The Operator Training Simulator (OTS) will play a vital role in the CCS project in Brevik, by allowing operators to learn and practice the operation of a chemical process – in a virtual and risk-free environment. OTS can help operators master operations under various conditions and handle any unforeseen events that may arise during the process.

Initiative from Brevik CCS

Project Manager Tor Gautestad at Brevik CCS has been the driving force behind the OTS sub-project. – I initiated the process by asking Aker Carbon Capture about the possibility of creating a digital twin to simulate the process and train operators. They confirmed this, based on offshore projects with Kongsberg Digital. Although the Brevik facility is smaller than the offshore platforms Aker and Kongsberg Digital have worked with previously, the OTS solution in Brevik is also very complex, says Tor Gautestad.

Aker Carbon Capture has provided the capture technology used at Brevik CCS. MAN Energy Solutions has contributed with Carbon Capture Heat Recovery technology, which recovers heat from the compression system for use in the carbon capture plant, making the entire process more energy-efficient.

Innovation and Knowledge Sharing

Longship is Europe’s first approved full-scale CCS project. Its purpose is to demonstrate that CO₂ management is safe and feasible. Longship aims to be a significant contributor to the development of CCS as a climate measure. This includes developing solutions and sharing knowledge with subsequent projects. – OTS is a prime example of a contribution from Longship, where players like Kongsberg and Aker develop customized CCS solutions – based on offshore experience. OTS solutions stemming from Norwegian knowledge environments can provide important learning for upcoming CCS plants, says Senior Advisor Hans Jørgen Vinje at Gassnova.

Training Content

OTS ensures that operators have the necessary knowledge and skills, including in-depth knowledge of CCS technology. This enables them to handle equipment and processes efficiently and safely. The training covers all aspects of CO₂ capture, compression, transport, and storage. The program includes technical training which provides a comprehensive overview of capture technology, compression techniques, and equipment used in the process. Safety and emergency procedures are other critical components. Environmental and regulatory requirements cover knowledge of environmental regulations and measures, to minimize risk of harm.

Comprehensive Training Plan

OTS involves a carefully planned, phased training, evaluation, and certification process.
Training for operators and maintenance workers is followed up with further education and refresher courses. Operators’ skills are regularly evaluated through tests and practical assessments. Follow-up programs ensure that competence is maintained. Digital tools and simulation technology are used to provide realistic training and monitor training progress.

– OTS increases efficiency and reliability, as well-trained operators contribute to efficient operations, reduce downtime, and increase productivity. Continuous training also promotes a culture of innovation, where operators can suggest improvements based on practical experience. We can simulate different scenarios and see the effects of changes before implementing them in reality. This provides us with valuable data and insights, Tor continues.

Corporate Support

Heidelberg Materials is a global building materials company who owns and operates the Brevik CCS project. The CCS facility in Brevik is the world’s first at a cement plant. Based on the knowledge gained here, Heidelberg Materials has launched several other carbon management projects, some with capture rates which will decarbonize the respective cement plants by 2030.

– Our owners see the potential in the simulator, which can play a crucial role in carbon management at the group’s other cement plants. The management at Heidelberg Materials sees the potential in OTS technology, both for training operators and engineers, and for optimizing operational processes, concludes Tor Gautestad at Brevik CCS.

Collaboration with TCM

There is also cooperation with the Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), which has more than 12 years of experience operating a CO₂ capture facility. About 20 operators from Brevik CCS were at TCM earlier this year to learn more about their experiences. It has proven important to be connected to a real capture facility on a smaller scale, where CO₂ capture has been tested in various operational environments over time. This exchange of experiences will continue when Brevik CCS becomes operational.

Longship is a carbon capture, transport, and storage project (CCS) partially funded by the state. The project involves industrial partners Heidelberg Materials, Hafslund Celsio, and the Northern Lights consortium. The plan is for CO₂ from the capture facilities of Heidelberg Materials and Hafslund Celsio to be transported by ship to a reception facility near Bergen. From there, it will be conveyed via pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 meters below the seabed.

Progress of Longship

Construction of Northern Lights’ CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure and Heidelberg Materials’ capture facility in Brevik is progressing. As of now, the Brevik CCS is 76 percent complete, while Northern Lights’ storage facility is 94 percent complete. In April 2023, Hafslund Celsio decided to pause the implementation of CO₂ capture at the waste-to-energy plant in Klemetsrud, to explore various cost reduction options.

