Worley to Engineer D-CRBN’s Renewable Syngas Plant in Belgium

Worley has been selected by D-CRBN to provide engineering services for a new renewable syngas demonstration plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The project represents an important step toward demonstrating a lower-carbon route for producing syngas, a versatile feedstock widely used across the chemicals and fuels industries.

The proposed facility will employ D-CRBN’s proprietary plasma technology, which uses electricity to transform carbon dioxide and biomethane into renewable syngas. The resulting syngas can subsequently serve as a building block for manufacturing lower-carbon fuels, plastics, and a range of chemical products. By using carbon dioxide as a feedstock and electricity as part of the conversion process, the technology aims to provide an alternative pathway to conventional syngas production, which is commonly dependent on fossil-based feedstocks.

Under the agreement, Worley will undertake the engineering and design work required to advance the demonstration plant. Its scope will also include safety assessments and cost studies intended to support the project’s progression toward construction. The facility is being developed as a modular unit, allowing for faster deployment while providing flexibility for future expansion.

The demonstration plant is expected to produce approximately 200 tonnes of renewable syngas annually. Beyond demonstrating the technology at an industrial level, the facility is intended to generate operational data and engineering experience that can support D-CRBN’s plans for a larger commercial-scale installation. A future commercial plant is envisioned with an estimated annual production capacity of around 10,000 tonnes of renewable syngas.

D-CRBN Chief Executive Officer Gill Scheltjens said the move from concept development into detailed engineering marks a significant milestone for the company. He highlighted Worley’s capabilities in gas separation, multidisciplinary engineering and industrial project execution as important to integrating the plasma technology into a safe and functional demonstration facility.

Worley Vice President of Innovation and Technology Geert Reyniers said the company aims to combine its expertise in scaling first-of-a-kind technologies, safety and project delivery with D-CRBN’s plasma technology. The collaboration is expected to establish the technical foundation required for construction and eventual deployment of larger renewable syngas facilities.

The agreement also builds on an existing relationship between the two companies. Worley previously supported D-CRBN with concept development for the syngas purification stream, reactor scale-up assessments and industrial planning. The latest engineering contract therefore moves the technology another step closer to industrial demonstration and potential commercial deployment.

Chemical Commodity Price Impact

The project is likely to have a positive long-term impact on renewable syngas and low-carbon chemical feedstock availability, although the 200-tonne-per-year demonstration scale is too small to materially alter global supply. If successfully commercialized at the planned 10,000-tonne scale, the technology could gradually increase competition with conventional fossil-based syngas production. This may place mild downward pressure on prices of syngas-derived products over the longer term, particularly methanol and certain synthetic fuels and chemicals, by introducing alternative feedstock routes. However, near-term effects on commodity prices tracked by ChemAnalyst should remain limited because the facility is primarily a technology-demonstration project rather than a major commercial supply source.