POWER!!!! Fortescue Future Industries, page-490

Twiggy’s green ammonia ‘technically feasible’ at Incitec’s plant

Elouise Fowl

Dec 15, 2021 – 3.29pm

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries and fertiliser maker Incitec Pivot say it is “technically feasible” to retrofit Incitec’s ageing Queensland fertiliser plant to produce zero-emissions “green” ammonia, and thus pave the way for the pair to determine the commercial viability of the project.

Incitec Pivot’s Gibson Island plant, which converts gas into fertiliser products such as ammonia and urea, is slated to close in December 2022 because the company says it cannot secure an affordable gas supply.

Andrew Forrest’s new Fortescue Future Industries has zeroed in on green hydrogen and ammonia. Edwina Pickles

Despite the closure plan, Incitec said last month it would work with FFI on a study into the potential to repurpose Gibson Island to create “green” ammonia, a product that contains hydrogen but is easier to transport and store than pure hydrogen.

“While it was a difficult and reluctant decision [to close the plant], our partnership with FFI provides the potential for a renewable life for the plant,” Incitec Pivot managing director and chief executive Jeanne Johns said.

The plan is based on the idea that renewable energy would split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen then converted by the Gibson Island plant into green ammonia, which is a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. This removes gas as a feedstock, thus eliminating emissions from the fertiliser-making process.

The tie-up comes after Incitec Pivot revealed at its full-year results last month it expects green ammonia to reach price parity with fossil-fuelled ammonia by 2040.

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Ms Johns said the joint venture had “found it is technically feasible to manufacture green ammonia at an industrial scale at Gibson Island. As an existing brownfield site, this offers many advantages.

“The next step is to work towards a joint front end engineering design study which will verify the commercial feasibility of the project as a step towards a potential final investment decision.”

Australia’s first green ammonia production facility

The Gibson Island study is one of dozens Fortescue is conducting as it seeks to develop a clean energy business through FFI to sit beside its traditional iron ore export business.

Julie Shuttleworth, FFI’s chief executive, said the “collaboration with Incitec Pivot is an exciting opportunity to harness existing infrastructure at Gibson Island, fast-tracking the production of green ammonia at an industrial scale”.

“Pending further approvals, this project could be Australia’s first green ammonia production facility, demonstrating existing infrastructure can be retrofitted to utilise zero-emissions energy sources.” Ms Shuttleworth said.

Why Twiggy may need to separate Fortescue from his hydrogen express

FFI is best known for its plan to become a major producer and exporter of green hydrogen through the myriad clean energy project options the company has collected around the world.

But it also seeks to produce the components needed for clean energy generation, such as electrolysers, and is trialling new equipment that can run on hydrogen and is conducting laboratory tests on ways to use hydrogen or renewables to make higher quality iron products.

Mr Forrest, the Fortescue Metals chairman, said last month Incitec Pivot’s plans to shut the Gibson Island fertiliser plant were a microcosm of what will happen to fossil fuel jobs in Australia if cleaner solutions can be found.

The closure would affect 170 manufacturing jobs at the Queensland facility if it goes ahead.

Elouise Fowl