Sustainability

Fertiglobe to supply renewable ammonia to Europe

By Pramod Kumar

July 12, 2024, 5:13 AM

Fertiglobe will ensure a secure supply of renewable hydrogen through the Egypt Green Hydrogen plant

Abu Dhabi-listed fertiliser maker Fertiglobe has won the first global bid to supply renewable ammonia to the European Union (EU) as the trade bloc ramps up decarbonisation efforts.

The company, a partnership between UAE oil giant Adnoc and Netherlands-based OCI, will supply 19,500 tonnes of renewable ammonia in 2027, with volumes potentially rising to 397,000 tonnes by 2033 at a contract price of €1,000 ($1,087) per tonne.

The bid was part of the EU’s pilot auction by H2Global, an initiative funded by Germany.

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Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of Fertiglobe, said the company will leverage the H2Global programme to produce sustainable ammonia economically and support critical decarbonisation technology.

The award is important as the company is set to make a final investment decision on the Egypt green hydrogen project by H1 2025, he added.

The German government has committed €4.43 billion to the H2Global programme to facilitate the expansion of cost-effective renewable hydrogen and derivative products.

The pilot auction, launched at the end of 2022, garnered interest from over 65 countries across five continents.

Fertiglobe will ensure a secure supply of renewable hydrogen for the contract’s duration through the Egypt Green Hydrogen plant, developed by a consortium of Fertiglobe, Scatec, Orascom Construction, The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

In 2023, Fertiglobe completed a shipment of the world’s first internationally recognised renewable ammonia, produced using renewable hydrogen from its pilot Egypt Green Hydrogen electrolyser.

This year, the company delivered the world’s first bulk shipment of CCS-enabled certified low-carbon ammonia to Japan’s Mitsui & Co. for clean power generation.

The UAE company is working on other low-carbon ammonia projects, including Taziz, a one million tonnes per annum low-carbon ammonia facility in Abu Dhabi.

The hydrogen rainbow

Green hydrogen is produced on a carbon-neutral basis through water electrolysis.
Turquoise hydrogen is created when natural gas is broken down into hydrogen and solid carbon with the help of methane pyrolysis.
Blue hydrogen is generated from the steam reduction of natural gas.
Grey hydrogen is obtained by steam reforming fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal.
Sometimes other colours are ascribed to hydrogen, based on how it is produced. For red, pink and violet hydrogen, the electrolysers are driven by nuclear power.
Yellow hydrogen is hydrogen produced from a mixture of renewable energies and fossil fuels.
White hydrogen is a waste product of other chemical processes, while the use of coal as a fuel produces brown hydrogen.