Wabash Valley Resources (WVR) has obtained the first Class VI carbon dioxide injection permit from the EPA for a blue ammonia project, setting it up to become an early mover in blue ammonia-based fertilizer production.
WVR, which is owned by Phibro and Nikola, is a $1.2bn development in West Terre Haute, Indiana, designed to convert a former gasification plant into an anhydrous ammonia production facility.
The site will produce hydrogen for upgrading into ammonia and CO2, up to 1.65 million tons of which will be captured and stored under the Class VI well permit. The draft permit was published in July, and the final version was released yesterday (January 24).
The WVR injection permit is only the second Class VI permit to be issued, following the 2021 issuance of a permit for Archer Daniels Midland’s carbon dioxide injection well in Decatur, Illinois.
WVR seeks to displace roughly half – about 500,000 metric tons – of the imported ammonia supply to the Eastern Corn Belt. The company believes this will apply downward pressure on ammonia pricing and reduce dependence on imported fertilizer, according to a media kit provided by the firm.
In repurposing the former SG Solutions gasification facility, WVR can bring the plant online in half the time of similar projects, the company says.
WVR has received funding from the DOE for a FEED study and for subsurface geological characterization. It has also raised money from OGCI Climate Investments (in 2019) and Nikola (in 2021), giving the latter a 20% stake in the project for $50m.
The company will need to raise equity and debt capital to finance the project. Local news reports have suggested they could raise $500m from a Department of Energy loan program.
Still, the project has not been without opposition, as carbon capture projects come under fire from local communities across the Midwest. A contentious three-hour town hall meeting from August – which is posted online – shows local residents forcefully protesting the placement of the facility in their communities.
“Nobody in this room wants it,” residents repeatedly told company executives.
A Facebook group called Concerned Citizens against Wabash Valley Resources has 1,600 members.
In a news release, the EPA noted that the well sites were selected following extensive research “to ensure the carbon dioxide can be safely stored in the rock formations about 5,000 feet below the ground.” It added that studies of the site “show that there is about 2,100 feet of solid rock, including very low-permeability shale, between the deepest source of drinking water in the area and the proposed carbon dioxide reservoir below, creating an effective and impermeable confining zone.”
