Europe’s biggest carbon capture facility launched at Dutch ammonia plant

Northern Lights

EMISSIONS from an ammonia plant in the Netherlands are now being captured, following the inauguration of Europe’s single biggest commercial-scale carbon capture facility this week. 

Norwegian fertiliser manufacturer Yara International said up to 800,000 t/y of CO2 will be captured at its ammonia plant in Sluiskil. Liquefied CO2 will be shipped to Øygarden in Norway before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage under the seabed as part of the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The plant will operate for a minimum of 15 years, Yara said. 

Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who attended the inauguration ceremony on Monday alongside his Dutch counterpart Rob Jetten, said the project demonstrates that “CCS works and can be carried out across national borders”. Yara’s expected capture rate is around double that at Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik, Norway, another Northern Lights project operating since last summer. 

Fertiliser manufacturing, dominated by ammonia-based products, is responsible for over 1% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, up to 3.2 t of CO2 can be generated for each tonne of ammonia produced, largely down to the steam methane reforming process used to make hydrogen. Yara generated nearly 15m tCO2e from fertiliser production last year, according to the company’s latest annual report. 

Sluiskil is Europe’s biggest ammonia plant, producing nearly 2m t/y. Yara will capture emissions using amine solvent adsorption, before liquefying and temporarily storing up to 15,000 t of CO2 prior to shipment. The company’s CEO and president Svein Tore Holsether said the launch marked “an important day for Yara and for European industry”. 

Wopke Hoekstra, European commissioner for climate, net zero and clean growth, who also attended the inauguration, said: “This CCS project at Sluiskil shows what is possible when innovation and cross-border cooperation come together. This is exactly the kind of project Europe needs to combine climate ambition with a strong and resilient industrial base.”

Northern Lights

The combined capture rates of the Brevik and Sluiskil CCS projects are close to Northern Lights’ existing storage capacity of 1.5m t/y. However, this is expected to triple from the second half of 2028 following additional investment last year from oil giants Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, who together form the Northern Lights joint venture. 

Tim Heijn, managing director of Northern Lights, said the launch of Sluiskil CCS was “a milestone we have been looking forward to”. He added: “We are proud to start operations together with Yara and to see the agreement signed in 2023 become reality. Together, we are demonstrating that capture and cross-border CO2 transport and storage is a viable solution for European industry.”