Business & Economy

Work begins in Brazil on world’s largest green hydrogen plant

Camaçari, Brazil, Jul 26 (EFE).- Brazilian chemical giant Unigel broke ground here Tuesday on what will be – if only for a few years – the world’s largest facility to produce green hydrogen, defined as hydrogen generated using renewable or low-carbon energy.

Unigel is investing $120 million in the facility, which will be integrated into the company’s existing operations at the Camaçari Industrial Complex in the northeastern state of Bahia.

By the end of next year, the plant will begin turning out 10,000 tons of green hydrogen and 60,000 tons of green ammonia annually, Unigel said.

The firm has bought three 20-MW electrolyzers from Thyssenkrupp AG’s Thyssenkrupp Nucera and plans to acquire additional units for the second phase, projected to start in 2025, with the aim of quadrupling annual output to 40,000 tons and 240,000 tons, respectively.

The same year, 2025, is expected to see the start of operation of a $5 billion plant in Saudi Arabia with projected production of 650 tons of green hydrogen per day.

“Our investment is a pioneering investment, Unigel CEO Roberto Noronha Santos told Efe. “Brazil will be in the vanguard of the development attending the process of decarbonization.”

The hydrogen obtained via electrolysis of water can be used in making fertilizer and as fuel.

“It’s the energy of the future and the world faces a challenge of how to produce more clean energy, which comes from solar and wind. Brazil has an opportunity to be a supplier of clean energy on an industrial scale for the entire world,” Environment Minister Joaquim Leite said during Tuesday’s groundbreaking.

The abundance of sunshine and wind on Brazil’s northeastern coast equips the region to bring down the cost of energy from solar and wind, he said. EFE wgm/dr

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