Operational in 2025

Longship, with captured CO₂ from Brevik and Northern Lights’ transport and storage, will be operational in 2025. Northern Lights will also transport and store up to 800,000 tons of CO₂ annually from Yara’s ammonia and fertilizer plant in Sluiskil, Netherlands – in addition to 430,000 tons of biogenic CO₂ per year from Ørsted’s two power plants in Denmark, starting in 2026.
This will utilize the overcapacity in Northern Lights infrastructure already established through Longship.

In December 2023, Northern Lights was nominated by the EU Commission to receive 131 million euros from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Phase II construction.

Project Status in Detail

Heidelberg Materials

As of April 30, 2024, the cumulative progress for the Brevik CCS project is 76.2 percent.
Brevik CCS and Aker Carbon Capture (the capture technology provider) aim to be mechanically complete (construction finished and the facility ready for commissioning) by December 1, 2024.

Work and progress in April 2024 have increased the likelihood of achieving this milestone.

A significant milestone was reached in early May 2024, with the placement of the compressor and compressor motor. Another major milestone was achieved in August 2023, with the placement of the absorber and absorber stack.

The state and Heidelberg Materials have signed an agreement ensuring the completion of the capture project following communicated cost overruns. According to the agreement, Heidelberg Materials is committed to completing the project and covering increased costs. In return, the company retains a larger share of the potential returns. The state will provide startup support of up to 150 million NOK when the facility is ready to send the first load of CO₂, to Northern Lights.

Brevik CCS is garnering significant interest both internally and externally. Since the inception of Longship, Heidelberg Materials has made further advancements in CCS and now has several planned projects. One of these is Slite CCS on Gotland in Sweden, one of Europe’s largest CCS projects, aiming to capture up to 1.8 million tons of CO₂ annually. This corresponds to four percent of Sweden’s total emissions today.

Northern Lights

As of April 30, 2024, the construction of the Northern Lights CO₂ storage facility is 94 percent complete. Storage infrastructure consists of an onshore reception terminal, an underwater pipeline, two injection wells, and the storage complex. Pre-commissioning and commissioning activities for the Northern Lights facilities have started or will start soon.

Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co., Ltd. (DSOC) is building ships dedicated to CO₂ transport for Northern Lights. The overall progress for the first two ships is 88.4 percent complete (as of April 30, 2024).

Northern Lights has signed a transport and storage agreement with Yara to store up to 800,000 tons of CO₂ annually from Yara’s ammonia and fertilizer plant in Sluiskil, Netherlands – starting in 2025. The agreement is approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Energy. Northern Lights has also signed a transport and storage agreement with Ørsted to store 430,000 tons of biogenic CO₂ annually from two power plants in Denmark, starting in 2026.

Northern Lights has ambitious growth plans, aiming to expand storage capacity in line with market development and the maturation of commercial agreements. For the next phase of development, Northern Lights aims for an additional capacity of 3.5 million tons per year.

Northern Lights was nominated to receive 131 million euros under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding scheme. Nearly 480 million euros have been allocated from the CEF to four CO₂ transport and storage projects in Europe. According to the European Commission, these projects represent the first building blocks of a future European carbon value chain, planned to be completed by the end of the decade. This is expected to contribute to the EU’s decarbonization goals by 2030.

Northern Lights is included as a Project of Mutual Interest (PMI) by the European Commission, on the new list of the EU’s energy projects of common and mutual interest.

Northern Lights received 894 visitors to the facility in April, bringing the total number of visitors to over 8,000 since its inception.

Hafslund Celsio

In April 2023, Hafslund Celsio decided to pause the implementation of the CO₂ capture project at the waste-to-energy plant in Klemetsrud. This was done to evaluate various cost reduction solutions. The company’s own estimates showed that the expected costs of the project were about three billion NOK higher than at the investment decision.

Hafslund Celsio is owned by Hafslund, Infranode, and HitecVision. On June 1 of this year, the company changed its name to Hafslund Celsio to align with other fully or partially owned companies of Hafslund.

Celsio has signed two FEED contracts with Aker Carbon Capture and Aker Solutions. This is to develop carbon capture at the waste-to-energy plant in Klemetsrud, and one with Aker Solutions for interim buffer storage at the Port of Oslo. The capture facility will be based on Aker Carbon Capture’s modular Just Catch 400 unit, with a design capacity to capture up to 400,000 tons of CO₂ per year.

A new project basis will be submitted to the government in the summer of 2024. Government will decide on support for the project and any changes to the state support agreement, once a sufficiently mature and quality-assured project basis is available.

The changes in the CCS project in Oslo do not affect the completion of Longship as a full chain for the capture, transport, and storage of CO₂. Heidelberg Materials is capable of capturing CO₂, and Northern Lights is capable of transporting and permanently storing CO₂ from 2025.

