US fertiliser firm CF Industries – together with other US and Japanese partners – has unveiled plans for a $4bn integrated blue ammonia and CCUS plant in Louisiana.
Under a joint venture, CF Industries will hold 40% ownership and Japan’s JERA 35% and Mitsui & Co a quarter. Engineering firm Technip Energies will work with technology company Topsoe in installing the low carbon (blue) SynCOR ATR ammonia plant technology.
The project will be built at CF Industries’ Blue Point Complex, an autothermal reforming ammonia production facility with a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at the site to prepare captured CO2 for transportation and sequestration.
The low-carbon ammonia production facility will have an annual capacity of approximately 1.4 million tonnes, with production slated to start in 2029, and is expected to capture, compress and dehydrate approximately 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
CF Industries will invest $550m in building and operating scalable infrastructure at the Blue Point site to supply the ammonia production facility with services, including product storage and loading, and will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the ammonia production facility.
Product offtake will be handled independently by the three companies according to their ownership percentage.
1PointFive, a CCUS company and subsidiary of Occidental, will transport and sequester the CO2 at its Pelican Sequestration Hub in Louisiana.
Tony Will, President and CEO, CF Industries Holdings, said, “Our joint venture represents tangible progress towards building a reliable and affordable low-carbon ammonia value chain to meet what we expect to be robust global demand for low-carbon ammonia.”
Yukio Kani, JERA Global CEO and Chair said collaboration and partnership are at the heart of JERA’s strategy on decarbonisation.
And despite all the uncertainty over tariffs, he said the US remains “a cornerstone market” for JERA.
“As we move forward, we will continue to accelerate the availability of low-carbon fuels and develop their supply chains, driving meaningful progress,” he said.
Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co, said the company would leverage its presence in the US gas value chain, from natural gas to chemicals, and track record in the global trading of ammonia.
The joint venture expects to qualify for tax credits under Section 45Q of the US Internal Revenue Code, which provides a tax credit per tonne of CO2 permanently sequestered.
