South Korean firms eye US ammonia

Two South Korean companies, Lotte Chemical and SK, are linking with US partners to develop clean ammonia projects. Working with the fertilizer maker CF Industries, Lotte will assess a new ammonia project in the US that would make ammonia from natural gas but capture the emitted carbon dioxide and store it underground. Lotte would sell the ammonia in South Korea as a power generation and ship fuel. The firms are considering locating the plant at CF’s newly acquired Blue Point complex in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, where CF is also studying a clean ammonia complex with Mitsui & Co. SK is considering a similar offtake arrangement with ExxonMobil. In January, ExxonMobil started front-end engineering work on a hydrogen and ammonia facility at its Baytown, Texas, complex that would also use carbon capture and storage.