Showcasing Dutch Leadership in CCUS Hosted by RVO

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) hosted a dedicated carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) workshop in Rotterdam for the IEAGHG Executive Committee members. Held on 20 May 2025, the event brought members together to gain insights into the Netherlands’ advancements in CCUS, showcasing Dutch leadership in CCUS.

Opening Remarks

Martijn van de Sande (RVO) opened the workshop by welcoming participants and remarking that the meeting would highlight the progress the Netherlands has made in CCS development from policy frameworks to infrastructure deployment. His remarks set the stage for an engaging meeting focused on innovation, collaboration, and technical dialogue.

Tim Dixon (IEAGHG) thanked Martijn van de Sande for hosting the event, highlighting the Netherlands’ strong and long-standing commitment to CCUS. He noted IEAGHG’s close ties with the country, recalling that GHGT-10, once the largest in the programme’s history, was held in the Netherlands, a benchmark only recently surpassed by GHGT-17 in Calgary. This, he said, reflects the Dutch’s continued leadership and progress in CCS.

Highlights from the Workshop Sessions

Bert Stuij (RVO) presented on “CCUS: The Urgency, the Relevance and the Progress,” emphasising the rise in atmospheric CO₂, with May 2025 levels projected at 429.6 ppm, the highest in over two million years. He underscored that while the need for large-scale emissions reduction is urgent, the pathway forward, rooted in proven climate solutions including CCUS, is well understood. CCUS, he stressed, plays a key though not main role in achieving net zero (as no single solution can claim a main role). Despite delays in project realisation, he encouraged stakeholders to move boldly forward, affirming that despair is not an option and that success hinges on urgent, coordinated action.

Pim van Lonn (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy) outlined the Netherlands’ approach to supporting CCUS through a robust policy framework. Key instruments include the SDE++ subsidy scheme[1], a contract for difference mechanism that prioritises the most cost-effective solutions, and ongoing investment in research and development through initiatives such as ACT (Accelerating CCS Technologies)[2] and CETP (Clean Energy Transition Partnership)[3]. He also highlighted the role of public-private partnerships and the active involvement of state-owned enterprises in the CCS market. Importantly, he noted that a sufficient legal framework is already in place to support deployment and ensure market stability.

Status update from (Port of Rotterdam Transport Hub and Offshore Storage) Porthos and Aramis were delivered by Willem Jan Plug (Porthos) and Annemarie Manger (Aramis) respectively. The Porthos project marks a major milestone in CCS, as the first large-scale transport and storage network in the EU. With a total investment of €1.3 billion, this public-private initiative is jointly funded by Gasunie, the Port of Rotterdam, and Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN). The project integrates a 30 km onshore pipeline through Rotterdam’s industrial zone, linking to a compressor station at Maasvlakte and connecting four launch customers: Shell, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide, and Air Products. These industrial partners have committed to capturing and storing 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, amounting to 37 million tonnes over 15 years in depleted offshore gas fields more than 3,000 metres beneath the North Sea.

The Aramis project is advancing as a large-scale open access CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, with an offshore pipeline capacity of 22 million tonnes per year. Aramis is progressing toward a final investment decision and targets becoming operational by the end of the decade. While CO₂ capture at industrial sites is outside its direct scope, Aramis aims to create synergies with initiatives such as Porthos and CO₂next. Like its namesake from fiction, Aramis is positioned as a collaborative partner, supporting and complementing other CCS efforts in the Netherlands.

Hans Wassenaar (AVR) presented the development of CO₂ capture at the AVR waste-to-energy plant in Duiven, showcasing the path from pilot testing to full-scale implementation. The first plant, operational since 2019, captures 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, which is supplied to Air Liquide for use in greenhouse horticulture. A second, larger facility with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes per year is now under development. AVR is currently hosting several pilot tests, including an upcoming demonstration of CarbonOrO’s proprietary bi-phasic amine technology. He remarked that this solvent offers up to 40 percent lower energy consumption and improved resistance to oxidative and thermal degradation compared to conventional monoethanolamine (MEA).

