Qatar over the past decades has developed a complex array of petrochemical and industrial projects to make use of the country’s 20bn cfd of natural gas output. Despite a few newer facilities in the northern LNG hub at Ras Laffan, the key industrial hub for these derivative processes is the port city Mesaieed, around 30km south of Doha. Here QatarEnergy this week began construction of its ‘Qafco-7’ blue ammonia plant, “the largest of its kind in the world,” according to the company (MEES, 2 September 2022).
The $1.2bn facility will have a 1.2mn t/y ammonia production unit alongside “a unit for CO2 injection and storage, with a capacity of 1.5mn t/y,” which QatarEnergy says is sufficient for the resultant ammonia output to be regarded as ‘blue’. The plant’s overall emissions will be further reduced by the receipt of “more than” 35MW of power from the nearby 417MW Mesaieed solar PV plant where panel installation was completed earlier this year (MEES, 19 July). (CONTINUED - 884 WORDS)
