Alco Bio Fuel, Messer Benelux and IJsfabriek Strombeek recycle CO2 in North Sea Port Ghent

Biorefinery Alco Bio Fuel, industrial gas supplier Messer Benelux and IJsfabriek Strombeek are investing 10 million euros in a second installation for CO2 storage in the Ghent port zone. After treatment, this CO2 is reused in, among other things, water purification, refrigerated transport, greenhouse cultivation or the bubbles in soft drinks. In total, this saves the annual CO2 emissions of 117,000 passenger cars.

The new carbon dioxide recovery unit at Alco Bio Fuel in Ghent will be commissioned in the spring of 2022. Five years ago, the first investment was made in a similar installation. Together they represent an investment amount of 25 million euros and an annual capture capacity of 160,000 tonnes of CO2. This results in a reduction in CO2 emissions comparable to taking 117,000 cars off the road.

160,000 tonnes less CO2 emissions per year
At Alco Bio Fuel in Ghent, biomass is processed into bioethanol. This process releases CO2. Biomass is organic material that removes CO2 from the air during the growth process. With their investment, the three partner companies ensure that this CO2 no longer ends up in the atmosphere, but is professionally collected and recovered.

Plants, dry ice and bubbles
The installation purifies the CO2 gas and converts it into liquid. The CO2 is then reused to stimulate plant growth in greenhouse horticulture, for the purification of drinking water and waste water, for refrigerated transport or as a raw material for other chemical companies.

CO2 also provides the refreshing bubbles in beers and soft drinks. The solid form of CO2 is dry ice, a well-known cooling and cleaning agent. In all these applications, the recycled CO2 replaces carbon dioxide of fossil origin.