Consortium ditches plan for joint CO2-to-polyolefins plant in Austria

A consortium of OMV AG, Borealis AG, Holcim AG and Verbund AG has decided not to proceed with a joint carbon capture-to-polyolefins pilot project in Austria.

The companies will instead utilize their learnings to date from the so-called Carbon to Product Austria (C2PAT) demonstration project for industrial-scale plant solutions that each company will now focus on independently, according to a March 1 announcement by Borealis. The C2PAT project was first announced in June 2020.

The companies have been "pursuing the common goal of producing carbon-based products from unavoidable CO2 emissions," Borealis said. The C2PAT demonstration project was completed at the end of 2023 and will now be "transferred to individual projects on a large industrial basis," it said. The partner companies will continue to work together in various forms in the future, it said.

Borealis said that instead of the joint pilot plant, each company is planning "industrially upscaled plants for the coming years in order to meet the increasing demand for large quantities of renewable-based plastic products." The companies gained significant insights into carbon management and identified paths for the circular carbon economy during the demonstration plant’s planning process, it said.

The individual plants in each company’s sector "can be implemented in the long term as part of a cross-sector collaboration with existing and additional partners. The aim of producing high-quality polyolefins from captured CO2 emissions and green hydrogen and thus closing the carbon cycle remains unchanged," Borealis said.

OMV, the parent company of Borealis, launched its C4CHEM program in 2022, which aims to establish an industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization plant at the company’s refinery in Schwechat, Austria. The C4CHEM plant is planned to produce synthetic aviation fuels (e-SAF) and synthetic chemicals (e-olefins) using renewable hydrogen and biogenic CO2 as feedstock, according to Borealis. A final investment decision is scheduled by 2026, it said.

Borealis is under way with several projects, including Antwerp@C, an industry collaboration targeting a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 at the port of Antwerp, Belgium, through the construction of joint CO2 infrastructure.

Cement producer Holcim, formerly Lafarge, plans to build a CO2 capture plant at its cement plant in Mannersdorf, Austria, by 2030. The plant will capture 750,000 metric tons per year of CO2 plant emissions. Holcim will take over the C2PAT project for this purpose and continue to operate it, Borealis said.

Austrian electricity firm Verbund, meanwhile, is working on the long-term development of an extensive value chain in order to import large quantities of green hydrogen from neighboring regions, with initial agreements concluded with international partners, according to Borealis.