May 25 2010
Championed by a consortium of French and European manufacturers and research organizations, the France Nord project, to transport and store carbon dioxide, has been selected by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
The project will examine the feasibility of installing, in a sedimentary basin in the north central part of France, a carbon dioxide transportation and storage demonstration infrastructure to be potentially used by several CO2-emitting industries.
CO2 capture and geological storage is one response to the challenge of climate change. The availability of a storage site near CO2-emitting industries in France would make it easier to assess the cost and feasibility of this solution on an industrial scale.
Detailed technical studies will be conducted in order to select a suitable geological site for storing CO2 in deep saline aquifers*. The studies will also identify appropriate infrastructure to transport the carbon dioxide from the industrial facilities to the storage facility.
After two years of study, the partners, in cooperation with public authorities and local residents, expect to be able to recommend a site for the demonstration facility.
The €54-million France Nord project will be 40%-financed by ADEME from the research demonstrator fund set up as part of France’s Grenelle environmental process and 60% by the other consortium partners.
The consortium comprises six of France’s biggest manufacturers (Air Liquide, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Lafarge, Total and Vallourec), three French research organizations (BRGM, IFP and INERIS), and two German research organizations (EIFER in Karlsruhe and GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam).