Projects

Advancing green ammonia production with Yara International

As one of the world’s largest ammonia producers for use in agriculture, Yara International, alongside ENGIE, is examining the potential to make renewable hydrogen technology work in industrial scale facilities.

Key information

Client Yara International

Location Australia

Project type Energy and natural resources

Services Controls and performance

Project timeline 2019 - 2023

Yara International fertiliser plant and tanks at dusk, Western Australia

Contact

Jesse Carolin-Unkovich

Associate Director

Exploring feasibility in green ammonia

Mineral fertilisers are essential for growing crops and feeding the global population, yet their production relies on fossil fuels to generate the required energy, resulting in carbon dioxide emissions.

Green ammonia is a new type of industry that will produce hydrogen and ammonia with renewable energy, and support transition to a low-carbon society. Yara is currently running production pilots using renewable energy, including YURI, which aims to begin decarbonising the mining and ammonia production sectors in Western Australia, as well as establish a new industry value chain.

By harvesting the abundant renewable power in Western Australia, Project YURI will make renewable hydrogen as feedstock for renewable ammonia and ammonium nitrate for domestic use and for export. The facility will be one of the world’s first industrial-scale renewable hydrogen production operations.

Project story

Optimising investment in technology

The Project YURI plan consists of a multi-phase roadmap which aims to deliver a commercially viable technology and route to market. We worked with the Yara engineering team, providing project controls and estimating support.

Our approach to project controls has enabled the pilot project to identify and implement mitigation strategies as the project navigates the challenges of bringing ground-breaking, innovative technologies to market.

Stepping stone for hydrogen

Hydrogen can also be used to store and transport carbon-free energy for power plants, industrial furnaces and as fuel for mobility, effectively reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. One of the key elements of promoting the transport of hydrogen using NH3 as the vector is the advantage NH3 has in terms of energy density.

It therefore has huge potential as a potential energy export for Australia. Green ammonia is key to this process as it provides the opportunity to safely store and transport hydrogen by transforming it into a liquid or salt.