Switzerland’s first cross-border commercial bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project has begun operations, with liquefied biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) transported to Denmark for permanent storage beneath the North Sea.
Airfix, CO2 Energie AG and South Pole have launched the project at the Regionalwerke AG Baden biomethane facility in Niederwil, Switzerland’s largest biomethane plant.
The facility captures biogenic CO2 generated during the anaerobic digestion of agricultural and food waste, with the project designed to capture and liquefy up to 4,300 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The first ‘ISOtainers’ loaded with liquefied CO2 have now left the Niederwil site and arrived in Denmark, marking the start of commercial operations following years of project development.
“Seeing the first container of biogenic CO2 leave Niederwil bound for permanent subsea storage is an extraordinary moment for our team and for Swiss industry,” said Philippe Lehmann, Managing Director at CO2 Energie AG.
“What started as a vision to turn a byproduct of biomethane production into permanent negative emissions is now an active, operational reality.”
Multimodal CO2 transport
The CO2 is transported through a multimodal supply chain coordinated by Airfix and managed by logistics specialist HOYER Group.
Following liquefaction at Niederwil, the CO2 is transported by truck to a regional rail terminal in Basel before being shipped by rail through Germany to Hamburg.
From Hamburg, the ISOtainers continue by road to the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark before being transported offshore to Project Greensand, operated by INEOS Energy.
The CO2 is then injected approximately 1,800 metres beneath the North Sea seabed into the depleted Nini West reservoir for permanent storage.
Airfix said emissions associated with transport across the supply chain are accounted for within the project’s carbon accounting framework, resulting in a net atmospheric removal efficiency of approximately 91.7%.
“BECCS Niederwil proves that complex multimodal logistics and cross-border regulatory boundaries are no longer barriers to carbon removal,” said Jonas Lötscher, Managing Director at Airfix.
The ‘ISOtainers’ ready for transport ©INEOS
“By active integration across capture, rail, maritime shipping and subsea injection, we have built an operational framework that can be replicated by small- and medium-sized biogenic emitters across the entire continent.”
The project is particularly important for Switzerland because the landlocked country does not have suitable domestic deep geological storage facilities.
The cross-border supply chain therefore enables captured biogenic CO2 to be exported for permanent storage elsewhere in Europe, with Airfix describing the project as Switzerland’s first commercial initiative to store carbon internationally.
It is also the first non-Danish project to carry out CO2 injection at Project Greensand.
The project’s carbon removal credits are certified under specifications established by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, while a CHF 10 million ($11.6m) pre-purchase commitment from the Climate Cent Foundation through 2030 has supported the commercial development of the value chain.
The project partners said the Niederwil operation demonstrates how smaller and medium-sized biogenic CO2 sources can be connected to Northern European storage infrastructure through shared transport and logistics networks.
The model could provide a route for other landlocked or storage-constrained European countries to develop CO2 removal projects without requiring domestic geological storage.
