designboom · Creativity & design

Europe's Largest Carbon Capture Facility Opens in Netherlands

A new industrial carbon capture facility at Yara's ammonia and fertilizer plant in Sluiskil, Netherlands, is now operational. It is designed to capture up to 800,000 tons of CO₂ annually.

This facility initiates a cross-border carbon capture and storage chain, transporting captured CO₂ from Dutch industry to permanent geological storage under the Norwegian North Sea. The captured CO₂ is a by-product of ammonia production.

Once captured and liquefied at Yara Sluiskil, the CO₂ is loaded onto vessels operated by Northern Lights. These ships transport the CO₂ to Norway, where it is injected approximately 2,600 meters beneath the seabed into a storage network designed for European industrial emitters.

The project integrates capture equipment, storage tanks, ships, terminals, and underground reservoirs across national borders. This logistical system allows capture facilities to connect with shared offshore infrastructure, even if not located directly above a storage site.

Yara and Northern Lights anticipate capturing and storing around 12 million tons of CO₂ over the next 15 years. This initiative aims to reduce the carbon footprint of products like fertilizers and ammonia, supporting industrial production where full electrification or renewable alternatives are not yet feasible.

The Sluiskil facility, inaugurated on September 7, 2026, represents visible industrial infrastructure for carbon management, connecting a major fertilizer plant to offshore geological storage. The project highlights the significant architecture, engineering, and logistics involved in managing large-scale carbon emissions.

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