Industrial gases company Air Products and crop nutrition and ammonia company Yara International are working to combine Air Products’ industrial gas capabilities and low-emission hydrogen with Yara’s ammonia production and distribution network.
The Louisiana Clean Energy Complex being built by Air Products is designed to produce more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of low-carbon blue hydrogen, along with ammonia and nitrogen. Around 95% of the carbon dioxide produced at the site in Darrow, Louisiana, US will be captured.
The plans will see Yara acquire the ammonia production, storage and shipping facilities for 25% of the final project costs, which the partners estimate is $8 billion to $9 billion. Yara will take over these operations, integrating the facilities into its global ammonia distribution network, once the project is operational and meets performance requirements.
Yara is currently the world’s largest trader and shipper of ammonia, transporting around four million tonnes annually, via its 12 ammonia carriers and 18 import terminals.
Air Products, the world’s largest supplier of hydrogen, will own and operate the low carbon hydrogen production and around 80% of this output will be supplied to Yara under a 25-year offtake agreement. The hydrogen will be used by Yara to produce 2.8 million tonnes of low-carbon ammonia each year. The remaining hydrogen will be supplied to Air Products’ customers in the US Gulf Coast via the company’s 700-mile hydrogen pipeline system. In addition, some five million tonnes of carbon dioxide that is captured by Air Products during the production of the hydrogen, will be made available to third parties. Air Products said that agreements relating to the carbon dioxide will be announced at a later date.
The partners have said that a final investment decision will be made during the middle of 2026 subject to, among other things, issuing of air permits and finalising construction agreements. It is anticipated that that project will become operational during 2030.
Meanwhile, the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, in which Air Products has a stake, is nearing completion, with commercial production slated to begin in 2027. Located in Saudi Arabia, NEOM is said to be the world’s largest green-hydrogen-based ammonia production facility run on renewable energy. The facility will produce up to 600 tonnes per day of carbon-free hydrogen in the form of green ammonia as a cost-effective solution for transportation and industrial sectors globally.
With Air Products the sole off taker of up to 1.2 million tonnes of renewable ammonia, the company is in talks with Yara on entering into a marketing and distribution agreement. This would see Yara commercialise, on a commission basis, the ammonia not sold by Air Products into Europe.
The partners said that this model would “maximise value for both companies and enable ammonia from the world’s first large-scale renewable ammonia plant to be delivered worldwide by Yara’s shipping fleet.” The marketing and distribution agreement is due to be completed in the first half of 2026.
Yara’s President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether, commented “Air Products’ two advanced projects are a strong strategic fit with Yara’s flexible nitrogen system – enabling energy diversification and profitable decarbonization while aligning with our disciplined capital allocation policy. The Louisiana project builds on a proven, capital-efficient model; producing ammonia from externally sourced hydrogen and delivering strong returns.”
The NEOM Green Hydrogen Project is located in Oxagon, a new industrial city which is being built within Saudi Arabia's NEOM project. It is being designed as a clean, technologically advanced manufacturing hub, featuring a major port on the Red Sea for global trade.
Further reading:
- Green hydrogen made with offshore wind to help reduce refinery emissions
- This major carbon capture project just stored its first carbon dioxide - under the sea
- BASF adds to renewable ammonia options
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