The case for the Humber to become the hub for negative emissions technology has been put to the government.
Representatives from both inward investing environmental technology companies and industrial giants with huge regional heritage joined Clean Growth Minister Kwasi Kwarteng to discuss carbon capture,usage and storage technology.
He was met at Drax Power Station by business leaders, including a technical lead from the team behind what could be Europe’s first green aviation fuel refinery present.
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Velocys, backed by Shell and British Airways, is looking to establish the first such plant close to the South Humber Bank refineries, at Stallingborough, near Grimsby.
Dr Neville Hargreaves, vice president of waste to fuels at Velocys, helped make the case for the region – where huge plans to pipe out CO2 from Drax, east, along both banks to depleted caverns beneath the North Sea, is one of the big ambitions.
Following work in the US, Velocys now has the capability to capture and store underground emissions from its waste-to-fuels process. This means the Altalto plan, as it is known, could produce negative emission aviation fuel.
Dr Hargreaves said: “The 海角视频, and in particular the Humber’s Energy Estuary, has the opportunity to become a world leader in the production of sustainable aviation fuel – something that will be highly desirable in a net zero world.
“We have developed a process for producing negative emissions aviation fuel from everyday household waste. Our first facility, subject to planning and financing, could be fuelling aircraft from 2024, cutting lifecycle emissions by as much as 200 per cent.
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“But in order to realise the benefits of negative emissions technologies, we need the 海角视频 Government to establish a CCUS investment framework and ensure projects like ours can link into a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network in the region.
“We look forward to continuing discussions with the Minister and his Department over the coming months to ensure the Humber can become a hub for negative emissions technologies.”
Work with Oxy Stateside was completed in the autumn paving the way.
Drax, working with Equinor and National Grid Project Ventures, unveiled its CCUS bid back in September under the Zero Starts Here umbrella.
As part of the visit it announced a new partnership with cleantech company Econic Technologies to explore the potential for using captured carbon dioxide from its biomass power generation to displace oil in the production of plastic products, using its pioneering catalyst technology.
The partnership marks a major step towards enabling other businesses, including in the automotive, consumer and construction sectors.
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A new pilot plant has also been installed at the North Yorkshire power station, by Nottingham’s Deep Branch Biotechnology, to explore the feasibility of using Drax’s CO2 emissions to make proteins for sustainable animal feed products – technology which could enable the agricultural sector to decarbonise.
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Drax was the first company in the world to announce an ambition to be carbon negative by 2030 when chief executive Will Gardiner spoke at COP 25 in Madrid. The pipeline project would effectively see emissions channelled in the opposite direction to the biomass feedstock it takes in from the ports of Immingham and Hull.
Mr Gardiner said: “Drax’s ambition is to be carbon negative by 2030. Having pioneered the use of sustainable biomass, Drax now produces 12 per cent of the 海角视频’s renewable electricity. With the right negative emissions policy for BECCS, we can do much more, removing millions of tonnes of emissions from the atmosphere each year.
“By working with innovative tech companies like Econic and Deep Branch Biotechnology, we are exploring new opportunities for clean growth, which could be critical not only for beating the climate crisis, but also in enabling a just transition, protecting jobs across the North – delivering for the economy and the environment.”
Macclesfield-headquartered Econic Technologies will test the CO2 being captured from Drax’s successful one tonne a day BECCS pilot at its own industrial pilot facility, to assess its suitability for producing polymers used in polyurethane plastics. The catalyst technology could save as much as the equivalent of four million petrol cars’ worth of CO2 per year in this first market alone.
Dr Rowena Sellens, Econic Technologies’ chief executive, said: “Tackling climate change requires collaboration at all levels, and the Econic and Drax partnership is a significant step forward as industries establish viable, sustainable solutions.
“This project has the scope to unlock the endless potential of CO2 across a vast number of sectors. We’re confident that the CO2 being captured by Drax will be suitable for use in our process, meaning that we could move forwards to explore potential commercial opportunities together and accelerate the roll-out of both our technologies and their positive climate impact.”