Power-to-X: Value chain
The four businesses that must line up for one plant
What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.A Power-to-X plant combines four businesses: cheap clean power, electrolysis, a CO2 or nitrogen source, and a chemical synthesis plant, with storage tanks to buffer variable output. It sells to shipping, aviation and chemicals.
The chain
Power and electrolysis CO2 supply Synthesis technology licensors Synthesis plants and early projects Users| Stage | What happens | Leading companies |
|---|---|---|
| Power and electrolysis | Renewable plants feeding large electrolysers; NEOM in Saudi Arabia uses 2.2 GW of alkaline electrolysers for green ammonia. | thyssenkrupp nucera (Germany) NEOM Green Hydrogen (Saudi Arabia)15 |
| CO2 supply | Biogenic CO2 from fermentation costs USD 20-30/t; a large corn-ethanol plant's 1 Mt a year could feed about 1 GWe of e-fuel plant. Direct air capture is the fully circular but costly option: Occidental bought Carbon Engineering in 2023 and builds plants through 1PointFive, and Zero Carbon Systems bought Global Thermostat in 2024. | Climeworks (Switzerland) 1PointFive / Occidental (United States) Zero Carbon Systems (United States)1489 |
| Synthesis technology licensors | Process licensors sell the reactor designs and catalysts. KBR reports 14 renewable ammonia loop licences; Johnson Matthey's catalyst business, including the FT CANS process developed with bp, became part of Honeywell in July 2026. | KBR (United States) Topsoe (Denmark) thyssenkrupp Uhde (Germany) Casale (Switzerland) Honeywell UOP (United States) Air Liquide (France)1011121314 |
| Synthesis plants and early projects | Electrolytic ammonia has run at small scale since 1965. Newer plants make ammonia, methanol and methane. | Industrias Cachimayo (Peru, 20 MWe, about 50 t ammonia/day) Iberdrola (Spain, 20 MWe ammonia, 2022) Ningxia Solar Hydrogen Project (China, 150 MWe, methanol) ETOGAS (Germany, 6 MWe methane pilot) Scatec and ACME (Oman, project past final investment decision)1 |
| Users | Shipping (about 70 Mt a year of e-ammonia or e-methanol would meet 10% of its energy) and aviation (10% e-kerosene would need about 200 Mt of CO2 a year). Over 85% of low-emissions hydrogen investment goes to existing industrial uses, refineries or hydrogen-based fuels. | 111 |
Sources
- The Role of E-fuels in Decarbonising Transport (revised January 2024) International Energy Agency, 2024
- Direct air capture of CO2: from insights into the current and emerging approaches to future opportunities (Zeeshan, Kidder, Pentzer, Getman, Gurkan), Frontiers in Sustainability 4 Frontiers, 2023
- thyssenkrupp nucera General Investor Presentation, May 2026 thyssenkrupp nucera, 2026
- Occidental Petroleum completes US$1.1 billion acquisition of Carbon Engineering Ltd. Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), 2023
- Zero Carbon Systems acquires Global Thermostat Global Thermostat, 2024
- Status of renewable ammonia projects and technology licensors (K. Rouwenhorst), Fertilizer International 529 CRU / BCInsight, 2025
- Global Hydrogen Review 2026: Investment and innovation International Energy Agency, 2026
- Willis Sustainable Fuels selects FT CANS (Johnson Matthey and bp Fischer-Tropsch technology) Johnson Matthey, 2025
- Honeywell Technologies completes acquisition of Johnson Matthey's Catalyst Technologies business Honeywell, 2026
- Methanol technologies (Lurgi MegaMethanol and PowerMethanol) Air Liquide Engineering and Construction, 2026