MOSCOW (MRC) -- US industrial gases major Air Products and two Saudi partners, ACWA Power and NEOM, are planning to develop a USD5bn green hydrogen-based ammonia production facility in northwest Saudi Arabia, said the company.
The joint venture project is the first partnership for NEOM with leading international and national partners in the renewable energy field and it will be a cornerstone for its strategy to become a major player in the global hydrogen market. It is based on proven, world-class technology and will include the innovative integration of over four gigawatts of renewable power from solar, wind and storage; production of 650 tons per day of hydrogen by electrolysis using thyssenkrupp technology; production of nitrogen by air separation using Air Products technology; and production of 1.2 million tons per year of green ammonia using Haldor Topsoe technology. The project is scheduled to be onstream in 2025.
Air Products will be the exclusive off-taker of the green ammonia and intends to transport it around the world to be dissociated to produce green hydrogen for the transportation market.
"Harnessing the unique profile of NEOM’s sun and wind to convert water to hydrogen, this project will yield a totally clean source of energy on a massive scale and will save the world over three million tonnes of CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions annually and eliminate smog-forming emissions and other pollutants from the equivalent of over 700,000 cars," said Seifi Ghasemi, CEO of Air Products.
The announcement came after Air Products and Germany-based chemical engineer thyssenkrupp on Monday signed an agreement to develop plants that will produce hydrogen by water electrolysis.
In May, Air Products agreed to collaborate with Danish chemical technologies firm Haldor Topsoe on large-scale ammonia, methanol and/or dimethyl ether (DME) projects.
In January 2020, Air Products announced another addition to the pipeline is coming with an SMR to be built in Texas City, Texas. When the Texas City facility is added to the GCP system, customers will be reliably served by over 1.7 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 24 connected production facilities.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC