CF Industries starts up CO2 sequestration at its Donaldsonville complex

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    CF Industries on Monday announced the start-up of the CO2 dehydration and compression facility at its Donaldsonville complex, a development that the company says will enable the transportation and permanent underground storage of up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 per year—CO2 that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere.

    The project was first announced in 2022. At the time, the price tag on the investment was $198.5 million.

    The Donaldsonville complex is the world’s largest ammonia production facility. With the new infrastructure in place, it’s expected to produce 1.9 million metric tons of low-carbon ammonia per year. The new unit also positions CF Industries to qualify for federal tax credits under Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code, which offers a tax credit for each metric ton of CO2 stored underground.

    “By starting permanent sequestration now, we reduce our emissions, accelerate the availability of low-carbon ammonia for our customers and begin generating valuable 45Q tax credits,” a statement from Tony Will, president and CEO of CF Industries Holdings, reads.

    ExxonMobil, serving as CF Industries’ carbon capture and sequestration partner for the project, will be responsible for transporting and permanently storing the CO2. For now, Exxon is utilizing enhanced oil recovery as a temporary storage method, but it’ll transition to dedicated permanent storage upon being granted the applicable permits.

    The transition to dedicated permanent storage will begin with Exxon’s Rose CCS project in Texas, one of many dedicated permanent storage sites being developed by the company along the Gulf Coast as part of an effort to expand its integrated CCS network. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft Class VI permit for the Rose project earlier this month, and final permits are expected to be granted later this year.

    In April, CF Industries announced a roughly $4 billion final investment decision to build a new low-carbon ammonia facility in Ascension Parish. Read more about that project here.