Recycling CO2

In 2004, the construction company VolkerWessels and Hoek Loos founded a joint venture called OCAP.

Organic CO2 for Assimilation by Plants started with a seed capital of EUR 100 million. As OCAP convinced the Shell oil group to connect its Dutch refinery in Pernis to the pipeline, the investment quickly paid for itself.

First, VolkerWessels took care of pipeline cleaning and connection to potential customers. Experts from Hoek Loos then went on to install a compressor station on the Shell refinery site. There, the CO2 is compressed by a factor of 22, allowing it to be injected and transported through a pipeline at a rate of 105 tonnes per hour. At peak periods, this figure can increase to 160 tonnes per hour.

The OCAP venture is enjoying great success. Almost 400 greenhouse operators entered preliminary agreements when the project was announced, around 60 percent of the target market.

Just one year since the project’s start, OCAP already had 500 customers.

This project has cut the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere by several thousand tonnes since it went live, benefiting of our customers, their customers, the environment and society at large.