Brazilian chemicals firm Unigel has installed three 20MW electrolysers, supplied by Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Nucera, for what it claims will be the first industrial-scale green hydrogen production facility in Brazil.

The first phase of the $120mn project will produce 10,000t/yr of hydrogen, with startup scheduled for 2023.

Unigel plans to use the hydrogen as feedstock for 60,000t/yr of green ammonia production, to be both sold to industrial offtakers and used within the company’s own value chain as a raw material for fertilisers and acrylics.

The company aims to scale up the project to 40,000t/yr of green hydrogen production capacity by 2025.

2023 – Planned startup for first phase of project

“Throughout our nearly 60-year history, we have always been attentive to technological innovations and have invested to meet industrial and agribusiness demands. With this project, Unigel takes the first step towards the decarbonisation of several sectors, contributing substantially to combatting climate change,” says Henri Slezynger, founder of Unigel and chairman of its board of directors.

“This project is the first of its kind in Brazil and reinforces the pioneering spirit of Unigel to produce green molecules on an industrial scale. As Brazil is one of the world-leading countries in terms of installed renewable energy, we are pleased to enter this partnership to make green hydrogen an affordable energy vector already today,” says Werner Ponikwar, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Nucera.

Brazil has a high share of renewables in its generation mix, with hydropower producing over 60pc of the country’s electricity. While the proportion of fossil fuels in the electricity mix has risen since the mid-1990s, other renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar are seeing rapid growth.

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Author: Polly Martin