Global events such as the war in Ukraine, with material shortages and rising prices in its wake, have directly impacted projects like Brevik CCS. Part of the mandate for the Longship participants – Heidelberg Materials, Hafslund Oslo Celsio, and Northern Lights – is to contribute to increased experience and awareness regarding CO₂ management. Experiences are communicated appropriately through reports, visits to the facilities, and participation in conferences and presentations.

The state covers a significant portion of the project costs. In return, it is required that the Longship participants share their experiences with subsequent CCS projects. Brevik CCS’s 2023 experience report is part of the requirements in the State Support Agreement (SSA), which Gassnova follows up on.

Topics covered in Brevik CCS’s experience report include technical solutions, experiences from the project implementation phase, project management, environmental impact, health, safety, and environment (HSE), business models, and potential improvements. The report from Brevik discusses the experiences from 2023 and provides a broader understanding of the complexity of CCS projects of this magnitude – during a hectic construction phase.

A similar experience report for 2023 has also come from Northern Lights.

Status and Results

Throughout 2023, Brevik CCS made significant progress despite challenging external conditions. Key technical advances included completing the engineering work on the CO₂ capture plant, and successfully installing key infrastructure such as CO₂ storage tanks and pipeline systems. These milestones represent significant technical and operational progression in the project. This illustrates the project team’s need for flexibility to handle uncertainty in the supply chain.

Technical Challenges

The technical work encountered several challenges, especially related to pipeline systems and standardizations. The choice between pipe standards such as ASME, ANSI, ASTM, and EN impacted the availability and delivery time of materials. This affected not only the project’s progress but also the cost frameworks and efficiency.

Technical Proficiency

A lack of specialized knowledge in pipeline systems within the project team led to challenges related to deliveries, fabrication, and installation. This underscores the importance of specialized expertise in future projects, especially related to complex pipeline systems.

Material handling

2023 demonstrated how crucial sufficient supply chain management is for a large and complex project under critical market conditions. Project management had to adjust budgets due to inflation and delays in material deliveries. This affected both schedules and finances. The learning point is to anticipate and plan for economic adjustments, especially given enhanced global uncertainty.

Engineering and Installation

The engineering phase of the Brevik CCS project involved development of detailed milestones and process definitions. An example of challenges in this context is the installation of cold insulation on the tanks for liquid CO₂. This required careful climate control and planning, especially in the colder months of the year.

Training

A key theme for 2023 was the training of operational personnel. Using an Operator Training System (OTS) became a critical success factor for effective training. Ensuring a smooth transition to full operation is essential. The operators being well-prepared before the start of the plant will continue to be a priority into 2024.

Safety and Environment

Brevik CCS maintains high standards for environmental and safety at the workplace, and Norwegian authorities impose strict requirements. Strict emission permits and compliance with environmental regulations are key to the project’s acceptance in the community. Experience from these processes will be very important for similar projects going forward. It is important to have good dialogue with local authorities and the population nearby the facility.

Brevik CCS; Summary

In the third year of the Brevik CCS project has provided knowledge which will be useful for future carbon capture and storage projects. The importance of technical expertise, thorough planning, and adaptability has been clearly demonstrated over the past year. The insights from 2023 will not only affect the next phases of the Brevik project, but they will also be valuable for new, global CCS initiatives.

Northern Lights has prepared an experience report for 2023, which is their review of the past year – and part of the requirements in the State Support Agreement (SSA). Topics to be covered include technical solutions, experiences from the project implementation phase, project management, environmental impact, health, safety, and environment (HSE), business models, and potential improvements. – All these topics will be important in the work to reduce global carbon emissions in an efficient way, with the help of CO₂ management – says Aslak Viumdal, senior advisor at Gassnova.

A similar experience report for 2023 will also come from Heidelberg Materials.

The state is engaged in Longship as a response to global climate changes. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an important measure to reduce Norway’s carbon footprint, and the main goal of Longship is to demonstrate that a full CCS chain can be realized. As Longship is developed, experiences are also shared with other European countries – where CCS technology is gradually gaining a strong foothold. Northern Lights, with its transport and storage infrastructure, has already secured new volumes from Yara in the Netherlands and from Ørsted in Denmark, where CO₂ from these will be stored on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Disbursement of support for construction of the facilities

The state has allocated significant funds to establish Longship as a CCS chain, and part of Gassnova’s responsibility is to disburse the correct support to the actors for the construction of the facilities. The actors themselves are responsible for constructing the facilities, and they will own and operate the facilities upon completion.

Risk distribution and risk-based follow-up

The state’s choice to support a whole chain, with capture, transport, and storage, is key to Longship becoming a reality. The state has taken on significant responsibility as a risk mitigator between the actors, to give them the opportunity to frame their own project with acceptable uncertainty.

