It was recently announced that MAN Energy Solutions won the contract to deliver three integrally-geared compressor trains (IGC) to the Porthos project, the first large-scale CCS project in the Netherlands.

The Porthos project is a new initiative which aims to use dis-used natural gas reservoirs under the North Sea to store 2.5 million tons of CO2 per year. The project has reached out to multiple companies within the Rotterdam port area, as 16% of Dutch CO2 emissions, originate from there. Companies within this area have agreed to allow the project to source their CO2 to be stored from them. The next step in this project will be to compress the carbon, which MAN Energy Solutions has the responsibility of doing, and then the compressed carbon will be transported and injected into a sealed reservoir, underneath the North Sea, which consists of porous sandstone, spanning more than 3 km. The plan for this will be to store an estimated total of 37 million tons of CO2 permanently and this CO2 will be added over a 15-year timeline, portraying a gradual and steady increase within this decarbonisation strategy.

Alongside this, Porthos has also made agreements with Air Liquide, Air Products, ExxonMobil and Shell, who are the companies who have agreed to provide the project with their CO2 emissions. They will deliver their respective products through a common pipeline which will run 30 kilometres through Rotterdam’s port area.

MAN Energy Solutions’ role within this work encompasses the delivery of three RG 28-6 type compressor trains with a further order for two additional units which will be implemented at a later stage. These trains will be located at a station on Maasvlakte, the man-made, western extension to Europoort. It’s at this location that the CO2 will be compressed to different discharge pressure levels, with a maximum level of 180 bars. Each compressor has the ability to handle a maximum amount of 250 tons of CO2 per hour. Along with the rest of this process, a dynamic process simulation will be included, allowing the compressor system to continuously operate at its full potential, with a focus on process efficiency.

The next steps involve the transportation process from the compressor station to the P18-A platform within the North Sea. This transportation will be enabled through the use of a 22km pipeline and once this journey is completed, the CO2 will be pumped into the exhausted P18 gas fields, which lie 3,200 to 3,500 m underneath the seafloor. These fields have a storage capacity of around 37 million tons. This system is due to be operational by 2026.

The CEO of MAN Energy Solutions, commented Dr. Uwe Lauber, “We are extremely proud to be part of this pioneering project aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. Not only will Porthos play a vital role in propelling the Netherlands toward achieving net-zero emissions, the project is also innovative in its approach that aims at establishing a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure serving multiple companies. Such game-changing initiatives are crucial in advancing CCS efforts and effectively reducing emissions that are hard to abate.”

The Head of Sales & Project Management CCS at MAN Energy Solutions, Dr. Marco Ernst, added, “This major order proves once again that MAN Energy Solutions is consolidating its technology leadership position as a provider of state-of-the-art CO2 compression solutions. Our RG compressor design with integrated gearbox and individual stages operating at their own optimized speeds is ideal for CO2 compression with very high-pressure ratios.”