Fertiglobe completes its first renewable ammonia shipment from Egypt to India

Fertiglobe completes its first renewable ammonia shipment: Fertiglobe — a joint venture between Adnoc and OCI Global — has sent its first green ammonia shipment to India from Fertiglobe's green ammonia plant in Egypt, according to a statement(pdf). The company did not specify the value of the transaction. The green ammonia shipment was the world’s first to carry an ISCC Plus certification, Fertiglobe said.

The details: The shipment was delivered to India's Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited (TFL) who intends produce soda ash (sodium carbonate), the statement notes. Hindustan Unilever will use TFL's produced near-zero emissions synthetic soda ash to make laundry powder. Fertiglobe's pilot green ammonia plant intends to make enough ‘near-zero’ soda ash for about 6k tons of laundry powder, according to a Unilever statement.

Lots of CO2 saved: Conventional, carbon-intensive soda ash production has a greenhouse gas emission footprint amounting to 1.2 kg of carbon equivalent per each kg.

REFRESHER- Fertiglobe kicked off pilot operations in Egypt last year: The company began commissioning the first phase of their electrolyzer facility last November — in partnership with Scatec, Orascom Construction, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt — which will generate feedstock for renewable ammonia production at the company’s existing ammonia facilities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt. Earlier this year, Fertiglobe  reported on-spec production of renewable ammonia at its facilities, using green hydrogen from the electrolyzer, the company tells us, adding that the consortium is in the process of finalizing engineering and technology choices for the full-scale 100 MW plant and aims to reach a final investment decision on the facility in the coming months.

India has already imported tons of green ammonia from Egypt: As of last month, India has imported 37.4 tons of green ammonia from Egypt’s Damietta Port. India’s TFL — which is aiming to replace gray ammonia with green ammonia for soda ash production — is looking to source some 2k metric tons of green ammonia this year. Indian government-owned energy financier REC agreed to funnel USD 6 bn into green hydrogen and ammonia projects that same month.

Fertiglobe and other developers are eying more ammonia partnerships: Fertiglobe signed an MoU back in September with trade and logistics firm AD Ports Group to explore partnerships in storing and shipping urea and ammonia to Egypt’s ports. The UAE’s Amea Power also signed an agreement during COP27 with the Egyptian government to set up a 1 GW green hydrogen plant. The plant — for which the company completed feasibility studies back in October — is scheduled for operations by 2027 and will be used to produce 700k tons of green ammonia annually for export.

Fertiglobe is also progressing several sustainable ammonia projects in the UAE: The UAE company, alongside Adnoc-ADQ JV Ta’ziz, GS Energy, and Mitsui,  signed a shareholder agreement to construct a facility to produce some 1 mn tons of low-carbon ammonia annually in the UAE. The company is still awaiting a final investment decision on the project, and is also studying a green hydrogen project in the UAE, in collaboration with Masdar and Engie. Fertiglobe CEO Ahmed El Hoshy discussed these as well as the company’s other decarbonization initiatives and projects with us last year during COP27.