Based on the actors’ reporting and the progress of the projects, Gassnova conducts its own risk assessments and analyses to advise the Ministry of Energy, and to protect the state’s position in the contracts. – Risk-based follow-up is key to a small team being able to monitor the support agreements, and the significant funds the state has made available for Longship. Gassnova sits close to the actors and understand the developments in the projects, this is key to using resources effectively, especially when projects encounter challenges, says Harald Anvik.

“Uncharted Territories”

The full-chain CCS in Longship represents “Uncharted Territories “. The project follow-up team at Gassnova has been impressed by the industrial partners’ efforts to find solutions to challenges no one before them has had to deal with – from working at the interface between facilities, to preparations for operation, and to unforeseen delays in the construction process, especially with the effect of challenges around Covid and the war in Ukraine. Building facilities to be integrated into existing factories is particularly difficult. It is important not to underestimate the scope of integration, available power, necessary areas, regulations, and the like.

Knowledge sharing and social responsibility

Parallel to the construction projects, one of the goals of Longship is to drive knowledge sharing. This is especially true for new actors with CCS in the pipeline. A number of European authorities, representatives from politics, business, and media have visited the facilities in Brevik, Oslo, and Øygarden outside Bergen. Significant efforts are made by industrial actors to meet the state’s expectations in this area.

– A big thank you to Heidelberg Materials, Hafslund Oslo Celsio, and Northern Lights for welcoming visitors who want to see a real CCS facility being built. We are also very satisfied with how the dialogue between the local community and the developers is proceeding in the project. The facilities are located close to the residents’ daily lives, and there will always be challenges with large construction activity. But the impression is that individual cases are resolved as well as possible, precisely through good local dialogue. At the same time, we are pleased that among others, the industrial actor Heidelberg Materials employs locally as their facility in Brevik is eventually prepared for start-up, says Harald.

What have you learned?

The greatest lesson, or rather confirmation, is the importance of collaboration and flexibility. It is also very important to have robust and well-developed agreements in place. The expectations set in the state support agreements also provide a more open and tidy dialogue between the stakeholders in Longship. An advantage for the project is also the traditionally good interaction between the state and the business/industrial sector in Norway. This is something our foreign partners do not always experience at home, and which is well noticed during visits to the Longship actors in Norway, concludes Harald Anvik at Gassnova.

The history

The Longship project (.pdf) is the Norwegian Government’s name of the initiative to develop a full-scale CCS value chain in Norway. Demonstrating the potential of CCS to Europe and the world. A carbon capture facility is currently being built at Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik, Norway. Hafslund Oslo Celsio started building a carbon capture facility at their waste-to-energy plant in Oslo in August 2022. But construction was put on hold in April 2023. And a new final investment decision is scheduled in the summer of 2024. Northern Lights is currently developing a solution for the transport and storage of CO₂.

Longship is progressing

Construction of the Northern Lights CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure and Heidelberg Materials’ capture plant is progressing. Brevik CCS is 71% completed and the Northern Lights storage facility is 91% completed.

Hafslund Oslo Celsio (Celsio) decided in April 2023 to introduce a twelve-month cost reduction phase. Therfore placed the construction on hold at the waste-to-energy facility at Klemetsrud. An updated cost estimate showed that the carbon capture project would exceed the maximum budget stipulated in its government funding agreement. A FEED contract with Aker Carbon Capture and Aker Solutions to develop carbon capture is now signed. Celsio has scheduled a new final investment decision in the summer of 2024.

Operational in 2025

Longship will be operational in 2025 with captured CO₂ from Brevik, transport and storage, behind the initial plan (late 2024), according to the latest communication from the Government.

Northern Lights has finalized the transport and storage agreement with Yara to store up to 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually from Yara’s ammonia and fertiliser plant in Sluskil, Netherlands. Northern Lights has also entered into transport and storage agreement with Ørsted to store 430,000 tonnes biogenic CO₂ per year from two power plants in Denmark from 2026. These projects utilize the overcapacity in the Northern Lights infrastructure already established through the Longship project.

Northern Lights was selected by the EU Commission in December 2023 to receive € 131 million from Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for construction works for a Phase 2. Northern Lights are currently in dialogue with the Commission related to the conditions for this potential grant.

Longship to stimulate market development for CCS in Europe

In January 2021, the Norwegian parliament decided to fund Langskip. This marked the start of the construction phase of Heidelberg Materials Brevik’s CO₂ capture project in Brevik, Norway. And Northern Lights’ transport and storage project on the Norwegian west coast. Northern Lights received a grant from the Norwegian government to build and operate an overcapacity transport and storage infrastructure for CO₂. Northern Lights has successfully sold this capacity to two industrial projects in Europe – Ørsted in Denmark and now Yara in the Netherlands. Earlier this year, Northern Lights and Ørsted signed an agreement to transport and store 430,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year from two power plants in Denmark.

