Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) has planned to build the UK’s first industrial-scale carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) demonstration plant with an investment of $21.2m.
The project is expected to start operations by 2021 and will be constructed at TCE’s industrial site in Northwich, Cheshire, England.
Deployment of CCU technology will help in capturing CO₂ from the flue gases of TCE’s 96MWe gas-fired combined heat and power plant.
Following the capture of CO₂, the CCE plant will purify and liquify the gas so that it can be used in the manufacture of sodium bicarbonate.
Deployment of the technology helps to cut down TCE’s carbon emissions at the CHP plant by 11% as the captured CO₂ gets used in the manufacturing process rather than emitted into the atmosphere.
TCE managing director Martin Ashcroft said: “The CCU demonstration plant will enable us to reduce our carbon emissions, whilst securing supplies of a critical raw material, helping to grow the export of our products across the world.”
The facility will be equipped to capture and produce up to 40,000t of carbon dioxide annually.
The CHP plant is a low-carbon source of power. It currently produces only 50% of the amount of CO₂ per kWh of power compared to other conventional gas-fired power stations.
After the CCU plant becomes operational, the CO₂ per kWh of power generated is expected to be reduced even further.
Tata Chemicals Europe is a manufacturer of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate and one of the leading producers of salt in the UK. It is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals.
TCE products form input materials in the manufacture of glass, food, pharmaceutical and chemical products.
Source: Chemicals Technology
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