from the Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI).

The oil and gas giant disclosed the material was produced at SABIC’s SAFCO facility in Jubail, and the equivalent amount of CO2 produced was captured at SABIC’s United plant in Jubail.

“Thirty tonnes of captured CO2 was used for methanol production at SABIC’s Ibn-Sina facility and another 20 tonnes of captured CO2 was transported by truck and injected into the existing CO2 pipeline for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) at Aramco’s Uthmaniyah CO2 EOR pilot,” Aramco told ICIS.

Asked about the production cost per tonne of the blue ammonia, Aramco said as “the pilot was done at a very small scale for demonstration purposes, the actual cost [….] would not be representative of the production cost at a commercial scale”.

The producer also disclosed “the main objective of this demonstration was tracking and metering the ammonia and associated CO2 along the supply chain for future certification in commercial applications”.

“Mitsubishi Corporation managed logistics of shipping the 40 tonnes of blue ammonia within a 22,000 tonne ammonia shipment,” Aramco added.

In last Sunday’s original announcement, the company highlighted how ammonia had been identified as a potential solution to rising demand for sustainable and affordable energy.

Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Aramco’s chief technology officer, said: “The use of hydrogen is expected to grow in the global energy system, and this world’s first demonstration represents an exciting opportunity for Aramco to showcase the potential of hydrocarbons as a reliable and affordable source of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia.”

Aramco’s flow diagram of its blue ammonia supply chain.

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