– The agreement in the Netherlands is a milestone for both Northern Lights and Yara and for the development of the market in Europe. It shows that the commercial potential for CCS in Europe is now being realised and that the market for CO₂ transport and storage is developing positively. The agreements with Northern Lights fit well with the purpose of the Longship project,” says Morten Henriksen, CEO of Gassnova.

Will remove 12 million tonnes of CO₂

Yara Sluiskil is one of the world’s largest ammonia and mineral fertilizer plants. The reduction of 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ is equivalent to 0.5 percent of the total annual emissions in the Netherlands (as of 2022). Over the next 15 years, Yara will remove around 12 million tonnes of CO₂ from production at Sluiskil. Yara has received EUR 30 million from the Dutch government to support the project.

CCS is a cost-effective solution for decarbonisation that is compatible with existing European production infrastructure, for ammonia and fertilizer production. Yara believes that all technologies must be used to address the climate crisis. The European industry is eagerly awaiting the EU’s CCUS strategy, which is expected to be published early next year.

Based on press releases from the following companies; Yara and Northern Lights

Construction of the Northern Lights CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure and Heidelberg Materials’ capture plant is progressing.

• Celsio decided in April to introduce a twelve-month cost reduction phase and place the construction on hold after an updated cost estimate showed that the carbon capture project would exceed the maximum budget stipulated in its government funding agreement.
• Longship will be operational with captured CO₂ from Brevik, transport and storage in 2025, behind the initial plan (late 2024), according to the latest communication from the Government (Prop. 118 S (2022-2023)).

Status Northern Lights

• Construction of the Northern Lights CO₂storage facility is 86,3% completed (2023.08.31).
• The visitor centre was opened in October 2022 by the Norwegian prime minister Støre.
• Preliminary results from drilling operations confirm the storage capacity of at least 5 million tonnes CO₂per annum. The drilling of one CO₂ injection well and one contingent injection well is completed.  
• Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC) is building ships dedicated for CO₂ transport for Northern Lights. September 1, Northern Lights awarded the third ship building contract to DSOC. The overall progress for the first ship, including detailed design, engineering, procurement etc., are now 50,2 % completed (2023.08.31) and it will be delivered in 2024.
• Northern Lights has entered into transport and storage agreement with Ørsted to store 430,000 tonnes biogenic CO₂per year from two power plants in Denmark from 2026. Northern Lights is labelling this as an essential step for creating a commercial market for CCS in Europe. In August 2022, Yara and Northern Lights agreed on the main commercial terms on cross border CO₂ transport and storage. From early 2025, up to 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ will, according to plan, be captured from Yara’s ammonia and fertiliser plant in Sluiskil in the Netherlands and transported and stored by Northern Lights.
• Northern Lights plan to increase storage capacity to 5 million tonnes per year through an additional development phase (Phase 2) and an increasing customer base. The phase 2 development plan is subject to a final investment decision. FEED studies for phase 2 have been completed.

Status Heidelberg Materials

• Overall accumulated actual progress is 66,0% for the Brevik CCS Project (2023.08.31).
• Generally, Brevik CCS is progressing well, but the project organisation expresses some concern about delays from subcontractors due to the global disturbances in crucial supply chains caused by war in Ukraine and covid-19, leading to major uncertainties in supply of critical materials, equipment, and logistics.
• A very important milestone was reached in August 2023 with the lifting into position of the absorber and absorber stack. This piece of equipment is now the highest point of Brevik Plant and is a very visible testimony that Brevik CCS is progressing.
• The Norwegian state and Heidelberg Materials have signed an agreement securing completion of the capture project after the communicated cost overrun in the project. In the agreement, Heidelberg Materials has undertaken to complete the project and cover increased costs. In return, the company retains a larger share of the potential return on the project. The state undertakes to provide a start-up grant of up to NOK 150 million when the facility is ready to ship the first load of CO2 to Northern Lights.
• Brevik CCS has experienced vast interest internally and externally. The installation of the absorber has received a lot of attention both externally as well as internally within Heidelberg Materials. Heidelberg Materials now has several emerging projects in other countries, mainly in Europe and North America. Brevik CCS is the frontrunner both within the company and within the industry.

