Europe’s first large-scale clean ammonia plant

Barents Blue

Barents Blue will be a plant for large-scale production of clean ammonia, featuring a record-low carbon footprint. Good access to natural gas and renewable power is one of the things that gives Norway very good conditions for this type of industry.

Key facts

Location
Markoppneset, Finnmark, Norway

Future plans
Train 2 

Gas supply
Melkøya plant

Technology
Auto-thermal reforming(ATR)

End product
Clean ammonia

CO2 storage
Polaris, offshore Finnmark

Carbon capture rate
Above 99 % overall capture rate

Energy efficient
About 30 MMBtu of natural gas per ton clean ammonia

Ammonia from the Barents Blue plant will be produced with associated carbon capture and storage in Polaris. Clean, liquid ammonia is easy to transport in large quantities, and will, among other things, help cut large emissions in shipping. The estimated demand for pure ammonia in 2050 is 530 million tonnes.

The Barents Blue project has high ambitions for sustainability and the environment and will pioneer clean ammonia production. The overall goal is to be the most carbon-efficient clean ammonia plant globally.

The project will have large-scale value creation in the Northern region. Creating several hundred jobs directly to the facility and increased activity in the supplier marked, Barents Blue is an important project to facilitate the development of a low-carbon industry in Northern Norway.

The demand for low-carbon solutions and clean ammonia is increasing as the European market and the EU now are strengthening their efforts to develop value chains for both blue and green ammonia.

The Barents Blue project has received state aid to participate in Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) Hydrogen Program, also known as Hy2Use.

What is clean ammonia?

What is the difference between hydrogen and ammonia? What differs blue ammonia from green, and why will clean ammonia help cut large emissions in shipping when used as fuel?

We get that it’s complicated.

The most important thing to know is that Horisont Energi has an overall goal to have the most carbon-efficient clean ammonia plant globally. Read more here if you’re interested in learning more about clean ammonia.

← →

  • Clean ammonia

    Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3 Ammonia is a colorless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Ammonia is a liquid at -33°C and atmospheric pressure The production of ammonia from the elements hydrogen and nitrogen requires high pressures and high temperatures. The Haber process that enabled industrial production was invented at the beginning of the 20th century, revolutionizing agriculture and is fundamentally still the technology used to produce ammonia, also blue and green.

  • Is Blue the new Green?

    Grey, blue and green. There’s different color codes for ammonia, and the colors indicate how sustainable the substance is. Our clean ammonia from the Barents Blue project will be blue ammonia due to the use of natural gas from the Barents Sea with associated carbon capture. What differs our blue ammonia from others is that we have a record low carbon footprint with a 99 % capture rate. In other words: our blue is as green as it gets. The Barents Blue project has high ambitions for sustainability and the environment and will pioneer clean ammonia production. The overall goal is to be the most carbon-efficient clean ammonia plant globally.

  • The perfect energy carrier

    Clean ammonia can be used in multiple ways. Ammonia can easily be liquefied and is then easy to store and transport in large quantities, and will, among other things, help cut large emissions in shipping when used as fuel. The estimated demand for pure ammonia in 2050 is 530 million tonnes per year. Using the clean ammonia as an energy carrier will accelerate the use of hydrogen, which is an important step towards carbon neutrality. It is more expensive and less effective to transport hydrogen in its pure form as it needs to be cooled to -253°C at atmospheric pressure to become a liquid. Hence, ammonia is the simplest and most effective way for the transport of clean hydrogen.

Working together with ammonia specialists from the Spanish company Fertiberia, we are realizing the Barents Blue project as a climate project with large impact on negative emissions and producing clean fuel on global scale.  

Fertiberia has 50 years of experience running ammonia plants, and the company is fully committed to going green. Their experience and competence combined with our pioneering drive and expertise from the Norwegian industry will position us in the ammonia marked. 

Together we will deliver 1 million tonnes of clean ammonia, and it will be the most energy efficient blue ammonia plant in the world with a record-low carbon footprint and well aligned with the EU taxonomy.  

Fertiberia is one of the main crop nutrition and environmental solutions providers in the European Union and one of the leading companies in Spain and Portugal. Fertiberia is the first major company in the sector to commit to being carbon neutral in the next decade and it strengthens its position in the development of products with a high added value. The company, present in several sectors, has been a permanent reference for Spanish agriculture, one of the most advanced in the world.