Air Liquide, Dunkerque LNG Secure EU Support for D’Artagnan CO2 Project

Air Liquide and Dunkerque LNG received financial support from the European Commission for the D’Artagnan CO₂ transportation and exportation infrastructure project. D’Artagnan would represent:

• an approximate investment of more than €400 million,
• and benefit from a grant of more than €160 million under the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy funding program.

Investment is tied to the signing of CO₂ management and capture service contracts.

“Today is the first time that a CO₂ infrastructure project in France receives support from the European Union. Together with our partner Dunkerque LNG we are delighted with this major milestone,” said Emilie Mouren-Renouard, Member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee and CEO of the Europe Industries Hub. “Decarbonizing industry will be pivotal to achieving the European Union objective of reducing emissions by 55% by 2030.”

The D’Artagnan project is part of the “Cap Décarbonation” initiative whose mission is to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1.5 mtpa in the industrial basin of Dunkirk and its surroundings. It will feature an Air Liquide pipeline to transport CO₂ from capture sites to a terminal in the West Port of Dunkirk for liquefaction and export via ships. The initiative is also supported by a complementary project: CO₂ capture at the Eqiom cement plant in Lumbres and Lhoist lime production in Réty, both in the north of France and assisted by Air Liquide’s Cryocap technology.

The new terminal will be built and operated by Air Liquide and Dunkerque LNG, receiving and liquefying CO₂ for shipment to permanent storage sites in the North Sea. For future transport and shipment operations, the terminal is expected to handle additional volumes of up to 4 million tons of CO₂ per year, which is equivalent to more than 5% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in France.

Rendering of the Dunkirk CO₂ terminal; Image Credits: Air Liquide

"This is an exciting time for the D'Artagnan project. Europe's support is a testimony to the commitment, expertise, and collaborative spirit of all the project partners,” said Olivier Heurtin, Chairman of Dunkerque LNG. “With this project, Dunkirk would have its own CO₂ export infrastructure. This shows that this project will be a major factor in the competitiveness and attractiveness of Dunkirk and surrounding area. We are enthusiastic and proud to be a link in this project, which will benefit the environment, the region, and its residents.”

In December 2023, Air Liquide announced that it would build, own, and operate a global-scale carbon-capture site at the Rotterdam industrial basin in the Netherlands. The company will utilize its Cryocap technology for the carbon-capture project, and it will be installed at Air Liquide’s hydrogen production plant located in the port of Rotterdam. This unit will be connected to a large-scale carbon-capture and storage infrastructure project called Porthos, which is designed to reduce CO₂ emissions in the industrial basin.

CO₂ will be captured from the hydrogen production plant in the port of Rotterdam using Cryocap technology, designed to draw CO₂ from the atmosphere with a cryogenic process. Captured CO₂ is then transported through the under-development Porthos infrastructure and permanently sequestered in depleted gas fields in the North Sea, approximately 20 km off the coast. Scheduled for commercial operation in 2026, Air Liquide will supply decarbonized hydrogen for its long-term customers.