Unigel, a manufacturer of nitrogen fertilizers in the country, announced on Tuesday (26) the construction of its first green hydrogen factory in Brazil. With an initial investment of approximately US$ 120 million (around R$ 650 million), the plant is expected to start operating by the end of 2023.
According to the company, Unigel's integrated green hydrogen and green ammonia project is expected to be the largest in the world. For the first phase of the project, three standard 20 MW electrolyzers will be installed thyssenkrupp nucera with a total capacity of 60 MW.
“Throughout our almost 60 years of history, we have developed technologies and invested to meet industrial and agribusiness demands. With this project, Unigel takes another important step towards the decarbonization of several sectors, contributing substantially to combating climate change on the planet,” highlighted Henri Slezynger, founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of Unigel.
Located in the Camaçari Industrial Complex (BA), the new plant, in its first phase, will have a production capacity of 10 thousand tons/year of green hydrogen and 60 thousand tons/year of green ammonia. In the second phase of the project, scheduled to start operating by 2025, the company should quadruple the production of green hydrogen and ammonia.
The manufacture of green hydrogen and ammonia is already an offshoot of other actions that Unigel has undertaken, such as the partnership for the production of wind energy, worth more than R$1 billion, with Casa dos Ventos, a power generation company from from renewable sources in Brazil.
“Unigel is focused on investments that enable the decarbonization of its operations and also contributing solutions to the industry. Given Brazil’s potential in generating wind and solar energy, we believe that the country has a great opportunity to become a global reference in green hydrogen, a solution that brings versatility to transform renewable energy into raw material and zero-carbon fuels,” highlighted Roberto Noronha Santos, CEO of Unigel.
“This project is the first of its kind in Brazil and reinforces Unigel’s pioneering role in producing green molecules on an industrial scale. As Brazil is one of the world’s leading countries in of installed renewable energy, we are pleased to enter into this partnership to make green hydrogen an affordable energy vector today,” emphasized Werner Ponikwar, CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera.
“Only through large-scale production with robust, reliable and cost-effective technologies at competitive renewable energy prices will green hydrogen be ready for the market with widespread use,” he concluded.
“Unigel’s project is the first of its kind in Brazil and reinforces the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit of one of the largest chemical companies in the country. We are very proud and honored to establish this new partnership and share the experience and unparalleled supply capacity that we have acquired over six decades developing our electrolysis technology,” added Paulo Alvarenga, thyssenkrupp CEO for South America.
With the construction of the factory, Unigel should stimulate the local economy, generating at least 500 direct and indirect jobs.
