CF Industries Holdings Inc. has announced the start-up of a carbon dioxide (CO2) dehydration and compression facility at its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana. The facility will enable the transportation and permanent geological sequestration of up to 2 MTPA of CO2 that would otherwise have been emitted into the atmosphere. ExxonMobil, the company’s carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) partner for this project, will be transporting and permanently storing the CO2.
Donaldsonville Complex is located on 1400 acres (566 ha) along the west bank of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana. According to the company, it is the world’s largest ammonia production facility, serving customers on every continent. Today, the site has six world-scale ammonia plants, five urea plants, four nitric acid plants, three urea ammonium nitrate plants, and a diesel exhaust fluid plant. The site ships product to customers via the NuStar ammonia pipeline, rail, truck barge (river and ocean), and deep water vessel.
On an interim basis, ExxonMobil is storing CO2 from the Donaldsonville Complex in permanent geologic sites through enhanced oil recovery. Upon receiving its applicable permits, ExxonMobil plans to transition to dedicated permanent storage, starting with its Rose CCS project. Rose CCS is one of many dedicated permanent storage sites ExxonMobil is developing along the Gulf Coast to expand its integrated CCS network. The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft Class VI permit for Rose in July, and final permits are expected later this year.
“The start-up of the Donaldsonville carbon dioxide dehydration and compression facility and initiation of sequestration by ExxonMobil is a historic milestone in our company’s decarbonization journey,” said Tony Will, president and chief executive officer of CF Industries Holdings Inc. “By starting permanent sequestration now, we reduce our emissions, accelerate the availability of low-carbon ammonia for our customers and begin generating valuable 45Q tax credits.”
As a result of its Donaldsonville CCS project, CF Industries expects to produce approximately 1.9 MTPA of low-carbon ammonia. CF Industries also expects to qualify for tax credits under Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code, which provides a credit per metric ton of CO2 stored.
