In order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement, the Netherlands government has laid down a series of measures in the coalition agreement to limit the emission of greenhouse gases. In addition to measures aimed at the growth of sustainable sources, the closure of coal-fired plants, the use of residual heat and geothermal energy, insulation and efficiency in the process industry, the government is also focusing on the capture, transport and storage of CO 2 in empty gas fields. The Port of Rotterdam Authority, Gasunie and EBN took the initiative last year for the exploration of a project - under the name Porthos - that can be realized in the Rotterdam port area.

Meanwhile, the three partners have completed a feasibility study. This shows that capturing and transporting CO 2 , and storing it deep under the North Sea, is technically feasible. It is also cost-effective in comparison with other measures that contribute to achieving the government's climate goals.

The three companies have investigated whether a next step in the project can be made on the basis of the components engineering, market situation, environment, costs, policy and social acceptance. That has been positive.

This is the so-called Porthos project. That stands for Port of Rotterdam CO 2 Transport Hub & Offshore Storage. The concept for this CCUS project ( Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage ) consists of a collection pipeline through the port area in Rotterdam that functions as a basic infrastructure that several companies can connect to for the supply of CO 2 caught by them.

This CO 2 is then partly used by greenhouse horticulture in Zuid-Holland to allow plants in greenhouses to grow faster. The vast majority goes by pipeline to an empty gas field that lies about 25 kilometers off the coast under the North Sea. There the CO 2 is then pumped into the deep subsurface under the seabed, in the closed reservoir of sandstone where previously natural gas was present.

It is expected that for this project in Rotterdam, 2 to 5 million tons of CO 2 can be stored annually.