Eighteen companies—including big oil firms Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP—have joined an initiative to study the feasibility of developing a large-scale ammonia cracker at the Port of Rotterdam.

The companies have commissioned US engineering company Fluor to study the possible deployment of a central cracker in the port area to convert imported ammonia back into 1mn t/yr of hydrogen.

“Europe will need large quantities of hydrogen to meet its climate targets, and a significant part of this can be imported through the Port of Rotterdam,” says Allard Castelein, CEO of port manager the Port of Rotterdam Authority.

1mn t/yr – Potential hydrogen output of cracker

“Ammonia is one of the most efficient ways to transport hydrogen, and if we realise one central ammonia cracker we can save time, space and resources to enable the import 1mn t of hydrogen per year.”

Other companies backing the initiative include industrial gases firms Air Liquide and Linde, and German energy firms Eon, Uniper and RWE.

The Rotterdam initiative comes as a lack of large-scale ammonia cracking technology threatens to constrain seaborne imports to Europe.

The EU’s RepowerEU target of 10mn t/yr of hydrogen imports by 2030 includes 4mn t/yr of ‘hydrogen as ammonia’—equivalent to 22.5mn t/yr of actual ammonia imports, or 30mn t/yr if reconversion losses are accounted for, according to Gas for Climate, an association of European gas grid operators.

Scaling up

Technology to crack ammonia back to hydrogen at a large scale is in its infancy. Trader Trafigura and US technology firm Amogy are jointly studying the feasibility of large-scale conversion of ammonia back to hydrogen to support the growth of global trade.

“At Trafigura, we recognise that hydrogen will need to be transported over long distances, from regions rich in renewable power to demand hubs. Ammonia is a cost-competitive carrier of hydrogen that will require cracking at destination to cater to different end uses,” said Margaux Moore, head of energy transition research at Trafigura, earlier this year.

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Author: Stuart Penson