FFI to repurpose industrial facilities to produce hydrogen
The IPL project would create a new domestic and export market for green renewable ammonia.
Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and New Zealand’s Refining NZ (RNZ) have agreed to investigate repurposing facilities at the RNZ Marsden Point oil refinery to produce green hydrogen and green hydrogen products.
Both companies signed an MoU to study the commercial and technical feasibility of producing, storing, distributing, and exporting industrial-scale green hydrogen and green hydrogen products from the decommissioned RNZ site as it transitions to an import-only fuel terminal.
FFI will undertake feasibility studies to assess key operational and commercial projections for the project and enable the development of a project timeline. RNZ is based in Marsden Point and is the country’s only oil refinery and the leading supplier of refined petroleum products to the New Zealand market.
Meanwhile, in Australia, FFI and Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) have completed initial studies to convert IPL’s Gibson Island ammonia-production facility to run on zero-carbon green hydrogen instead of fossil fuel gas. FFI has found the project technically feasible based on the first phase of studies. The next step is to demonstrate that fossil fuel infrastructure conversion is technically and economically feasible.
FFI and IPL will now enter negotiations to progress this project to a Front End Engineering Design study. The study will refine cost, schedule, permitting and commercial agreements and make a potential final investment decision.
FFI plans to develop an on-site electrolysis plant to produce up to 50,000 tonnes/year of renewable green hydrogen for conversion into green ammonia, replacing the current fossil fuel gas feedstock. Green hydrogen and green ammonia from the project could also provide a low-carbon fuel supply to the Port of Brisbane, Brisbane airport and other heavy transport users.
