Skip to main content

Nitrogen+Syngas 397 Sep-Oct 2025

15 September 2025

NextChem wins contract for blue hydrogen project

UNITED STATES

NextChem wins contract for blue hydrogen project

NextChem subsidiary KT Tech has been awarded a licensing, process design package and engineering services contract by a major international energy company for the application of its proprietary NX eBlue™ (electric steam methane reforming) technology for the production of low-carbon hydrogen in the Southwest of the United States. NX eBlue™ technology, part of NextChem’s technological portfolio for syngas and hydrogen production, features an innovative electric steam methane reforming reactor along with a dedicated process scheme to produce low-carbon hydrogen. This technology significantly reduces CO2 production and incorporates integrated carbon capture to further minimise CO2 emissions, all allowing for operational flexibility and scalability.

NextChem says that the contract marks a key milestone in its strategy to accelerate the deployment of electrified hydrogen technologies combining renewable energy, carbon capture, and advanced reforming in a single, integrated technology solution. Fabio Fritelli, Managing Director of Nextchem, commented: “We are extremely proud of this achievement, which positions NextChem at the forefront of electrified hydrogen production, since it represents the first industrial application of our NX eBlue innovative technology”.

Latest in Industrial

Methanol from biomass

Chinese electrolyser manufacturer LONGi Green Energy has begun construction on a $325 million green methanol project in Inner Mongolia that will combine biomass gasification with hydrogen from the company’s electrolysers. The project, being developed at the Urad Rear Banner Industrial Park, will process 600,000 t/a of agricultural waste to produce 190,000 t/a of green methanol in the first phase. Phase 2 will expand ethanol capacity to 400,000 t/a, with hydrogen coming from new electrolysers powered by 850 MW of wind and 200 MW of solar power. LONGi says that the project will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million t/a, while adding more than 1 GW of wind and solar capacity to the region’s energy mix.

Casale wins melamine contract

Casale has been awarded a contract to supply melamine technology by Anhui Haoyuan Chemical Group. The new melamine plant will feature Casale’s uLEM-N technology, with a design capacity of 60,000 t/a, and will be fully integrated into an urea plant operated by Anhui Haoyuan. This is the third project that the two companies have developed together, following the successful implementation of two 1,500 t/a ammonia synthesis loop plants based on Casale’s N-LOOP™ technology.

Coal based fertilizer and methanol plant proposal

Suiso, a South African company specialising in blue ammonia production, is set to invest $1.7 billion in a coal-to-fertiliser facility in Kriel, Mpumalanga in the east of South Africa. The proposal is for a 1.5 million t/a ‘blue’ ammonia-urea plant which will replace South Africa’s annual imports of 1.2 million t/a of urea, as well as producing 235,000 t/a of blue methanol for fuels, using advanced decarbonisation and carbon capture technologies. Suiso is partnering with Sinopec Ningbo Engineering, Stamicarbon, and ETG – the latter will distribute Suiso’s fertilisers across Africa, supporting local agriculture and long-term food security.