A consortium of 11 European companies have launched a new project for industrial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS)

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Image: A map showing the DMX Demonstration in Dunkirk project. Photo: © Total.

A consortium of European companies has launched a €19m (£16.7m) EU-funded project to demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) from industrial activities in Dunkirk, in France.

The 11 European stakeholders in the project, which is named DMX Demonstration in Dunkirk (3D), include include ArcelorMittal, Axens, ACP, Brevik Engineering, CMI, DTU, Gassco, RWTH, IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), Uetikon and oil and gas player Total.

Part of wider study targeting the development of future European Dunkirk North Sea capture and storage cluster, the four-year project will run under the Horizon 2020 programme and includes £13m in EU subsidies.

The project will demonstrate effectiveness of DMX process on pilot industrial scale

Coordinated by IFPEN, the 3D project aims to demonstrate the DMX process’ effectiveness on a pilot industrial scale; prepare the implementation of a first industrial unit; and design future European Dunkirk North Sea cluster.

The DMX process uses a solvent which reduces the energy consumption for capture by some 35% compared with the reference process.

Planned to be operational in 2025, the proposed industrial unit at the ArcelorMittal site in Dunkirk will have capacity to capture more than one million metric tons of CO2 a year.

Total said that the Dunkirk North Sea cluster should be able to capture, pack, transport and store 10 million metric tons of CO2 a year. It is planned to be operational by 2035.

The firm said in a statement: “This cluster will be backed up by the packing and transport infrastructures for storing CO2 in the North Sea developed by other projects such as the Northern Lights project 1 that Total is already involved in.”

In addition to validating replicable technical solutions, the 3D project aims to achieve industrial deployment of Capture & Storage technology.

Additionally, the project is expected to contribute in meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement on global warming.

Total senior vice president and group chief technology officer Marie-Noelle Semeria said: “Commercial-scale pilots, such as Dunkirk’s, are vital to make carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies more competitive, supporting the growth of low-carbon industry.

“Total aspires to become a major player in CCUS technologies, which are vital to achieving carbon neutrality in the second half of the century, and we are happy to be involved alongside our European partners.”