Start of a CO2 hub in Rotterdam: connecting CCS and CCU

Rotterdam is an industry intensive region with the ambition of combining economic growth with sustainable development. It set itself the target to reduce annual CO2 emissions with 50% by 2025 compared to 1990 levels (a 27 Mt reduction compared to business as usual). CCS is projected to play a big role in reaching this target, providing 60-70% of the reduction. The ROAD project aims to capture 1.1 Mt/yr on average at a new build coal fired power plant (Maasvlakte Power Plant 3, MPP3) on the Maasvlakte/Rotterdam. There is also a possibility to re-use (CCU) part of this captured CO2 in greenhouses north of Rotterdam. OCAP currently delivers CO2 from a refinery and bioethanol plant to greenhouses to enhance crop growth. This is seasonal demand, so the CO2 sources emit the CO2 in the winter. ROAD and OCAP have investigated the possibility to connect the two infrastructures and thereby creating a CO2 hub in Rotterdam, giving additional CO2 delivery to greenhouses in summer and additional CO2 storage in winter. The main challenge is the sizing, design and operation of the infrastructure, an 18 km pipeline. A 20 '' or 24 '' pipeline operated at 21 bar seems to be the best option. Between these two pipelines the only distinction is the throughput (and therefore fit with ambitions of CCS and CCU). With a marginal additional investment the throughput increases by 50-60% between a 20 '' and 24 '' pipeline. Another advantage of using a 21 bar pipeline to connect the system is the possibility to control the temperature in the ROAD pipeline to the storage site. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.