Trafigura plans green hydrogen plant at Port Pirie, Australia

Trafigura Group (a leading physical commodity trading company), Nyrstar (a global multi-metals manufacturing business), and the State Government of South Australia will jointly develop a commercial-scale green hydrogen manufacturing facility at Port Pirie in Australia.

Trafigura and the South Australian State Government will jointly invest AU$5 million in Front End Engineering Design study for the Port Pirie Green Hydrogen Project.

The project will require AU$750 million and will be developed in stages. At the first stage, it would produce 20 tonnes/day of green hydrogen for export in green ammonia.  The full-scale plant will produce 100 tonnes/day of green hydrogen at full capacity from a 440 MW electrolyser, enabling it to meet both export and domestic supply needs.

The final project investment decision will be made by the end of 2022 and if approved the construction works would commence in 2023.

The project is planned to be integrated into Nyrstar Australia’s metals recovery smelter at Port Pirie, using existing infrastructure to accelerate the production of green hydrogen compared to developing a project on a new greenfield site. The Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter will use the oxygen produced during hydrogen production.

Trafigura will source 100% renewable energy to provide the electricity needed to run the project’s electrolyser, contributing to decarbonising the existing smelter’s power supply.