The Netherlands – OCI Terminal Europoort has obtained a permit to build a large ammonia storage tank in the port of Rotterdam. Regional environmental Service DCMR granted the permit according to the new safety regulations. The new storage tank will have a capacity of 60 thousand tonnes of ammonia.
OCI’s ammonia storage in the port of Rotterdam will comply with the PGS12 guideline. This describes the Best Available Techniques (BAT) for ammonia storage and transhipment. This guideline is being updated on the initiative of DCMR because it is outdated and less suitable for large-scale ammonia storage. The working group with experts from government and industry will soon adopt a draft version of this. In anticipation of this, DCMR has already used the requirements from this new draft PGS12 to assess OCI’s permit application.
60,000 tonnes
An example of a new requirement is that the storage tank has a double steel wall and a concrete outer wall. So the updated PGS12 has also been incorporated into OCI’s permit. OCI’s new storage tank will have a storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes of ammonia. As ammonia will play an important role in the energy transition, as a hydrogen carrier, DCMR expects several permit applications for large-scale ammonia storage to follow.
Concern
OCI’s plans for large-scale ammonia storage led to anxiety among local residents. Especially since the new storage tank is four times larger than the current ammonia storage tanks. Moreover, the OCI terminal in Europoort is only about two kilometres from Brielle as the crow flies. Objections to the granted permit for the ammonia tank can be lodged for six weeks.
