Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) announced that its first shipment of low-carbon ammonia has left the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bound for Hamburg, Germany. This is the first ever cargo of low-carbon ammonia to be shipped to Germany.
The demonstration cargo will be delivered to Aurubis, a leading global provider of non-ferrous metals and one of the largest copper recyclers worldwide, that has its headquarters in Hamburg. On arrival in Germany, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), one of Europe’s leading logistics companies will handle the cargo.
Produced by Fertiglobe, a partnership between ADNOC and OCI, at its Fertil plant in Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais industrial complex, the demonstration cargo is the first of several test cargoes sold to customers in Germany as ADNOC expands its strategic energy partnership across the hydrogen value chain. The cargo follows a number of similar low-carbon ammonia sales that have been made to customers in Asia. Aurubis plans to utilize the low-carbon ammonia as a feedstock in its wire rod plant, testing its application as an additional, lower-carbon energy source for industial ulilization. The hydrogen it contains has the potential to be a low-carbon energy alternative for the energy-intensive processes in multi-metal production.
This is another important milestone in the planned scale-up of hydrogen and low-carbon ammonia production capabilities in Abu Dhabi, where ADNOC is developing a new world-scale 1 million tons per year low-carbon ammonia plant at TA’ZIZ, the chemicals, industrial services and logistics hub in the Ruwais Industrial Complex.
Building on its position as an early mover in the production of hydrogen, ADNOC plans to significantly grow its hydrogen production in support of the UAE’s ambition to supply up to 25% of imported hydrogen in key global markets. Germany’s national hydrogen strategy expects an import demand for clean hydrogen of approximately 3 million tons per annum (mtpa) by 2030 and up to 15 mtpa by 2050 when, according to research from the Hydrogen Council, hydrogen could meet up to 18% of the world’s energy demand.
Low-carbon ammonia is the most promising at-scale hydrogen carrier and potential clean fuel for a wide range of applications, including transportation, power generation and industrial, including steel, cement, and fertilizer production. It is made from nitrogen and clean hydrogen derived from natural gas feedstocks, with the carbon dioxide by-product from hydrogen production captured and stored.