enfinium, one of the UK’s leading energy from waste (EfW) operators, has announced the next phase of its carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot programme.
One of the projects, located at enfinium’s Parc Adfer facility in Flintshire, North Wales, will be the only active carbon capture pilot in Wales and the first pilot deployed in the wider HyNet industrial cluster.
In April enfinium will relocate the CCS pilot plant currently at its Ferrybridge-1 facility in West Yorkshire to Parc Adfer. The pilot plant will be installed and operated by Kanadevia Inova, a leading global clean technology company.
The Parc Adfer facility is a candidate for grant support through the UK Government’s Track-1 HyNet Expansion programme and could accelerate economic growth and decarbonisation in North Wales subject to a positive decision from the Government in the coming months, the firm said.
A new pilot plant will subsequently be installed at Ferrybridge by Nuada, a British technology company scaling an innovative metal-organic framework (MOF) technology that captures carbon dioxide from point sources through a vacuum swing process. This innovation has the potential to deliver significant efficiencies when deployed at a commercial scale.
Both pilot projects will run for at least six months and form part of enfinium’s broader ambition to deploy CCS across its six UK facilities, underpinned by investment to help achieve net zero emissions.
The Climate Change Committee’s Carbon Budgets make clear that the UK needs to deliver carbon removals to achieve a Net Zero economy, says enfinium. which added that around 50% of the unrecyclable waste produced by society is made up of biogenic content including organic material such as waste food, plants and paper, which has already naturally absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere.
Installing CCS technology at an energy from waste facility enables this CO2 to be permanently captured and stored rather than released back into the atmosphere, resulting in a net carbon removal from the atmosphere.
The energy from waste sector has the potential to deliver significant carbon removals to support the UK’s transition to a net zero economy, the firm said. Recent analysis by the Climate Change Committee and Oxford Institute for Energy Studies found that the energy from waste sector could contribute between 5 and 8 million tonnes of carbon removals every year by 2050.
Mike Maudsley, CEO of enfinium, said:
“To achieve net zero, the UK needs to produce carbon removals at scale. Energy from waste will play a critical role in delivering the millions of tonnes of durable carbon removals that are necessary for the UK to achieve net zero. By supporting the development of carbon capture technologies, we are advancing innovation in the UK while building our own understanding as we progress with our plans to deploy CCS across our six UK facilities.”
David Parkin, HyNet Alliance Director, said:
“HyNet is building the infrastructure that empowers industries to capture and reduce their carbon emissions across the North West and North Wales. This includes playing a key role in supporting energy-from-waste facilities, such as enfinium, to process our everyday waste with a zero carbon footprint. This pilot is an essential part of the journey to demonstrate the efficacy of carbon capture and HyNet is thrilled to support enfinium as they drive both economic growth and decarbonisation in North Wales.”
Bruno-Frédéric Baudouin, CEO of Kanadevia Innova, said:
“As we advance carbon capture successfully in the UK, we also advance public awareness of waste management infrastructure as a key driver of decarbonisation. This is what turns pilot projects into long-term net zero strategies at the national level.
“Through our partnership with enfinium, we are helping to turn the UK into the poster child for carbon capture adoption worldwide, and a great example for other countries to follow.”
Dr Conor Hamill, Co-CEO of Nuada, said:
“We are excited to partner with enfinium, a leader in CCS deployment, to showcase the potential of our cutting-edge technology for full-scale implementation across EfW operations. Nuada is scaling up a capture technology that tackles the cost, energy, and integration challenges of incumbent solutions, to enable the decarbonisation of waste management and the delivery of effective carbon removals.”
