Norwegian fertilizer and chemicals company Yara is collaborating with Nel, a compatriot firm focused on producing hydrogen from renewable sources.

Under the agreement, Yara will test Nel’s newly developed water electrolyzer technology at its fertilizer plant in Porsgrunn, Norway, with the aim of reducing the facility’s carbon footprint. The goal is to produce hydrogen from renewable resources to be fed into Yara’s ammonia plant, which will either be used in fertilizer production or as green ammonia.

“We have already removed about half of our direct GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions in the past few decades, and we’re working towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Producing fertilizer with carbon-free hydrogen will be a very important step towards that goal”, said Tove Andersen, Yara’s executive vice president, production.

An electrolyzer produces hydrogen from water using electricity. Yara said the technology, which is nearly 100 years old, was previously rendered uncompetitive by the low cost of fossil energy but could now provide a sustainable, energy effective and commercially viable solution. It plans to install in 2022 a prototype electrolyzer with a capacity of 5 MW, which corresponds to 1% of Porsgrunn’s hydrogen production.

Jon Sletten, Prosgrunn’s plant manager, commented: “Our ammonia plant will make the first small step towards carbon-free fertilizer production. When further developed, Yara Porsgrunn will be in a unique position also due to the low carbon footprint from our nitric acid plants.”

The project is supported by Norway’s Research Council, Innovation Norway and Enova through the Pilot-E program, a funding scheme that aims to speed up the development and implementation of green energy technology.

In separate news, Yara has reshuffled its management in preparation for a proposed initial public offering (ipo) of its industrial nitrogen business. The changes have gone into immediate effect.

Executive vice-president supply chain, Pablo Barrera Lopez, has also assumed responsibility for strategy & business development while Terje Tollefsen has taken up the new position of Newco ipo lead/senior vice president strategy & business development.

“These changes represent a natural step in our journey to become a focused crop nutrition company, and will strengthen our execution of the ongoing IPO evaluation,” said Svein Tore Holsether, Yara’s president and CEO.

As part of a crop nutrition-focused strategy, Yara announced in June that it was evaluating an ipo of its industrial nitrogen businesses, which would create the first integrated industrial nitrogen company. It expects to conclude a final ipo scope in early 2020.