EU backs four CCS projects through innovation fund

The European Commission announced on November 16 it was investing €1.1bn ($1.2bn) from the EU's Innovation Fund in seven large-scale projects to reduce emissions, including four involving carbon capture storage (CCS).

At a refinery in Porvoo, Finland, a project will demonstrate ways of producing clean hydrogen using renewable energy and by capturing CO₂ that can be stored in the North Sea. The refinery's operator Neste confirmed it would be receiving €88mn from the EU fund.

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In France, a project will capture and CO₂ emitted at a cement plant and partly store it in the North Sea and partly integrate it into concrete. Belgium is meanwhile looking to establish a CCS value chain in the port of Antwerp to reduce emissions from the production of hydrogen and chemicals. Another project in Sweden will establish a full-scale CCS facility at a biomass heat and power plant in Stockholm.

The commission said the projects had been selected based on an independent assessment of their ability to bring down emissions versus conventional technologies and their innovativeness, but also their maturity, to enable fast deployment, and their scalability and cost effectiveness.

"Today's decision gives concrete support to clean tech projects across Europe and enables them to scale up game-changing technologies that support and speed up the transition to climate neutrality," EC vice president Frans Timmermans said in a statement.

Another project in line for funding will use renewable energy to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from steel production in Sweden. In Italy, there are plans for an industrial-scale pilot line for manufacturing photovoltaic cells, and another project in Spain will convert non-recyclable municipal solid waste to methanol.

This article first appeared in Gas Pathways, a platform dedicated to technology and innovation in the natural gas industry. Click here for more information.