Saudi Aramco and Linde Engineering to Develop Ammonia Cracking Technology
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and Pullach, Germany, March 15, 2023 - Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, and Linde Engineering, a global leader in the production and processing of gases, announced that they have signed an agreement to jointly develop a new ammonia cracking technology.
The collaboration between the two companies will combine Linde Engineering and Aramco’s experience and capabilities in industrial research and development, lower-carbon hydrogen, and ammonia cracking technology.
A potential differentiator of this new technology is the ammonia cracking catalyst, jointly developed by Aramco and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), which will be evaluated against other catalysts.
Through this agreement, Aramco and Linde Engineering plan to build a demonstration plant in northern Germany to showcase this new ammonia cracking technology. Linde Engineering intends to offer this ammonia cracking technology to current and new customers, creating new commercial opportunities within the global lower-carbon energy supply chain. The emerging lower-carbon ammonia business may prove to be key in bridging the gap between a country’s domestic renewable energy production capacity and total energy demand.
Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Aramco, said: “This agreement is part of our ongoing technology and business development efforts to establish a commercially viable lower-carbon hydrogen supply chain. We believe the advanced ammonia cracking technology we are co-developing with Linde Engineering will play a key role in realizing our objectives.”
John van der Velden, Senior Vice President Global Sales & Technology at Linde Engineering, said: “Effective ammonia cracking technology supports the world’s urgent need for decarbonization. By completing the missing link in the export chain, cleaner energy can be shipped from regions with high renewable and clean energy potential to those with more limited resources. We look forward to working closely with Aramco to develop and commercialize this important technology, creating new business opportunities for Linde Engineering and Aramco.”
About Linde
Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2022 sales of $33 billion. We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain, decarbonize and protect our planet.
The company serves a variety of end markets such as chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining. Linde's industrial gases and technologies are used in countless applications including production of clean hydrogen and carbon capture systems critical to the energy transition, life-saving medical oxygen and high-purity & specialty gases for electronics. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.
For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com
About Aramco
Aramco is a global integrated energy and chemicals company. We are driven by the core belief that energy is opportunity. From producing approximately one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply to developing new energy technologies, our global team is dedicated to creating impact in all that we do. We focus on making our resources more dependable, more sustainable and more useful. This helps promote stability and long-term growth around the world.