LSB Industries has announced its plans to develop a carbon capture project to produce blue ammonia in collaboration with Lapis Energy.
Carbon management expert Lapis Energy intends to provide 100% funding of the capital and operations expenditures of the new carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project, which is to be set up at LSB’s El Dorado, AR, facility.
The chemical facility in El Dorado turns natural gas feedstock into a number of mining and industrial products, as well as products used in agriculture, such as ammonia for fertilizer.
However, the production process of ammonia is notoriously emissions-intensive and carbon capture is considered a proven means to minimize those emissions.
Furthermore, the El Dorado facility can benefit from its uniquely geographical location – above deep geological formations that are naturally equipped to sequester CO2 from the plant.
Once the project is launched, LSB expects the facility to produce over 375,000 metric tons of blue ammonia per year and the underground aquifer will be able to sequester 450,000 tons of CO2, thus reducing the company’s Scope 1 emissions by a quarter.
Relevant: New Transport Corridor For Blue Ammonia To Be Built Between Norway And Rotterdam
LSB President Mark Behrman acknowledged the rapidly growing demand among its industrial customers for decarbonization solutions for their supply chains.
And low-carbon feedstocks are certainly on the list of such solutions in the near-term, while solutions for even more sustainable green ammonia production are still on the path to becoming more economically viable.
With that said, LSB is also considering green ammonia production in the future, although it will certainly depend on a handful of factors, such as the current 45Q tax credit.
This newly announced CCS project would be the third of its kind for ammonia production in the US and the first of its kind in the state of Arkansas.
Read more: Japan’s Largest Coal Power Plant Plans Switching To Green Ammonia
