The primary focus of the agreement will be the production and transportation of low-carbon ammonia and its application as a fuel in energy generation, including industrial-scale testing at  the Currenta-run chemical park in Dormagen. Currenta also manages chemical parks in Leverkusen and Krefeld-Uerdingen, both in North Rhine-Westphalia.

“Ammonia has the potential to play an important role in decarbonization — for example as a hydrogen carrier or as a fuel in heat generation. As a chemical park operator with large steam and heat generation plants, Currenta is observing very closely to see whether it succeeds in realizing this potential. An important factor here is the development of global supply chains for ammonia,” said the company’s CEO, Frank Hyldmer.

In May 2021, ADNOC announced plans for a 1 million t/y low-carbon ammonia production facility at the Ta'ziz chemicals hub in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The company has already shipped demonstration cargoes of low-carbon ammonia to customers in Asia and also to Germany as part of the UAE-Germany Energy Security and Industry Accelerator (ESIA) Agreement. 

In January this year, ADNOC also entered into a MoU with German engineering group thyssenkrupp to explore a long-term partnership to create new markets for hydrogen and promote clean energy value chains. Under that agreement, the partners will work together to develop large-scale ammonia cracking plants using thyssenkrupp technology, as well as look at opportunities to supply and ship clean ammonia from the US to large-scale cracking facilities worldwide.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist