One of the largest chemical companies in Latin America and a leader in segments such as fertilizers and ammonia, Unigel will invest US$ 120 million (about R$ 650 million) in the construction of the first Brazilian plant for green hydrogen, a product that replaces fossil fuels.
The plan is for the plant to be, in principle, the largest in the world.
The project, the first on an industrial scale, will be announced next Tuesday (26) in Camaçari (BA), where the factory will be installed alongside two other units that produce ammonia and styrenic.
The factory will start operating at the end of 2023 with production of 10 thousand tons of the product per year. Part of the green hydrogen will be converted into 60 thousand tons of green ammonia per year.
“It is a movement that will put us in the leadership of the decarbonization of Brazil”, says Roberto Noronha, president of the Brazilian company Unigel.
Based on the interest already shown by customers, and believing in the rapid growth of demand, the group intends to quadruple production capacity in 2025, including for export.
Green hydrogen is produced with water and electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. The idea is to replace the product currently used, gray hydrogen, made with fossil sources (natural gas).
“Green hydrogen is going to be the energy source of humanity’s future, because, in essence, it is absolutely clean”, says Noronha.
Hydrogen can be used in its form or converted into ammonia, an essential raw material for the steel, petroleum refining and fertilizer sectors, and used in thousands of products.
It can also be used in ship transport, aviation and in the future, in vehicles, starting with trucks and buses.
The availability of green hydrogen will therefore help several other industrial segments in the decarbonization process. Other countries, such as Spain and the USA, also started production, but on a small scale.
Heart
Thyssenkrupp will supply the electrolysers, equipment considered the “heart” of the factory. They apply large electrical currents and separate molecules from solutions. In the case of water, it will separate hydrogen and oxygen.
The equipment will be manufactured by Thyssen in Italy and shipped in modules in 48 containers, by ships, to be marketed by the Brazilian subsidiary.
“The company has mastered the technology of electrolysis for a long time, but before that it had other industrial applications”, explains Paulo Alvarenga, president of Thyssenkrupp for South America.
“Due to the climate emergency, we have expanded the technology for water electrolysis”.
The wind energy to be used in the process will be supplied by Casa dos Ventos, one of the largest companies in the country in the generation of renewable energy.
The price of green hydrogen, in a normal situation, should have a “premium” in relation to the traditional one.
Today, with the global situation atypical due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the prices of ammonia and natural gas are high. That’s why the hydrogen process is competitive.
Alvarenga says that the production of green hydrogen did not start earlier because of costs. With the environmental issue, companies began to explore the possibility more and the war accelerated the process.
Created in 1966, Unigel has 27 factories in 11 complexes in Brazil and Mexico, with 2,000 employees. The new unit will generate 500 direct and indirect jobs.
The group had revenue of BRL 8.5 billion in 2021 and a net profit of BRL 882 million. The forecast for this year is for an even better result. The information is from the newspaper. The State of São Paulo.
Source: CNN Brasil
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