Clean Hydrogen Works is planning a $7.5 billion large-scale hydrogen-ammonia production and export facility in Louisiana, Kallanish reports.

The plant in Donaldsonville, in Ascension Parish, would produce 7.2 million tonnes of blue ammonia annually on a 1,700-acre tract on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Construction could begin in 2024 after a final investment decision is made, and the initial production could be seen in 2027.

The project would use carbon capture and carbon sequestration technology, capturing an estimated 12m t/year of carbon dioxide at a capture rate of up to 98%. Additional technologies could potentially result in zero-carbon or “even carbon negative hydrogen-ammonia production at the facility,” the company says.

Clean Hydrogen Works, a Texas-based start-up project development company founded in 2021 and focused on energy decarbonisation, is doing business as Ascension Clean Energy. It is partnering with Denbury Carbon Solutions, the largest carbon dioxide transporter, and Hafnia, a tanker fleet operator.

Denbury would transport the captured carbon dioxide through its existing pipeline network for deep underground storage. Hafnia would export the ammonia from the plant. The parties are working with the state of Louisiana to advance the project.

The state has offered an incentive package which includes access to a workforce development programme, potential industrial tax exemption and up to $7 million to reimburse dock infrastructure expenses, conditional on meeting payroll and river service infrastructure requirements.

The Louisiana plant, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in southeast Louisiana, is expected to employ 350 new direct jobs and create about 1,500 construction jobs.