Antwerp@C, an initiative of Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, ExxonMobil, INEOS, TotalEnergies, Fluxys and the Port of Antwerp has the ambition to support industries’ efforts towards a 50% CO2 emissions’ reduction within the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, by 2030 through the creation of a common CO2 infrastructure.
With the start of engineering studies, the project has now reached a new milestone to achieve more sustainable, lower-carbon operations around the Port of Antwerp.
The project aims to collect and export CO2 for sequestration in offshore capacities in the coming years and at reasonable costs or to make it available for potential future reuse. After completion of the engineering studies, a final investment decision for the first phase is anticipated in late 2022.
Start of Engineering studies (FEED phase)
After carrying out a feasibility study in 2021, Antwerp@C has now taken the decision to move on to the next phase and start engineering studies. These will further investigate the construction of a central “backbone” throughout the port of Antwerp along the industrial zones on both the Right and Left banks of the river Scheldt.
Part of the engineering studies is a shared CO2 liquefaction unit with interim storage and marine loading facilities for cross-border shipping. These studies are partially funded by a Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant, which was awarded in October 2020, by subsidies from the Flemish government for the feasibility-phase and by contributions of all consortium participants.
After the engineering studies have been finalized, a final investment decision for the first phase is anticipated in late 2022.
We are very keen to move on to this next phase of engineering studies 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%
said Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp.
Moreover, Pascal De Buck, CEO Fluxys, added that the Antwerp@C project is part of the overall project approach of Fluxys to help build the needed decarbonization infrastructure across Belgium and towards the neighboring countries.
Both for CO2 and for hydrogen we work with specific infrastructure proposals, currently in 5 and shortly in 6 important industrial clusters. Together with the market, we prepare the infrastructure step by step