Status Celsio

• Celsio’s carbon capture project started the civil works, blasting and ground works on site in August 2022.
• In April (2023) an updated cost estimate from Hafslund Oslo Celsio showed that the carbon capture project at their waste incineration plant at Klemetsrud would exceed the investment decision and maximum budget stipulated in its government funding agreement. Celsio decided to introduce a twelve-month cost reduction phase and place the construction on hold. During this phase, Celsio aims to identify possible cost reduction areas, then narrow down and prioritize areas to be investigated. They also investigate possible avoided costs and future revenue as important factors before reaching a new final investment decision in the summer of 2024.
• The reasons for the cost overruns are complex, but not related to the CCS technology.
• There is still a clear ambition for Celsio’s carbon capture project to become the world’s first carbon capture plant on waste incineration in a full value chain with transport and permanent storage of CO₂. Celsio is owned by Hafslund, Infranode and HitecVision.
• The changes to Celsio’s project will not have any impact on the completion of Longship as a whole chain for capture, transportation and storage of CO₂. The Heidelberg Materials and Northern Lights projects have both passed the halfway point in their construction process and will be able to capture and store CO₂ from 2025.

CO₂ transport to Norway

• Norway and Germany have agreed to set up a joint Task Force to follow up the results of an ongoing joint feasibility study, which is looking into possibilities to transport hydrogen and CO₂ between Germany and Norway. The feasibility study is undertaken by Gassco and dena (Deutsche Energie-Agentur) on behalf of the industry and includes a large number of industrial partners.

Resources

• • Spørsmål og svar om Langskip-prosjektet – regjeringen.no / Tidslinje for Langskip (CCS) – regjeringen.no
  • Full-scale CCS project in Norway – Longship

Both Heidelberg Materials ( (Heidelberg) and Hafslund Oslo Celsio (Celsio) receive financial support from the Norwegian Government for the establishment of CO₂ capture facilities. They are both part of “Longship”, the first industrial CCS chain in Europa. It is a goal for the Government that “Longship” provides learning that subsequent CCS projects can benefit from.

Heidelberg Materials is building a CCS facility at the cement factory in Brevik. Their lessons learned report is based on the experience from the start of the construction project in early 2021 until the end of 2022, when the construction was 50 percent completed. Celsio’s experience report is based on their experience from the start of the construction project, August 2022, until the end of 2022. Thus, Heidelberg has a greater experience base than Celsio, which is also reflected in the reports and in this article.

Celsio will construct a CO₂ capture facility in the waste-to energy facility in Oslo. However, in April 2023 Celsio put the carbon CCS project into a “cost-reducing phase”. An updated cost estimate showed that cost increases on i. a. equipment deliveries would have led to the project exceeding the investment limit agreed with the state.

Involvement of the operating organisation

In the Brevik CCS project, the CCS plant is being built quite close to the operational cement factory. Due to the tight interfaces between the two plants, Heidelberg highlights the importance of involving personnel with operational experience from the cement factory in the project development right from the start. For any interface challenge that may arise, it is important to identify and quantify the impacts, communicate any changes and, if necessary, evaluate the design. All known issues must be fully investigated and not deferred to the implementation phase. It is important to have a valid project design already during the FEED study, Heidelberg emphasizes in its report.

Heidelberg acknowledges that the establishment of the CCS facility in Brevik makes the working conditions at the factory demanding for a long time. Nevertheless, there has been very little friction to trace in the operating organisation. “General support from all internal stakeholders is critical. This is only achieved through maintaining an open dialogue with the plant and engaging them early on issues,” writes Heidelberg in the report.

Celsio also emphasizes that future projects will have a lot to gain from involving the operating organization at the plant early in the process, both in planning and implementing the project. Dedicated resources from the operating organization should be included in the project organisation, Celsio writes in his report. ” This is a well-known fact for such projects, but still difficult to achieve in practice in plant organizations where attention and resources are inevitably drawn towards daily operations,” the report states. By actively involving the operating organization in project planning and implementation, they will be able to contribute valuable input that provides good integration between the production plant and the CO₂ capture plant. Active involvement strengthens ownership in the operating organisation.

The need for space must not be underestimated

Both Heidelberg and Celsio have experienced that the need for space can easily be underestimated.

Heidelberg writes that space requirement is very an important consideration during the design of the CO₂ capture facility. Arrangements must be made for access roads; maintenance requirements and construction considerations must be considered. These requirements must not be underestimated.

For Heidelberg, it has been a great advantage that the facility is located by the sea. This has made it possible to bring in prefabricated components. In addition, a nearby fabrication facility (at Trosvik) has opened for prefabrication of modules that can be moved by barge to Brevik. ” It is rare that such a situation exists, so future CCS projects will need to consider this difference when Brevik is benchmarked against other projects,” Heidelberg writes in the report. Heidelberg also changed the timing of construction of the maintenance center to the very end of the project to have sufficient land available during construction. This does not delay start-up but means that the lease period at Trosvik had to be extended.