Micha Sprengers (ExxonMobil) presented the Rotterdam Carbonate Fuel Cell Pilot (CFCPilot4CCS)[4], a novel CO₂ capture project being developed in collaboration with FuelCell Energy. The pilot, co-funded by RVO and the EU ETS Innovation Fund, is being implemented by Esso Nederland at its Rotterdam site. Leveraging over a decade of research and development, the project integrates molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) technology, which enables the electrochemical capture of CO₂ from flue gas while simultaneously generating low-carbon electricity, heat and hydrogen. According to ExxonMobil and FuelCell Energy, the technology offers 20 to 30 percent lower fuel consumption and reduced CO₂ storage requirements per tonne avoided, compared to conventional capture approaches. The pilot is geared to position carbonate fuel cells as a promising pathway for industrial decarbonisation.

Auke Barnhoorn (TU Delft) presented ongoing research focused on improving the understanding of geomechanics in long-term CO₂ storage. His team is working to develop monitoring strategies to forecast stress changes and reduce the risk of containment failure in subsurface reservoirs. Drawing on a series of research initiatives, including ACT2 SUCCEED, ACT3 SHARP, and CETP Q-Fibre, DeepNL, EPOS-NL and EPOS-Enlarge, the works aim to better predict the mechanical behaviour of reservoir rocks under varying conditions. The SHARP project (Stress History and Reservoir Pressure for Improved Quantification of CO₂ Storage Containment Risks) specifically investigates stress sensitivity in North Sea sandstone formations, exploring the acoustic response of rocks to CO₂ pressure changes. The goal is to establish reliable correlations between petrophysical and mechanical properties and to develop cost-effective, field-ready protocols for monitoring subsurface stress evolution and integrity over time.

Peter van Os (TNO) delivered an overview of the progress and remaining challenges in scaling up CO₂ capture technologies, under the theme “Closing the Gaps Towards the Rollout of CO₂ Capture.” He highlighted how early pilot projects such as those in Esbjerg, Rotterdam, Niederaußem, and Trondheim laid the groundwork for current large-scale demonstrations. Research initially focused on energy efficiency, using MEA as a benchmark solvent, but also exposed key knowledge gaps, including a limited understanding of solvent degradation byproducts and the need for more accurate models.
A succession of EU and national projects such as OCTAVIUS, CEMCAP, HiPerCap, ALIGN-CCUS, and more recently LAUNCH, SCOPE and MeDORA has steadily advanced both capture technology and solvent management. These projects have addressed emissions, cost efficiency, and performance reliability. Novel developments are also emerging in new sectors. The EverLoNG project is demonstrating ship-based CO₂ capture, while DRIVE is exploring electrified regeneration systems for deep CO₂ removal.

Conclusion

The workshop showcased the Netherlands’ continued leadership in advancing CCUS through a strong combination of coordinated policy, public-private collaboration, and technical innovation. From innovative capture technologies to pioneering transport and storage networks, and from enabling regulation to geomechanical & reservoir studies, the event highlighted a truly integrated approach to making CCS a reality.

The Netherlands has demonstrated how to move from ambition to execution, translating concepts into real, operational projects. As momentum builds globally, the Dutch experience stands as a compelling model for accelerating CCUS deployment around the world.

Following the close of the workshop, participants attended a semi-informal session that featured emerging innovations from Paebbl, Carbotreat, SeaO₂, and TNO. A summary of that session is provided in a separate blog.

[1] Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Stimulation of sustainable energy production and climate transition (SDE++)
[2] ACT. Accelerating CCS Technologies
[3] CETP. The Clean Energy Transition Partnership
[4] ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil to Build CCS Pilot Plant with FuelCell Energy Using Carbonate Fuel Cell Technology