29 October 2024

Construction CO₂ compressor station Porthos started

On Tuesday 29 October, in the presence of employees of contractor Bonatti SPA, BHP Funderingstechnieken and Porthos, the start of construction of the CO₂ compressor station on Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte was celebrated. As an official act, project director Hans Meeuwsen of Porthos trilled the reinforcement cage in the concrete foundation pile poured on site.

The compressor station is the heart of the Porthos project; here, captured CO₂ from Porthos customers Shell, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide and Air Products is pressurised from the land pipeline, after which it is piped via a sea pipeline to a depleted gas field under the North Sea bed. Initially, the compressor station will house three compressors, but the building is calculated to potentially double its capacity. Near the compressor station on the two-hectare site will further be an office building and some energy buildings, which will also be realised by Bonatti. G. van der Ven B.V. Aannemingsbedrijf is building the cooling water pump building on the site.

Piles made on site
On the Maasvlakte site, piles are not driven, but concrete piles are made on site. This technique involves using an ‘auger’ to drill to the desired depth and then, while pulling the auger, simultaneously filling the space created with concrete. The reinforcement baskets are then installed in the fresh concrete. The 806 piles (CFA piles) range in depth from -4.25 metres below sea level to -11.25 metres below sea level. Contractor BHP Funderingstechnieken is taking care of this technique. Uniquely, part of the piles will serve as a pile mattress for geotextile ‘cushions’ on which the foundations for the compressors will be placed. These ‘cushions’ absorb the varying loads of the compressors.

The Porthos project
Construction of the Porthos CCS project in the port of Rotterdam is in full swing: work is currently underway at more than ten locations along the route. Porthos is the first CO₂ transport and storage project of this scale in the European Union. The infrastructure includes an onshore pipeline of about 30 kilometres that connects to the capture plants of Porthos customers, a compressor station, an offshore pipeline and an existing platform in the North Sea located about 20 kilometres from the coast. From this former gas extraction platform, CO₂  is pumped to depleted gas fields. These are located in a confined space of porous sandstone more than 3 kilometres under the North Sea.

Construction schedule Porthos
Construction of the compressor station and other buildings of the complex is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2025. Construction of the offshore pipeline and work on the platform will begin in 2025. Porthos is expected to start operating in 2026.