Air Liquide, Borealis, Esso S.A.F., TotalEnergies and Yara International ASA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the development of a CO₂ infrastructure, including capture and storage, to help decarbonize the industrial basin located in the Normandy region, France. With the objective to reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 3 million tons per year by 2030, which is equivalent to the emissions of more than 1 million passenger cars, the first phase will consist in studying the technical and economical feasibility of this project. This partnership, which will seek funding from European, French and Regional schemes, is open to other industrial parties.

The ability of industrial players to reduce their CO₂ emissions in the medium and long term is a key issue for the sustainability of industrial activities and ecosystems in the area of Axe Seine/Normandy. The companies involved in the MoU have agreed to collaborate to assess the technical and economical feasibility of implementing an industrial CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) chain, from their industrial facilities to ultimate storage in the North Sea.

François Jackow, executive vice president and a member of the Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising Europe Industries activities, said: “Air Liquide is pleased to contribute to this project its unique expertise in CO₂ capture and liquefaction technologies. Since 2015 Air Liquide has successfully implemented Cryocap^TM in its plant in Port Jérôme, Normandy, an innovative proprietary CO₂ capture and liquefaction technology, which allows to capture up to 90% of CO₂ emissions. This wider initiative illustrates how industrial players can mobilize to decarbonize key industrial basins and contribute to the fight against global warming. It is in line with Air Liquide’s Climate Objectives, which target carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Leo Alders, chief operating officer of Borealis Fertilizer, Technical Nitrogen and Melamine business, said: “Our strong interest in this project is in the first place driven by the significant GHG reduction that can be achieved. It is our responsibility to society to seek for and engage in solutions for climate challenges. At the same time the project is an innovative and collaborative approach across the leading regional industries, creating new value chains.”

Charles Amyot, CEO of Esso S.A.F. and president of ExxonMobil activities in France, said: “ExxonMobil has more than 30 years of experience in CCS technology and is advancing plans for more than 20 new CCS opportunities around the world. We are pleased to collaborate on a joint study to assess the feasibility of the deployment of CCS in the Axe Seine / Normandy area, one of the most important technologies required to achieve society’s climate goals.”

Bernard Pinatel, president of Refining & Chemicals and member of the Executive Committee at TotalEnergies, said: “We are pleased to join forces with some major industrial players of the industrial basin of Normandy to collectively engage into a cooperation to reduce the CO₂ emissions from our facilities. This collective effort will be facilitated by TotalEnergies’ actions in developing, with partners, CO₂ storages in the North Sea such as the Northern Lights and Aramis’ projects. This CCS initiative will contribute to the decarbonization of our Normandy platform and is fully aligned with TotalEnergies’ ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050.”

Jorge Noval, president, Yara Industrial Solutions, a global division of Yara International ASA, said: “This alliance will support Yara Industrial Solutions’ journey to decarbonize production units and all of our value chains. Carbon Capture and Storage is essential in achieving our mid-term ambition of a 30% reduction in absolute CO₂ emissions in 2030 compared to 2018, meaning a reduction of 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to 100,000 tonnes Blue Ammonia at Le Havre production plant. We will implement future technologies to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 in line with Yara’s ambition. The decarbonization of our site in France will allow us to continue developing innovative applications for our industrial customers, and the impact on society will be significant. Our chemical industrial applications are all around us, from construction to automotive, in animal nutrition and NOx emission reduction as examples.”