Bos Pupuk Indonesia Ungkap Pembangunan Proyek Amonia Hijau Hybrid Mendorong Industri Dalam Negeri

President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Rahmad Pribadi. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) will develop the world's first hybrid green ammonia project. The project development was carried out in collaboration with two Japanese corporations, namely ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU) and Toyo Engineering Corporation (TOYO).

This strategic cooperation was marked by the signing of a development cooperation agreement or Joint Development Agreement (JDA) titled the Green busyia Initiative from Aceh (Project GAIA) at the 2nd Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Ministerial Meeting which was held in Jakarta, Wednesday, August 21.

The signing was carried out directly by the President Director of Pupuk Indonesia, Rahmad Pribadi together with the President and COO ITOCHU, Keita Ishii and the President and CEO of TOYO, Eiji Hosoi.

President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Rahmad Pribadi explained that the cooperation of these three companies will be an important step in encouraging domestic industrialization.

Especially the development of green ammonia, which is considered to have an impact on the national economy.

In Project GAIA, continued Rahmad, Pupuk Indonesia will produce green ammonia using an ammonia plant whose process technology was designed and built by TOYO in the 2000s.

"This green amonia will then be supplied to ITOCHU as the raw material for marine fuel, thus forming a comprehensive value chain, as well as being the first in Indonesia and the world," said Rahmad in an official statement, Wednesday, August 21.

Rahmad said the goal of the GAIA project was to produce green ammonia or green ammonia at the PIM-2 fertilizer factory owned by Pupuk Iskandar Muda located in the Arun Lhokseumawe Special Economic Zone (KEK), Aceh. The production of green ammonia will be supported by the electrolyzer installation at the fertilizer factory.

This electrolyzer technology serves to obtain hydrogen elements from water compounds, with energy sources for the electrolysis process of water derived from renewable energy sources. Hydrogen produced in the process is then backed to nitrogen for later ammonia, "he said.

This process, continued Rahmad, does not produce any carbon footprint at all, so it is also known as green ammonia. This initiative will also be extended to other ammonia factories under the Pupuk Indonesia Group and ammonia plants in other countries in the future.

In addition, said Rahmad, this project has been chosen by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) as one of the projects in the Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Business Expense Subsidy.

"This program provides subsidies to 13 future-oriented projects in ASEAN," he explained.

For your information, the initial development of the Front End Engineering Design Project GAIA will begin in August 2024. At the same time, Pupuk Indonesia, ITOCHU, and TOYO will form a joint venture company, with a final investment decision (Final Investment Decision) expected to be achieved in the first half of 2025, and a commercial operation target in 2027.