On Thursday, Qatar’s state-owned energy company announced a new blue ammonia energy project.
QatarEnergy affiliates have agreed to develop the approximately $ 1 billion Ammonia-7 project. The facility will be able to capture and sequester 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, deliver 35 megawatts of renewable electricity via solar panels, and market the product as blue ammonia, the Qatari news agency reported.
What is blue ammonia? Blue ammonia is derived from hydrocarbons such as crude oil. The key criterion is that carbon dioxide emitted during ammonia formation is captured and stored, rather than being released into the atmosphere, according to the Texas-based tech company. KBR.
Because matter: Blue ammonia has the potential to be less harmful to the environment due to carbon capture. However, the process itself typically only removes 90% of the carbon dioxide, according to the International Energy Agency. Blue ammonia also requires a relatively large amount of carbon to be produced, according to the United States Department of Energy.
Learn more: QatarEnergy announcement follows other oil and gas rich Gulf countries experimenting with blue ammonia and related energy projects. In June, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) sent a type of blue ammonia to Japan. The following July, ADNOC signed a partnership with France’s TotalEnergies to work on carbon capture.
This week, the Saudi power company Alfanar signed an agreement to develop a green ammonia plant in Egypt. Green ammonia is produced using renewable energy.
The Omani startup 44.01 launched a blue ammonia project in March.
