Location: Belgium
Partners: TotalEnergies
Activities: Refining and petrochemicals
Commissioning: 1951
The Antwerp refining and petrochemicals platform is our largest integrated complex in Europe. To meet growing global demand and address new market trends, we have upgraded and adapted the site to focus production on higher added-value products that meet the most stringent environmental standards. Read on for an overview of the characteristics of the Antwerp platform and the main projects carried out at the site.
One of TotalEnergies' most powerful integrated complexes
An extensive upgrade
To keep pace with the latest changes in the European market, we decided in 2013 to invest more than €1 billion to upgrade the Antwerp complex. Our objectives were to respond to market demand by supplying more light products that meet the strictest environmental standards, make the complex more flexible so that it can use the most cost-advantaged feedstocks available and increase synergies between refining and petrochemicals.
Inaugurated in November 2017, the upgrade consisted of three projects:
- OPTARA (OPTimization of the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam area) Project, where the aim was to transform more heavy fuel oil into light products that meet the new EU specifications;
- ROG (Refinery Off-Gas) Project, which involved building a unit to recover the gas co-produced by the refinery ("by-product gas") and transform it into a feedstock for petrochemicals to replace more expensive naphtha;
- Ethane Project, which consisted in revamping one of the complex's two steam crackers and adapting the site's logistics so that it can import 200,000 tons of ethane per year from Norway by ship.
First conclusive tests for producing plastics from advanced recycling
In 2020, the Antwerp complex worked on a test project for advanced plastics recycling with the aim of producing recycled polymers using oil derived from the pyrolysis of plastic waste (TACoil) produced by our partner Plastic Energy. This project was a first for TotalEnergies, and its success contributes to our ambition of producing one million tons of circular polymers per year by 2030. By the end of 2024, France's first advanced plastics recycling plant at our Grandpuits zero-crude platform will be capable of supplying pyrolysis oil to the Antwerp complex, allowing it to produce ever more recycled plastics featuring the same properties as virgin polymers.
Antwerp, a site committed to reducing its freshwater withdrawals
Situated in an urban area subject to water stress, the Antwerp complex was our first refining and chemicals site to approve a large-scale project in 2022 to reduce its freshwater withdrawals. The project involves reusing treated wastewater from local households to supply the industries in the port of Antwerp. The process of building a water treatment plant and adapting the complex's internal networks (additional pipes, construction of a buffer basin, etc.) is expected to be completed in 2026.
This initiative is part of the Flemish government's Blue Deal program to combat drought and water shortages in the region. It will enable the complex to reduce its drinking water use by over 9 million cubic meters a year, or almost 65% of its freshwater withdrawals. This represents the consumption of 280,000 Antwerp residents out of a total population of 620,000.
The largest battery-based energy storage project of TotalEnergies in Europe integrated in the Antwerp complex
In May 2023, we launched our largest European battery-based energy storage project at the Antwerp complex. With its 40 containers, the site will develop a capacity of 75 MWh, which is equivalent to the daily consumption of almost 10,000 homes. It will be operational by the end of 2024 and will contribute 24/7 to the needs of the European and Belgian high-voltage transmission network. This project will enable the Antwerp complex to ramp up its contribution to the Company's multi-energy strategy and support the development of renewable energies.
