Yara-BASF Joint Venture Inaugurates Ammonia Plant in Texas

Yara Freeport LLC – the joint venture of Norway’s Yara International and German chemical giant, BASF, has opened its new world-scale ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas, USA. Yara Freeport is owned 68 percent by Yara and 32 percent by BASF. The $600-mn plant, located at BASF’s site in Freeport, has a capacity of 750,000 metric tons of ammonia per year. Each party will off-take ammonia according to their ownership share.

“The new plant allows us to take advantage of world-scale production economics and attractive raw material costs to strengthen the competitiveness of our customer value chain in the region,” said Mr. Wayne Smith, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and Chairman and CEO, BASF Corporation.

The facility uses a cost-efficient and sustainable production process, based on by-product hydrogen instead of natural gas. The plant applies the “principles of industrial symbiosis” by using a by-product as feedstock for ammonia production said Yara President and CEO, Mr. Svein Tore Holsether.

Conventional ammonia plants use natural gas to produce the hydrogen needed during ammonia production. Yara Freeport’s hydrogen-based technology allows the plant to forego this initial production step, leading to lower capital expenditure and maintenance costs. By using hydrogen, which originates from the production processes of various petrochemical plants nearby, Yara Freeport said it safeguards resources and mitigates environmental impact.

A long-term supply agreement for hydrogen and nitrogen with industrial gases company Praxair links feedstock cost to the advantageous natural gas prices on the US Gulf coast, the companies said.

BASF will use its share of ammonia off-take to produce polyamide 6, which is commonly used in the production of carpet fibres, packaging and casings for the wire & cable markets. Polyamide 6 for injection moulding is used in high-performance engineering plastics for automotive applications. Yara will market its share of ammonia to industrial customers and the agricultural sector in North America. To support the new plant, Yara built an ammonia storage facility at Port Freeport. BASF upgraded its existing terminal and pipeline assets.