The Port of Antwerp, working in conjunction with seven
leading chemical and energy companies, has been investigating the development
of a CO2 infrastructure focused on capturing CO2 emissions.
the goal of the project’s partners to keep CO2 out of the
atmosphere through applications for capturing and utilizing or storing CO2, all
within a relatively short time and at reasonable costs. The consortium reports
that its ambition is to reduce the CO2 emissions within the port, measured at
18.65 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017, potentially by half
between now and 2030.
The project has reached an important milestone with the EU
approving two applications for funding to carry out studies. The consortium
submitted two applications for EU funding, to carry out studies for a liquid
CO2 Export Terminal, a CO2 backbone within the Port of Antwerp, and a CO2 cross
border pipeline to connect to the Netherlands.
“The time is now to make the transition towards a
carbon-neutral economy. Europe leads the way on a global stage,” said Jacques
Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp. “With Antwerp@C, the port of Antwerp has the
key to realize an innovative cross-border CCUS-project, a first of a kind in
its concept and scale. We are proud to receive the necessary financial support
for the study phase, as this project will contribute to the Flemish, Belgian
and European climate goals and to the increased EU 2030 targets for emission
reduction to at least 55 percent.”
Work began on the project in late 2019 with the consortium
pursuing two pathways for the cross-border CO2 transport infrastructure. One
pursues the transport via an onshore pipeline to Rotterdam while the other
would transport the captured CO2 by ship to North-West Europe. The partners in the project are Air Liquide,
BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp, and Total.
The Antwerp@C was awarded approximately €9 million ($10.5
million) as a Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant to pursue the detailed
studies. The partners noted that broad support, and especially financial
support, by the EU, the Belgian Federal Government, and the Flemish Government
is essential to ensure the success of the project.
They said the CEF award is a positive step to support CCS
(Carbon Capture & Storage) as a CO2 abatement technology for the industry
in the Port of Antwerp. In addition to this first step, a number of expression
of interest applications are currently being prepared by the consortium
partners for submission under the European Innovation Fund that will be a key
enabler to support the development of the entire CCS value chain from capture
to storage.
According to the Port of Antwerp, this innovative
cross-border CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage) project would be
among the first and world’s largest multimodal open access CO2 export
infrastructure.