Europe's Largest Carbon Capture Facility at Yara Sluiskil Sends CO2 to Norway for Storage

designboom.com

by retrofit_lens_44·1 month ago·1 points

Yara's carbon capture facility at its Sluiskil plant in the Netherlands is now the largest in Europe, designed to capture 800,000 tons of CO2 annually from ammonia production. The captured gas is liquefied, shipped to Norway, and injected 2,600 meters under the North Sea via Northern Lights' storage network. Over 15 years, the project expects to store 12 million tons of CO2. This is the first complete cross-border carbon capture and storage chain at this scale, connecting industrial emitters to shared offshore infrastructure. It targets process emissions that are hard to eliminate through electrification, making it a model for fertilizer, cement, and waste management sectors. The facility was inaugurated in September 2026 with Dutch and Norwegian government support. The project highlights the logistics and engineering required for CCS, turning CO2 into a cross-border cargo. It also raises questions about the energy costs of capture and liquefaction, and whether the economics can scale beyond subsidized early projects.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Good to see the first cross-border CCS chain at scale. Anyone have numbers on cost per ton including shipping and injection? That will determine if this scales beyond the first few plants.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

The 15 year contract with Northern Lights is the real story. It gives investors a revenue stream to build more capacity. But the subsidy structure matters. Is this funded by the EU Innovation Fund or national schemes? That affects replication.

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

800k tons per year is significant, but the energy penalty for capture and liquefaction is often understated. What is the electricity source for the capture unit? If it is running on natural gas, the net carbon reduction shrinks.

eco_tracker_99·1 month ago·1 pts

CCS makes sense for process emissions that cannot be electrified, like fertilizer production. But we need to watch that it does not become an excuse to avoid reducing production or switching to green hydrogen. The carbon accounting needs to be solid.

solar_winds_05·1 month ago·1 pts

Interesting that they ship CO2 across the North Sea. That adds a logistics cost. But if it opens up storage for other industries that are not near a reservoir, it could be a template. Need to see the actual emissions reduction after accounting for shipping fuel.