Port of Antwerp brought seven leading chemical and energy companies together at the end of 2019 to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of building CO2 infrastructure in the port of Antwerp. The consortium consists of Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp and Total. With the project entitled Antwerp@C the partners aim to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere and as such to make a significant contribution towards the climate objectives, thanks to applications for capturing and utilizing or storing CO2, all within a relatively short time span and at reasonable costs. The consortium is happy to announce that two applications for EU funding, submitted by Air Liquide, Fluxys, Total and Port of Antwerp 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, were approved. With this financial support, Antwerp@C reaches a new milestone and can engage one step further. The consortium is strengthened in its ambition to reduce the CO2 emissions within the port (18.65 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017) potentially by half between now and 2030.

EU support: an important milestone

The partners of Antwerp@C are delighted that a Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant is awarded to the project to pursue detailed studies, since broad support – especially financial support – by the EU, the Belgian Federal Government and the Flemish Government is essential to ensure the success of the project. Antwerp@C is pursuing two pathways for cross-border CO2 transport infrastructure, one for transport via an onshore pipeline to Rotterdam and one for transport by ship to North-West Europe. Two subsidies for detailed studies – concerning an amount of circa € 9 million are now granted under the European funding program for Trans-European Energy Networks, CEF.

This CEF award is a positive step to support CCS 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.

Port of Antwerp, a carbon capture pioneer

Port of Antwerp is home to the largest integrated energy and chemicals cluster in Europe. This makes it the ideal location to set up new, cross-border collaboration projects for innovative CO2 reduction. To this end, Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp and Total joined forces at the end of 2019 under the name of Antwerp@C, to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of building CO2 infrastructure to support future CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage) applications. Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) and eventually also Carbon Capture & Utilisation (CCU) – i.e. reusing CO2 as a raw material for the chemical industry – are seen as important routes in the transition to a carbon-neutral port. This innovative cross-border CCUS project would be among the first and world’s largest multimodal open access CO2 export infrastructure.

Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp: “The time is now to make the transition towards a carbon neutral economy. Europe leads the way on a global stage. 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%.”