A unique momentum for massive decarbonisation through the largest cross-border carbon capture and storage value chain.

Since we are facing a climate urgency, we have to act now. Both Air Liquide and BASF are companies that are committed to reduce their emissions and reach climate neutrality by 2050. Carbon capture and storage is a ready-now solution to reduce the CO₂ emissions of the BASF site in Antwerp due to its prime location in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges with direct sea access. The Kairos@C project, unprecedented by its scale, already represents an important step in the reduction of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

First, Antwerp is the second largest European port (after Rotterdam) and the largest European chemical cluster. In addition, the BASF site located in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the largest integrated chemical production complex in Belgium and a flagship site for the two companies. Its prime location with direct sea access makes it an attractive option for CO₂ carbon capture and export towards the North Sea. Finally, the project will benefit from Air Liquide’s and BASF’s long-lasting strategic partnership in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, which already lasts for more than 50 years.

Kairos@C is a prominent example of a Sustainable Energy Technology (SET) Plan strategy implementation, which looks for clusters and hubs linking a range of carbon and energy intensive industries to increase synergies. The project will support the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in becoming a regional hub for innovative energy and carbon value chains, hence contributing to the EU 2050 carbon neutrality objective. The project will also contribute to maintaining and reinforcing European industry’s global competitiveness, in line with the EU Industrial Strategy.

We do not think renewable energies deployment should be opposed to carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology deployment. They are, on the contrary, complementary solutions. In fact, CCS will allow for the gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies as it provides a rapid solution where there is no cleaner alternative. It is available now and will help us reach long-term targets, especially in hard-to-abate sectors and industries.

CCS should also be seen in the perspective of the development of the hydrogen energy economy, as it could accelerate the production of low-carbon H₂. Indeed, CCS is one of the solutions to produce low-carbon H₂, using our current well mastered and energy efficient natural gas method.

Kairos@C combines three first-of-its-kind innovations, embedded across the project. It is also one of the first cross-border carbon capture and storage chains being deployed for hard-to-abate CO₂ emissions, especially in Europe. On top of this, several elements in the chain have never been performed on such an industrial scale, e.g. Air Liquide’s CryocapTM technology, the energy efficient CO₂ liquefaction and export terminal (ten times the capacity of the largest CO₂ liquefaction unit in operation today) and the liquid CO₂ vessels.

Every single step of the complete carbon capture and storage chain already exists, but not necessarily on the same scale.

The big innovation of Kairos@C is to bring all these elements together and scale them up to an industrial scale.

Monitoring of the greenhouse gas emissions avoidance is a key requirement under the Innovation Fund grant agreement and under the EU ETS monitoring rules. The partners will implement a comprehensive and auditable monitoring plan that will cover the entire carbon capture and storage chain for the duration of the project.

Safety is the utmost priority of all partners, and they will pay extreme attention to this point, before taking any final investment decision.

Carbon capture and storage projects have already been successfully implemented in several regions in the world.

Now Each field and each carbon capture and storage project is different and as such all studies, tests and monitoring procedures need to be conducted with the highest professionalism.

Kairos@C received a grant of 356,9 million euros from the EU Commission Innovation Fund in 2022 for the realization of the project. This grant is necessary to bridge part of the funding gap of carbon capture and storage, which currently comes with a significant additional cost compared to the alternative of continuing business as usual. Kairos@C also received a grant of 10 million euros from the Flemish government.

Decarbonization refers to “alternative ways of living and working that reduce emissions and capture and store carbon in our soil and vegetation”². The difference between carbon capture and storage and decarbonization is that the former refers to a specific method of reducing CO₂ while the latter refers to the whole of the efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions. These efforts include CCS, reducing fossil fuel consumption, switching to low-emission technologies, switching to more environmentally friendly consumption, reforestation, etc… CCS therefore contributes to decarbonization of the environment, but is only part of the effort. Countries, companies, and individuals: everyone can and should contribute to decarbonization.

² United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Decarbonization cannot wait, https://unfccc.int/news/decarbonization-cannot-wait

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is Belgium’s biggest economic hub and one of Europe’s biggest ports. The port is vital for the Belgian and European industry and economy. Due to major industrial and naval activity at the port, it will not be possible to reduce the total amount of CO₂ emissions to zero in the short term, unless the port is completely shut down, but this is not a desirable option. Nevertheless, BASF and Air Liquide understand the environmental challenges we are facing and the urgency to reduce global CO₂ emissions. This is why BASF and Air Liquide have invested in the Kairos@C project, which uses carbon capture and storage, a ready-now solution to reduce CO₂ emissions in the short term.

With this project, BASF and Air Liquide contribute to the European objective of making the EU climate neutral by 2050. The European Parliament defines climate neutrality as “having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere”³. Being climate neutral thus requires absorbing as much CO₂ from the atmosphere as one emits into the atmosphere. The Kairos@C project will help avoid the emission of 1,5 Mt of CO₂ to the atmosphere per year over the first ten years of operation at the BASF chemical site in Antwerp. This corresponds to a reduction of almost 10% of the total annual CO₂ emissions of the Antwerp Industrial Cluster per year. This project is a step forward in Europe’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050.

³ European Parliament, What is carbon neutrality and how can it be achieved by 2050?, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20190926STO62270/