Topsoe secures 4 major low-carbon technology deals in a week

Topsoe, a global leader in carbon emission reduction technologies, announced the signing of four major low-carbon energy-technology deals between late November and early December.

Green ammonia

On Nov. 26, Topsoe said it has signed an agreement with developer Hygenco to provide its dynamic ammonia technology for Hygenco’s upcoming green-ammonia plant in Gopalpur, Odisha, India.

Hygenco will utilize Topsoe’s advanced, dynamic green-ammonia technology, allowing for flexible and efficient operations while optimizing overall performance.

This technology will support Hygenco’s ambition of exporting green ammonia to European markets, aligning with the EU’s renewable fuels of nonbiological origin (RFNBO) regulations.

Ammonia—either in the form of low-carbon ammonia or as an eFuel—is expected to play a critical role in the journey towards net zero.

It can be transported using existing infrastructure and it has multiple end-uses, not only as a fuel or hydrogen carrier but also to help decarbonize industrial processes like steel and cement production.

Hygenco’s plant is Phase 1 of a three-phase project at Tata Steel’s Special Economic Zone Industrial Park in Gopalpur, Odisha, India.

Phase 1 of the green-ammonia project will have an installed capacity of 750 tons per day.

The plant is expected to be operational by 2027.

Topsoe’s dynamic ammonia technology, DynAMMO™, adapts the production output of green ammonia in response to fluctuating supply of renewable electricity.

The dynamic ammonia process plant will enable:

• Ramping up or down of the ammonia production bidirectionally at a rate of at least 3 percent per minute in response to the fluctuating supply of hydrogen to the ammonia plant.

• Significant reduction in capital and operational expenditures since hydrogen-storage systems can be reduced substantially, or otherwise eliminated.

• Renewable electricity to be stored in a zero-carbon chemical.

Topsoe said green ammonia has the ideal characteristics to enable net zero because it can function as a green fuel, an energy carrier and green fertilizer.

“We are excited to leverage the cutting-edge technology of a global leader like Topsoe to scale up green-ammonia production effectively,” said Amit Bansal, the co-founder and CEO of Hygenco.

Low-carbon hydrogen

On Nov. 27, Topsoe announced it has signed a joint-development agreement with Aramco to produce low-carbon (blue) hydrogen using Topsoe’s eREACT™ technology at the Shaybah Natural Gas Liquids recovery plant in Saudi Arabia.

The heart of the eREACT™ technology is an innovative electrified reactor design, which can convert a variety of feedstocks into low-carbon hydrogen or other chemicals and fuels.

With the eREACT™ technology, Topsoe said it is possible to develop new production routes combining renewable electricity and natural gas while greatly reducing flue-gas emissions.

Due to its versatility, the technology has the potential to play an important role in the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

Once successfully deployed, the eREACT™ technology is intended to replace fossil fuel used for heating the reformer with an electrified heating.

Efficiencies gained through the electrified heating has the potential of reducing the gas volumes needed for hydrogen production by up to 30 percent, as presently demonstrated at pilot scale, according to Topsoe.

The carbon-reducing potential of eREACT™ further increases if the process is combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

This collaboration will further demonstrate integration of Aramco’s innovative palladium-alloy membrane technology ensuring the production of low-carbon hydrogen with simultaneous CO2 capture.

“Aramco’s contribution is instrumental, as it brings its extensive resources, expertise and global reach to enable the commercialization of this technology,” Topsoe stated.

This strategic collaboration is expected to accelerate the adoption of this novel low-carbon hydrogen technology on a global scale.

According to Topsoe, the successful commercialization of eREACT™ technology will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the energy and chemical sectors.

Once operational, the plant’s 3-megawatt unit is expected to produce 6 tons of low-carbon hydrogen per day.

The agreement builds on the two companies’ initial collaboration announced in October 2023 to demonstrate the scalability, efficiency and carbon-reduction potential of eREACT™.

“With this joint-development agreement, we are demonstrating the significant commercial viability of our eREACT™ technology and its benefits to low-carbon hydrogen production,” said Elena Scaltritti, the chief commercial officer at Topsoe. “This technology holds a significant potential as part of the low-carbon hydrogen economy, and we are excited to deliver on the project in due course.”

eMethanol

On Dec. 4, Topsoe said it has been selected as a technology provider and engineering partner for Forestal del Atlántico’s Triskelion project in Galicia, Spain.

The Triskelion project will produce 40,000 tons of eMethanol annually while capturing and using around 56,000 tons of CO2.

The eMethanol is intended for applications in the shipping and chemicals industries.

When the project is in full operation, it is expected to help avoid the annual emission of 860,000 tons of CO2e, which is the equivalent of the emissions from 200,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for a year.

The project, owned by the Spanish shipping and chemicals company Forestal del Atlántico, was a recipient of a 49-million-euro (USD$51.6 million) grant from the EU Innovation Fund in 2023.

Topsoe will provide its eMethanol reactor and catalyst technologies as well as engineering support to Triskelion.

The eMethanol produced is initially intended for bunkering, transportation and applications in the chemicals industries.

Final-investment decision (FID) for the project is expected in June and first operation is planned for 2028.

 “eMethanol will act as a key driver in decarbonizing the energy-intensive sectors and may be one of the leading eFuels used in reducing carbon emissions in industries such as international shipping,” said Kim Hedegaard, Topsoe’s Power-to-X CEO.

Andrés Fuentes, CEO at Forestal del Atlántico, added, “For Forestal del Atlántico it is very important to have leading technology suppliers for the development of a project as innovative as Triskelion, and Topsoe is a guarantee of the highest level to successfully develop and decarbonize our company—after more than 30 years using methanol of fossil origin for our production processes as well as distributing it in the market. This agreement makes that goal much closer.”

eSAF

Also on Dec. 4, Topsoe announced that it and Sasol have been selected to provide their G2L™ eFuels technology for the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production demonstration plant at the Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany.

Sasol and Topsoe will deliver their G2L™ gas-to-liquid eFuels technology, integrating Topsoe’s innovative eREACT™ technology and hydroprocessing technology with Sasol’s LTFT™ (low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch) technology.

The G2L™ eFuels process is an end-to-end single-point licensing solution enabling the conversion of renewable feedstocks like captured CO2 and hydrogen to eFuels.

It combines and integrates technologies from Topsoe and Sasol to optimize hydrogen utilization, minimize carbon footprint, maximize yields and provide a reliable solution.

The demonstration plant will be part of DLR’s eFuels technology platform for power-to-liquid fuels based at the Leuna site.

The facility, which began construction Oct. 1, is expected to be the world’s largest research facility for production of eFuels and the first in which electricity-based fuels can be demonstrated and tested across the entire technology chain.

With 130 million euros (USD$137 million) of funding secured from the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), the plant will be the largest facility for production of eFuels for research.

The modular design of the plant allows different processes and technologies to be analyzed.

The facility aims to optimize production and properties of eFuels and further develop technologies for ramping to industrial scale.

Once commissioned in late 2027, the demo plant will produce 2,500 tons per year of eFuels, mainly eSAF, using renewable feedstock like biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen.

Griesemann Gruppe has been selected as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.