23-02-2023

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Sustainable Fuels Group select SynCOR™ technology

Topsoe, a global leader in carbon emission reduction technologies, and CIP, the world’s largest fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments, have signed an agreement under which Topsoe will deliver its leading SynCOR™ technology to produce blue ammonia at the facility to be built on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Henrik Rasmussen, Managing Director, The Americas, Topsoe, said:
“Supporting CIP, which is one of the world’s largest renewable energy investment funds, and SFG is obviously very exciting for us. This great project will result in blue ammonia that can be used for low-carbon fuels and chemicals to help meet global net zero targets.”

Søren Toftgaard, Partner in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said:
“We are developing a global portfolio of clean hydrogen and hydrogen-related products, such as clean ammonia. Blue ammonia is considered an important part of a successful energy transition, which can potentially help fill the ammonia shortage in Europe as well as being a steppingstone to the successful implementation of green projects, and we are excited to bring this project to the Gulf Coast region.”

Ramesh Raman, CEO of Sustainable Fuels Group, said:
“We selected Topsoe after a review of its superior technology. Topsoe’s SynCOR™ technology is a critical component in a plant design that will allow us to produce blue ammonia with 99% capture of the plant’s CO2 production and an industry-low well-to-gate CO2e footprint that is 90% below conventional grey ammonia. We look forward to serving traditional ammonia and fertilizer customers seeking to decarbonize their products as well as supporting a new industry of using blue and green ammonia as ultra-low-carbon liquid fuels and as an efficient medium to transport and deliver clean hydrogen.”

Facts about blue ammonia and Topsoe’s SynCOR™ technology
Blue ammonia is ammonia (NH3) that is produced from blue hydrogen. To produce blue hydrogen, natural gas and steam are reformed into two production streams of i) pure hydrogen (H2) and ii) pure CO2, with the CO2 stream captured and permanently sequestered, compared to a conventional “grey” hydrogen production process that vents its CO2 production into the atmosphere. Combining this blue hydrogen with nitrogen harvested from the air makes blue ammonia.

Globally, the production of ammonia—the critical component in fertilizers—is responsible for approximately 1% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Capturing and sequestering nearly 100% of the CO2 produced by the blue ammonia plant profoundly mitigates the environmental impacts on the planet of producing ammonia. The blue ammonia can then be used as a low-carbon transportation fuel, fertilizer, power generation fuel, or for other heavy industry applications.

Topsoe’s SynCOR™ technology is the company’s industrially proven proprietary steam reforming technology used to create hydrogen from high-temperature steam and a methane source, such as natural gas.

Supported by 165 of safe operating years, SynCOR™ is the preferred technology for production decarbonized products over traditional SMR technologies, as it enhances the ability to scale hydrogen production to size, while significantly reducing capital and operating costs.