Denmark-headed Haldor Topsoe A/S, a global leader in high-performance catalysts and proprietary technologies for the chemical and refining industries, has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AQM Capital LLC (Aquamarine) with the purpose of building a green ammonia facility based on solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) electrolysis.
US-headed Aquamarine Investment Partners is a global institutional investor and manager of private capital that targets primarily equity investments in energy transition and decarbonization assets globally. Through its company HydrGEN, Aquamarine aims to establish a series of production facilities covering green hydrogen, green ammonia, jet fuels, diesel, and other products using hydrogen produced from the electrolysis of water from renewable power with zero carbon emissions.
A project planned in Germany
The company is developing a large-scale green ammonia facility in northern Germany and which is to be constructed in multiple stages. In the first stage of the project, the proposed facility will use Halsor Topsoe’s proprietary solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) to produce green hydrogen from 100 MW of renewable electricity.
The hydrogen will be further processed into 300 tonnes per day of green ammonia, also using Topsoe technology. The produced ammonia can be used as a green marine fuel or as fertilizer.
We are delighted to be working with Haldor Topsoe toward the commercial application of its cutting-edge SOEC technology to bring green products to market as part of the global move toward decarbonization. We expect to be soon announcing other partners who will be joining the effort, as we move forward to build HydrGEN into a global green hydrogen products leader, said Joel H. Moser, Founder and CEO at Aquamarine.
Aquamarine will develop the project and seek relevant permits for the project, which will be located in northern Germany close to existing offshore wind farms, where the product can be sold to the marine shipping industry.
We look forward to our partnership with Aquamarine on our SOEC and ammonia technology. Driven by our vision to be recognized as the global leader in carbon reduction emission technologies by 2024, we are excited by our low-carbon solutions and attractiveness for our customers. This project is innovative in both its use of cutting-edge technology and its scale and will lead the way, said Amy Hebert, CEO of Haldor Topsoe.
Significant green Power-to-X player
As a company that can deliver insights, technology, and catalysts along the entire value chain for next-generation fuels and chemicals, Haldor Topsoe is already engaged in several projects to produce green hydrogen, green ammonia, eMethanol, and other green fuels.
An example is the Helios project in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, announced in July 2020, which includes the world’s largest ammonia loop – 1.2 million tonnes per year – delivered by the company.
Recently, it announced that it is planning to invest an undisclosed amount into a new manufacturing facility to produce SOECs). The planned facility will initially have a total capacity of 500 MW per year with the option to expand to up to 5 GW annually.
