
ADNOC has just sent “thousands of tonnes” of blue ammonia to Japan.
The shipment is intended for use in power generation, marking the first ever certified bulk commercial cargo of the low-carbon fuel.
ADNOC’s head of business development for blue hydrogen, Thomas Parsfield said, “It’s thousands of tonnes, it’s a full-on commercial cargo.
“It loaded in Abu Dhabi at our UAE ammonia production facility, delivered to Japan safely a few days ago,” Parsfield added.
He spoke about the milestone at the World Hydrogen Summit this week.
While ADNOC had previously sent test cargos of low-carbon ammonia to Japan in 2021, this giant shipment to partner Mitsui is the first of its scale to be certified as “low carbon” by certification body TÜV SÜD.
Previously, ADNOC had only sent tester loads of low-carbon ammonia — and that was way back in 2021. This giant shipment to partner company Mitsui is the first of this scale to be certified “low-carbon” by watchdog TUV SUD.
The shipment of ammonia was manufactured at Adnoc’s Fertil facility in the Ruwais industrial complex.
Low-carbon blue ammonia is made exclusively from natural gas feedstock(s). It is called “low-carbon”, because the CO2 that is produced in manufacturing is stored and sequestered. The ammonia can be used directly as a fuel source, or it can be used to produce blue hydrogen.
“This is a real milestone moment for the world’s first commercial-scale blue ammonia supply chain,” Parsfield stated. “We think we’re at the vanguard of the potential that low-carbon ammonia has to address hard-to-abate emissions from heavy industry.”
The UAE is leveraging its vast gas reserves and CCUS experience to position itself as a world leader in blue hydrogen and ammonia. ADNOC plans to produce 1 million tonnes per year of blue ammonia by 2025 for export globally.