The Future is Bright for Ammonia

Ammonia is used mostly for agricultural fertilizers but is also used for a wide range of industrial applications including refrigerants, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fibers, and dyes. Recently, many have begun to view it as the fuel of the future as part of efforts to transition to clean energy, especially in the shipping industry, bringing ammonia to people’s attention. While already experiencing shortages, such increasing demand is expected to drive the overall ammonia market to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2022 to 2030. Naturally, the first step to securing sufficient ammonia production is the construction of safe and efficient ammonia plants. It is a complex process that requires specialized equipment and a controlled environment, but DL E&C has a proven track record with its experience in consecutively building two of the world’s largest capacity ammonia plants in Saudi Arabia.

Ma’aden Ammonia-2 Project

In 2013, DL E&C was awarded a contract from the Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden) to construct a 1.1 million TPA (tonne per annum) capacity ammonia plant as part of its multi-billion dollar Waad Al-Shimal phosphate project. The plant using natural gas as feedstock is situated at Ras Al-Khair, 80km north of Jubail in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and is part of the Kingdom’s plan to build an industrial complex for mining and petrochemical plants.

The project was especially meaningful as Saudi is the largest market in the world for plant constructions and is known for requiring strict process management and qualifications. Moreover, there are very few construction firms capable of building ammonia plants due to the requirement of adopting the USDPC (Uhde Standard Dual Pressure Process Concept) technology, which is suitable for ammonia projects that involve high pressure and high temperature processes. DL E&C met all these requirements and successfully completed construction of the ammonia plant with the largest capacity in the world at 3,300 TPD (tonne per day).

Therefore, this reference itself proves the company’s reputation in terms of technical competitiveness and has served as the foundation for DL E&C to strengthen its foothold in both the Saudi market, as well as the global plant construction market.

Building on Success (Ma’aden Ammonia-3 Project)

In fact, based on the success of the project, Ma’aden awarded another engineering procurement and construction contract to DL E&C and its subsidiary DL Saudi Arabia in 2018 to construct its third ammonia plant. Being a lump-sum turnkey project, DL E&C was in charge of all aspects from design and procurement to construction and test runs. The newly added ammonia plant also has a capacity of 3,300 TPD.

In September 2020, DL E&C also successfully installed a carbon dioxide removal facility at the ammonia production plant. A special a-MDEA solution from BASF that absorbs carbon dioxide contained in hydrogen was used while HP/LP Flash Vessels were installed to remove CO2 absorbed in the a-MDEA using the flash effect by pressure difference. Carbon dioxide generated in the process of decomposing natural gas, the key ingredient of ammonia, must be removed as it interferes with ammonia synthesis.

Blue Ammonia and CCUS

As the global community strives to achieve decarbonization goals, many are turning to ammonia as their solution. For example, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Canada, just to name a few, are carrying out plans to build ammonia production plants or are providing incentives for use of ammonia as ammonia itself is a carbon free fuel when combusted which makes it an attractive alternative fuel, not to mention having benefits such as high storage density and a relatively high liquefaction point which makes transport easy and safe.

The previous projects mentioned were for gray ammonia produced with natural gas, but DL E&C also specializes in CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) technology which is key for producing blue ammonia. Blue ammonia is a low carbon ammonia produced conventionally using gas as feedstock, but where most carbons produced in the process are captured and sequestrated. It is under the limelight as an ecofriendly next-generation fuel, and DL E&C boasts experience in commercializing the first carbon capturing plant in Korea, as well as designing a plant that can capture up to 1 million tonnes of carbon a year, which is the largest scale in the world.

DL E&C also plans to propel decarbonization energy source development in connection with the ammonia value chain as the company plans to seek new energy technology development to realize carbon neutrality by connecting its businesses in building ammonia plants, SMR, and green hydrogen.

?

#DLENC?#ammonia #ammoniaplants #NH3 #fertilizer #futurefuel #MaAden #SaudiArabia #civilengineering #engineering #construction #technology