Nuada’s (Newtownabbey, U.K.; www.nuadaco2.com) next-generation carbon capture solution is now operational at enfinium’s (West Yorkshire, U.K.; www.enfinium.co.uk) Ferrybridge-1 energy from waste (EfW) facility in West Yorkshire. The successful commissioning of the pilot plant marks the start of a collaboration between Nuada, a UK innovator in carbon capture technology, and enfinium, a leading UK EfW operator. The demonstration will run for a minimum of six months.
The trial will showcase the performance of Nuada’s carbon capture technology in an industrial EfW setting for the first time. For enfinium, it represents a key step towards its ambition to deploy carbon capture at scale across its portfolio of six UK facilities, affirming its position as a leader in decarbonizing the waste sector.
The new pilot plant uses 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.
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.
Recent analyses by the Climate Change Committee and The 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 “Deploying CCS at energy from waste plants is critical to decarbonise the UK’s unrecyclable waste and generate carbon removals at scale to achieve net zero.
Nuada’s next-generation carbon capture technology has the potential to deliver sizeable energy and cost savings in the carbon capture process. The piloting of this exciting technology at our Ferrybridge facility enables us to better understand how we can deploy carbon capture at scale across our entire fleet.”
Dr Conor Hamill, co-CEO of Nuada, said: “Partnering with enfinium on this trial allows us to demonstrate the performance our innovative carbon capture technology. We believe that CCUS innovation like ours can help the EfW sector to efficiently unlock value from an existing waste stream CO2. We look forward to deepening our partnership and supporting enfinium’s CCUS goals.”