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Unigel, country’s largest nitrogen fertiliser manufacturer, makes initial $120m investment in 60MW first phase

Brazil’s biggest nitrogen fertiliser maker has begun construction on the initial 60MW first phase of what “is expected to be” the largest integrated green hydrogen and green ammonia plant in the world.

Sao Paulo-based Unigel is investing an initial R$650m ($122m) in the new factory in Camaçari, Bahia state — the country’s first green hydrogen plant — which will use three 20MW alkaline electrolysers from German manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Nucera to produce the H2.

The first phase will have an initial annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and 60,000 tonnes of green ammonia, and is due to begin production in late 2023.

A second phase — quadrupling the output of hydrogen and ammonia — is scheduled to start operation in 2025.

Hydrogen, a gas that can be used as energy source for vehicles, factories, and even for thermal power stations, has been drawing more and more interest from the international market—especially Europe, as a substitute for gas imported from Russia, Agencia Brasil reports. Given this expected increase in demand, the interest of Brazilian companies in investing in the «new energy commodity» has also grown, says head of the Brazilian Hydrogen Association (ABH2) Paulo Emílio Valadão. «A year ago, all we had were seven associated firms. Today, we have 43, and another eight are being associated. This shows the interest in the area, with promising possibilities from the environmental and public health standpoints,» said Valadão during one of the sessions of the first Global Symposium on Sustainable Solutions in Water and Energy, in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná state.