North Sea Port could become CO2 storage and liquefaction hub

Belgian energy infrastructure group Fluxys, steel and mining company ArcelorMittal Belgium and North Sea Port have started a feasibility study for the Ghent Carbon Hub project, an open-access CO2 storage and liquefaction hub in the Ghent part of North Sea Port.

Besides the use of carbon-neutral energy, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is essential for CO2-intensive industries to achieve net zero emissions, especially in hard-to-abate sectors with processes inherently generating CO2 emissions.

The three partners are pressing ahead to develop a key infrastructure accommodating the CCUS chain.

Ghent Carbon Hub is set up as an open-access hub to transport and liquefy CO₂ from emitters, provide buffer storage and load the liquefied CO₂ onto ships for onward permanent storage.

The feasibility study has now started and commissioning is targeted for 2027. Ghent Carbon Hub will have a capacity to process 6 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum (MTPA), equivalent to around 15% of Belgian industrial CO₂ emissions.

As explained, the project will benefit from Fluxys’ experience in terminalling activities, while Fluxys is also developing an open-access CO₂ transmission backbone in Belgium. Ghent Carbon Hub connects to Fluxys’ CO₂ backbone, allowing CO₂ emitters from the North Sea Port area and other industrial clusters to transport their captured CO₂ to the hub or locations of reuse.

“Together with our partners, we offer strong and complementary know-how and expertise for providing reliable and efficient decarbonisation solutions, essential for achieving climate change objectives and ensuring the long-term viability of the economy. Ghent Carbon Hub is an integral part of the full-scale Fluxys CO₂ approach, offering emitters in North Sea Port and the wider area the opportunity to convey their captured CO₂ through our backbone,” Pascal De Buck, CEO Fluxys, commented.

“We aim to reduce our CO₂ emissions by 35% by 2030 compared to 2018, and to become climate neutral by 2050. The combination of a new Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) plant alongside a sustainable … blast furnace enables the creation of unique synergies in ArcelorMittal Belgium’s roadmap to climate-neutral steelmaking. But we are also focusing on other decarbonisation initiatives, such as CCS, where we capture the CO₂ and transport it to a CO₂ hub within North Sea Port for storage,” Manfred Van Vlierberghe, CEO ArcelorMittal Belgium, said.

“North Sea Port has the ambition to halve CO₂ emissions by 2030 and to be a carbon-neutral port by 2050. Total CO₂ emissions in the port are 21.5 million tons. As a first step, the capture and storage of CO₂ (Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)) will have to be increased,” Daan Schalck, CEO North Sea Port, explained. 

“Technological developments will be key to the reuse of CO₂ over time (Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU)). The capture and storage of CO₂ is a necessary intermediate step towards its large-scale reuse. To this end, North Sea Port is fully engaged to facilitate this CO₂ infrastructure project to make it happen.”