WarmCO2 is set to become a by-word for sustainable, cost effective and energy efficient solutions for Dutch greenhouse horticulture. In the Netherlands, greenhouse horticulture is the most intensive form of crop production and is of major economic importance to communities and to the country as a whole.
However, the industry’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels for greenhouse heating presents both a cost and a CO2 emissions reduction challenge for growers. At Terneuzen, in the southern province of Zeeland, WarmCO2 is helping to address these issues with an eco-friendly ‘smart link’ solution that can be sustained over the long-term.
WarmCO2 is a joint venture created in 2008 between the port authority Zeeland Seaports, fertiliser producer Yara Sluiskil and infrastructure specialist Visser & Smit Hanab. WarmCO2 members are part of the unique, environmentally smart, Biopark, an industrial development dedicated to promote sustainability through the recovery and re-use (‘Smart Links’) of the process waste and by-products of nearby industries.
WarmCO2 was established to extend this innovative concept by offering heat and CO2 by-product, recovered from Biopark members’ production processes, to greenhouse horticultural businesses in the polders adjacent to the Biopark. The low cost heat and CO2 will in particular be soon supplied to a major, independent 250 ha greenhouse horticultural complex.
Previously these resources would have been dealt with as waste and would have incurred considerable disposal costs for their producers, as well as adding to the burden on the environment. Through WarmCO2 and the application of the Biopark’s smart-link concept, these products are taken out of the waste stream and their retained value is captured for exploitation in other industrial processes.
For the 250 ha greenhouse complex, heat is provided by the cooling water from Yara Sluiskil’s heat exchangers, where it has collected heat from the company’s production processes. The amount of energy saved thanks to this Smart Link can be compared to twice the amount of natural gas used by the administrative district of Terneuzen which counts 55,000 inhabitants.
Directly transported by pipelines at an average temperature of 87C, the contained energy is more than sufficient to provide nursery heating adjustable to suit all conditions. This will enable the growers to reduce or even totally eliminate the use of gas-fired boilers and will therefore significantly lower CO2 emissions. This new heating source requires no complex installation and is provided at a lower cost than for oil or natural gas, and is virtually unaffected by energy prices.
WarmCO2 also delivers about 70,000 tonnes in total per year of pure CO2 to the greenhouse complex. This pure CO2 is obtained from Yara Sluiskil. CO2 is used in the horticultural industry to enrich the greenhouse atmosphere and encourage crop growth. Also supplied directly by dedicated metered pipeline, the CO2 is an intermediate product of Yara’s production of fertilisers. This gas is very clean and is delivered at the same level of purity as commercially available liquid CO2.
Because these resources are recovered from proven industrial processes they are provided at a very attractive tariff. And, generated from well-established, stable companies and industries their delivery can be sustained over the long term. Moreover, through its smart-linking, WarmCO2 is breaking new ground in the region and establishing a valuable business model that can be replicated elsewhere to benefit greenhouse horticulture, process industries and the environment.