Global engineering and sustainable development firm, Arup, has undertaken front-end-engineering design (FEED) for technical tunnelling work on the Aramis project.

Petrofac, a leading energy services company, is taking overall responsibility for the FEED for the 32” CO₂ trunkline, including onshore, landfall and offshore sections, together with the offshore CO₂ distribution hub platform. 

The Aramis project offers an essential new route to decarbonisation for hard-to-abate industries across Europe. The new Carbon Capture and Storage hub will provide the infrastructure needed to transport captured industrial carbon emissions for safe and permanent storage in depleted gas fields in the Dutch North Sea.  

The Aramis project is part of an emerging global infrastructure system for capture and storage of CO₂, with significant growth in CCS now taking place across mainland Europe as a result of new EU regulations on industrial emissions. 

Arup’s work on the Aramis project provided in-depth design definition to enable the tendering of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract to deliver the project’s pipeline landfall tunnel and had to overcome several construction and ground condition challenges, including how to retrieve the tunnel boring machine once construction of the tunnel is complete.  

The new pipeline will span sensitive assets, including one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world connecting to the remaining pipeline to be laid within the seabed.

Mark Neller, Energy Leader, UKIMEA at Arup commented: “The Aramis project represents an important step in the development of CCS systems in Europe. Arup’s expertise was integral to the design of the 2km trenchless under-sea tunnel from the Port of Rotterdam. The multidisciplinary nature of our team meant we contributed to project components across the engineering spectrum. We were delighted to collaborate with our partners on this exciting venture.” 

Jemima Bruin-Bland, Global Carbon Capture & Storage Lead at Arup, said: “Effective tunnel design will be a critical success factor in many of the fast-emerging global CCS projects, particularly as globally interconnected infrastructure for CO₂ transport and storage continues to emerge. Arup’s tunnelling design expertise is globally recognised, and we are excited to see the impact of our work on the world-leading Aramis Project.”

The project represents the Netherlands’ flagship carbon transport and storage (CCS) system and marks its commitment to achieving the European Union’s decarbonisation targets announced in the European Green Deal and the Dutch Climate Agreement.