Decarbonization of industrial-port zones: the example of Fos-sur-Mer

2023-10-23 09:30:27

Winner of the national call for projects “low carbon industrial zone” (ZIBaC), the industrial-port territory of Fos-sur-Mer will benefit from public funds to carry out actions aimed at reducing the carbon impact of industrial activities. The PIICTO association supervises these projects, through the Syrius program.

Created in 2014, the PIICTO association[1] brings together industrial entities located in the industrial-port zone of Marseille-Fos and around the Etang de Berre, the GPMM (large maritime port of Marseille), communities and partners (CDC, consular offices, etc.) in order to collectively structure industrial activities with the aim of improving competitiveness, attractiveness, innovation, decarbonization and better resource management.

This area, which emits around 18 Mt of CO2 each year, is one of the first winners of the call for projects ZIBaC (low carbon industrial zone) of France 2030. As such, the State will therefore release 4 million euros, via ADEME, to support the program Sirius (South industrial regenerative synergies), supported and coordinated by the PIICTO association.

Nicolas Mat, secretary general of PIICTO, presented to Technical Engineering the environmental and industrial challenges of the decarbonization project for this port area.

Engineering Techniques: What is the approach undertaken through the activity of the PIICTO association?

We have been leading an industrial and territorial ecology approach since the beginning of 2015, initially in part of the port area (Caban Tonkin), which in its entirety extends over more than 10,000 hectares. The Caban Tonkin zone covers 1,200 hectares and concentrates industrial activities around chemistry, waste treatment, aggregates, steelmaking, energy production, among others.

Our ambition, initially, is to establish synergies between manufacturers, namely to optimize the exchange of material and energy flows between the players, to pool services and equipment, but also to increase the attractiveness of this platform, since there is still land available.

Thus, we want to attract industrial project leaders, but also innovative ones, since we have sought, since the implementation of our action, to position the platform as a space for innovation and experimentation, energy transition and economy. circular. To do this, we welcome pilots and demonstrators on numerous innovative projects: algae cultivation, CO2 capture, hydrogen recovery, etc.

Today, we are continuing these missions, extending them in terms of geographical scope, following our positioning, in 2022, on the ZIBAC call for projects, operated by ADEME. Since the first half of 2023, we have been the winner of this call for projects, which is therefore currently being implemented, and therefore the spectrum is specifically oriented towards the “decarbonization” aspect.

How will being a winner of the ZIBAC call for projects boost the Syrius program supported by PIICTO?

Concretely, ADEME will support us over a period of seven to ten years in the territory going from Fos-sur-Mer to Gardanne, that is to say the entire port area and the surroundings of the Etang de Berre, including all the major industrial and logistics players operating there. There is therefore a desire to support the area in its decarbonization process, over a relatively long period. Being the winner of this call for projects made it possible to integrate into this collective dynamic a large number of industrialists working in very different fields of activity (chemistry, petrochemicals, refining, steelmaking, cement works, lime kilns, logistics, waste treatment, energy production, etc.).

What are the different stages that will mark out the overall decarbonization project of the Fos-sur-Mer port area?

The first stage of this support by ADEME is a so-called maturation phase. It will last 24 months and allow us to establish intersectoral decarbonization trajectories, on the scale of the territory that we have just mentioned. These trajectories and actions in no way replace the decarbonization actions already undertaken by manufacturers, who have been taking action on this subject for a long time. On the other hand, what is underway today allows manufacturers, beyond their own decarbonization strategies, to plan on territorial and inter-sectoral strategies, which require cooperation between manufacturers. This is true for example on projects such as steam networks, hydrogen, the electrification of certain processes, CCU (CO2 capture and revalorization) and CCS (CO2 capture and sequestration).

More generally, we hope that this SYRIUS program will allow all manufacturers in the port area to achieve their decarbonization objectives, or even go beyond. And why not achieve these objectives more quickly.

What are the long-term objectives?

The final objective is known, it is to be carbon neutral by 2050. But once we have said that, we must establish a clear roadmap with short, medium and long-term objectives. long term with key milestones. What do we do between now and 2030? By 2040? We know that not all players will be able to have the same levers at the same time. It is in this sense that the synergistic aspect of our approach takes on its full meaning. The networking of all stakeholders must help us achieve these objectives and allow ourselves to be ambitious on the subject of decarbonization in an industrial-port basin like ours.

State funds will make it possible to carry out around thirty engineering and feasibility studies between 2023 and 2024. What will this work focus on?

We have listed these studies into five main thematic blocks.

Block 0 will allow us to establish the decarbonization trajectories that we want to follow over time to achieve the objectives. It will therefore naturally be nourished and consolidated on the basis of feedback from the various studies in the blocks below. Block 1 will address issues relating to everything relating to energy vectors, reagents and associated infrastructures: electrification, hydrogen, new local energy production, etc. Block 2 concerns the capture, storage, valorization and/or sequestration of CO2 (CCUS). Block 3 deals with logistics and carbon-free optimization, which was not originally one of ADEME’s priorities, but which seemed essential to us to address, given the quantity and diversity of material flows and energy entering and exiting this industrial-port fabric, by different means of transport, whether road, train, maritime, river or pipelines. Finally, block 4 concerns local development: socio-ecological footprint, meetings between the different industrial players in the area, so that they get to know each other, but also popularization of the main results of the studies. This last point is more important than it seems, because for the acceptability of these projects, it seems essential that the general public understands the major transformations which are at work and which will take place in the area in the years to come.

The industrial-port zone of Dunkirk is, like that of Fos-sur-Mer, winner of the call for ZIBAC Project. Is there a form of synergy between the decarbonization actions carried out in these two areas?

We have discussions with those responsible for decarbonization projects in Le Havre, Saint-Nazaire… in addition, ADEME specified in the specifications of the call for projects that it was intended to set up a national network of winning territories, so as to encourage exchanges between actors having, for example, common problems.

Comments collected by Pierre Thouverez

[1] PICTURE

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