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Indonesia's PAU to build blue ammonia plant in Central Sulawesi
Indonesia is set to become the world's first country to apply the "latest ammonia technology" in producing blue ammonia, which is widely being touted as the "green fuel of the future".
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The PT Panca Amara Utama (PAU) plant in Luwuk, Central Sulawesi, loads its first shipment of ammonia on Jul 7, 2018. The company signed a memorandum of understanding on March 18, 2021 to begin a feasibility study on developing a blue ammonia plant in the province. (PAU/PAU)
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ndonesia made its first step toward developing an ammonia-based green fuel last Thursday, when ammonia producer PT Panca Amara Utama (PAU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on using the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) process for producing blue ammonia at its plant in Central Sulawesi.
Publicly listed gas refiner PT Surya Esa Perkasa (SEP) announced in a press release on March 19 that under the terms of the agreement, its subsidiary PAU would conduct a joint study on CCUS for clean fuel ammonia production with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), the Mitsubishi Corporation and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
The study is to take place near the PAU ammonia plant in Luwuk and the Mitsubishi liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Donggi Senoro, both in Central Sulawesi, with SEP planning to build the blue ammonia plant in Banggai regency.
“As [the owner of] one of the newest and most efficient ammonia plants in the world, PAU is ideally placed to help achieve the government's CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions reduction target of 29 percent by 2030,” CEO Chander Vinod Laroya of SEP said in the statement.
Laroya said PAU blue ammonia plant project was the world’s first application of the "latest ammonia technology, putting Indonesia at the forefront of global ammonia production."
A major natural gas producer, Indonesia has been manufacturing fertilizers, plastics and chemical products using ammonia. Expectations are growing for ammonia to become a source of next-generation clean energy, as it does not emit CO2 during combustion.
Mitsubishi said in a separate press release that the blue ammonia produced by the PAU plant would be exported to fuel coal-fired power plants in Japan.
