Yara Taps Linde for Norwegian Green Hydrogen Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The world's leading fertiliser company, Yara International (Oslo, Norway), has selected Linde Engineering to build a 24-megawatt (MW) green hydrogen demonstration plant in Norway.

The plant will be located at the company's largest ammonia production facility at Herøya Industripark in Porsgrunn. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser will produce green hydrogen to partially replace the hydrocarbon-based hydrogen production in Yara's plant and represents the company's first step towards decarbonisation of the ammonia industry. The project is benefitting from a government grant of more than US$32 million from Enova SF, a funding body supporting the rollout of green hydrogen solutions for Norway's industrial sectors. Yara's fertiliser factory at Herøya is one of Norway's largest sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions outside the oil and gas industry, releasing 800,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. The hydrogen currently used is produced using liquefied fossil gas. Last March, Yara created the Hegra initiative at Porsgrunn with partners Statkraft (Oslo) and Aker Horizons (Oslo) to build what it hopes will be Europe's first large-scale green ammonia project. The goal is to fully remove CO2 emissions from ammonia production in order to make emission-free fuel for shipping, carbon-free fertiliser and ammonia for industrial applications. For additional information, see March 23, 2021, article--Yara Backs Large-Scale Green Ammonia Project in Norway.

The PEM plant will have an annual capacity of about 10,000 kilograms per day of hydrogen, replacing ethane as raw material in production. This is approximately 5% of the plant's hydrogen needs. This will result in a reduction of 41,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, the same amount as emitted by roughly 16,000 cars. Electricity for the electrolyser will be supplied by renewable energy sources, and the hydrogen will allow for the production of 20,500 tonnes of ammonia per year which will be converted to between 60,000 and 80,000 tonnes of green fertiliser, roughly five times the annual production of food-grade wheat in Norway, according to Yara.

"The project aims to supply the first green ammonia products to the market as early as mid-2023, both as fossil-free fertilisers, as well as emissions-free shipping fuel," explained Magnus Ankarstrand, president of Yara Clean Ammonia. "Green ammonia is the key to reducing emissions from world food production and long-distance shipping. With this project, we move from intention to actions together with Linde Engineering and local contractors."

John van der Velden, senior vice president global sales and technology, Linde Engineering, added: "Given the growing demand from the fertiliser industry for green hydrogen, this plant is a step towards further upscaling and increasing the size of these projects worldwide."

The 24-MW PEM system will be supplied by ITM Power and is due for delivery in fourth-quarter 2022. Industrial Info is tracking Linde's first PEM project, currently under construction at its Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany and also based on a 24-MW PEM system from ITM Power.

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