Early during the construction phase the Celsio identified that the expected need for rigging space was challenging, and somewhat underestimated. Sufficient rigging area is key for the successful implementation of the project and for the fully operational WtE plant to simultaneously run smoothly. However, there is not an abundance of available land in the proximity of the Klemetsrud WtE plant. Future projects should ensure access to/ownership of sufficient land before the investment decision is made, but also consider that the need for land may be higher than expected, writes Celsio in the report.

Tight integration presents challenges

The tight interface between the cement factory in Brevik and the CCS plant presents some significant challenges: For example, the close interface between the cement/CCS plant makes it important to consider what to do with excess heat within the cement plant when the WHRU is taken offline suddenly.  There is a risk of adverse consequences if the hot flue gas is not cooled. It is possible that the the gas conditioning tower (water spray) may not be able to react quickly enough to cool the flue gases sufficiently. This will be investigated further when the process simulator is operational. Future CCS projects should consider emergency shutdown conditions during the pre-FEED study. Heidelberg’s conclusion is that risk can be reduced by reducing the operating plant’s dependence on the CCS plant as much as possible.

Since the cement industry is not familiar with the operating requirements of a chemical plant, personnel training is required and more specific instructions from the supplier are needed, according to Heidelberg.

Celsio also highlights integration challenges in its report: Since the flue gas interface is complex from a process point of view, it is important to address this topic early on. Both personnel from existing facilities and from the CO₂ capture project should be involved, they write.

At Klemetsrud, the energy recovery plant and the CO₂ capture plant will be operated from the same control room but operated as two separate plants. The energy recovery plant shall not be affected if the CO₂ capture plant is out of operation. However, Celsio acknowledges that this will cause interface challenges that need further investigation. Typical problems are pressure and temperature conditions, emission monitoring, start-up, shutdowns, and emergency situations.

Operation at the plant most important

Celsio recommends developing a detailed master plan before an investment decision, where careful consideration is given to the importance of avoiding impact on the daily operation of the process plant. This is particularly important when the W-t-E facility must be in full operation 24/7/365 during the construction period. In such cases, it is recommended that the project carries out an additional independent study/”construction report”, which assesses how best to maintain operations.

Heidelberg emphasizes planning to ensure that downtimes can be utilized to the maximum: ” Winter repairs/annual outages are very important milestones in the execution, both as opportunities and restriction. They need to be planned very carefully and the key objectives in relation to the project agreed long in advance to capture the most benefits,” writes Heidelberg.

Brevik CCS is 60,4% completed and the Northern Lights storage facility is 81,3% completed. Hafslund Oslo Celsio decided to put construction of the CO₂ capture plant on hold in April 2023. 

• Longship will be operational with captured CO₂ from Brevik, transport and storage in 2025, slightly behind the initial plan (late 2024), according to the latest communication from the Government (Prop. 118 S (2022-2023))
• Northern Lights has entered into a transport and storage agreement with Ørsted to store 430,000 tonnes biogenic CO₂ annually from two power plants in Denmark from 2026.

Background – about Longship

• The CCS project Longship, partly funded by the Norwegian government, includes capture, transport and storage of CO₂.
• A carbon capture facility is currently being built at Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik, Norway. According to plan, the facility will capture approximately 400,000 tonnes of CO₂.
• Celsio started building a carbon capture facility at their waste-to-energy plant in Oslo in August 2022, but decided to put construction on hold in April 2023 due to a large increase in cost estimates. The project has entered into a cost reducing period of 12 months. According to the initial plan, approximately 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ will be captured annually from Celsio’s plant.
• Northern Lights is currently developing a solution for the transport and storage of CO₂. The CO₂ will be transported by ship from the various emission sources, including the CO₂ from the industrial capture sites of Heidelberg and Celsio, to a receiving facility near Bergen, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir located 2600 metres below the seabed.
• Several measures are needed to enable European countries to achieve carbon neutrality. Longship will help the hard-to-abate industries reduce their CO₂ emissions and make industrial carbon removals possible through capture of biogenic CO₂ (negative emissions).

Roles in Longship

• Ministry of Petroleum and Energy – Responsible for Norway’s CCS policy and Longship on behalf of the Norwegian government

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Coordinates Norway’s foreign service and embassies

• Gassnova – State owned company following up Longship on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

• Northern Lights – Transport and storage company (Joint Venture owned by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies) planning to receive CO₂ from Heidelberg Materials and Hafslund Oslo Celsio, and aiming to provide transport and storage as a service to multiple companies in Europe.

• Brevik CCS – Heidelberg Materials – Capture site under construction at the cement plant in Brevik

• Hafslund Oslo Celsio – Capture project, now on hold, at the waste-to-energy plant in Oslo

Status Northern Lights

• Construction of the Northern Lights CO₂storage facility is 81% completed (2023.05.31).
• Fabrication and installation of the onshore plant is on schedule and budget and will be ready in 2024. All of the 12 storage tanks are installed.
• The visitor centre was opened in October 2022 by the Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
• Preliminary results from drilling operations confirm the storage capacity of at least 5 million tonnes CO₂per annum. The drilling of one CO₂ injection well and one contingent injection well is completed.  
• Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC) is building two ships dedicated for CO₂ transport for Northern Lights. The overall progress for the ships, including detailed design, engineering, procurement etc., are now 34 % completed (2023.05.31) and the first ship will be delivered in 2024.
• Northern Lights has entered into transport and storage agreement with Ørsted to store 430,000 tonnes biogenic CO₂per year from two power plants in Denmark from 2026. Northern Lights is labelling this as an essential step for creating a commercial market for CCS in Europe. In August 2022, Yara and Northern Lights agreed on the main commercial terms on cross border CO₂ transport and storage. From early 2025, up to 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ will, according to plan, be captured from Yara’s ammonia and fertiliser plant in Sluiskil in the Netherlands and transported and stored by Northern Lights.
• Northern Lights plan to increase storage capacity to 5 million tonnes per year through an additional development phase (Phase 2) and an increasing customer base. The phase 2 development plan is subject to a final investment decision. FEED studies for phase 2 have been completed.

Status Heidelberg Materials

• Overall accumulated actual progress is 60,4% for the Brevik CCS Project (2023.05.31).
• Generally, Brevik CCS is progressing well, but the project organisation expresses some concern about delays from subcontractors due to the global disturbances in crucial supply chains caused by war in Ukraine and covid-19, leading to major uncertainties in supply of critical materials, equipment, and logistics.
• Heidelberg Materials and the Norwegian state have, in accordance with the state aid agreement, negotiated over financing the communicated cost overrun in the project. A proposed solution is agreed upon and awaits approval from ESA. In the meantime, the project is progressing as planned.
• Brevik CCS has experienced vast interest internally and externally. Heidelberg Materials now has several emerging projects in other countries, mainly in Europe and North America. Brevik CCS is the frontrunner both within the company and within the industry.

Status Celsio

• In April an updated cost estimate from Hafslund Oslo Celsio showed that the carbon capture project at their waste incineration plant at Klemetsrud would exceed the maximum budget stipulated in its government funding agreement. Celsio decided to introduce a twelve-month cost reduction phase and place the construction on hold. During this phase, Celsio aims to identify possible cost reduction areas, then narrow down and prioritize areas to be investigated before reaching a new decision in the fall of 2024.
• Celsio’s carbon capture project started the civil works, blasting and ground works on site in August 2022.
• There is still a clear ambition for Celsio’s carbon capture project to become the world’s first carbon capture plant on waste incineration in a full value chain with transport and permanent storage of CO₂. Celsio is owned by Hafslund, Infranode and HitecVision.
• The changes to Celsio’s project will not have any impact on the completion of Longship as a whole chain for capture, transportation and storage of CO₂. The Heidelberg Materials and Northern Lights projects have both passed the halfway point in their construction process and will be in a position to capture and store CO₂ from 2025.

CO₂ storage in Norway

• In total, five exploration licenses to store CO₂ on the Norwegian Continental Shelf have so far been awarded pursuant to the CO₂Storage Regulation, in addition to Northern Lights’ exploitation permit.
  • In March, two exploration licenses for CO₂ storage in the southern part of the North Sea were awarded. Aker BP ASA and OMV (Norge) AS was awarded the eastern CO₂storage acreage. Wintershall Dea Norge AS and Altera Infrastructure Group through its subsidiary Stella Maris CCS AS were awarded the northwestern acreage.
  • In October 2022, two companies – Wintershall Dea Norge AS og CapeOmega AS – have been offered exploration license for CO₂ storage in an acreage in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.
  • In April 2022, three companies were offered exploration licenses to store CO₂in two areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The area in the North Sea was offered to Equinor ASA, and the area in Barents Sea was offered to a group including Equinor ASA, Horisont Energi AS and Vår Energi AS.
  • Northern Lights was awarded an exploration permit for the storage part of Longship in 2019.

Resources

• Spørsmål og svar om Langskip-prosjektet – regjeringen.no / Tidslinje for Langskip (CCS) – regjeringen.no
• Full-scale CCS project in Norway – Longship