Plans to establish what is billed as the UK's first carbon capture rail corridor have taken a step forward.
Liquid storage provider Navigator Terminals has signed a memorandum of understanding with energy from waste operator Enfinium that could see a rail link between the latter's Ferrybridge waste-to-energy plants and Navigator's Seal Sands site. The train service would transport carbon dioxide captured at the West Yorkshire facility to the Teesside site before it is shipped out to undersea aquifers for storage as part of the Net Zero Teesside and East Coast Cluster carbon capture project.
It is hoped the project - which comes after the Chancellor's announcement of £20bn funding for the sector - could open the door to other carbon emitters based in the North. The firms say the move will enable decarbonisation of one of the country's largest waste-to-energy plants.
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Bechtel, a global engineering, construction, and project management company, has been selected to support the feasibility work underpinning the concept.
Mike Maudsley, CEO of Enfinium, said: "Our facility at Ferrybridge is the single largest energy from waste site in the UK and transforms non-recyclable waste into homegrown energy to power nearly 400,000 British homes. By installing carbon capture technology at Ferrybridge we could go one step further and remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we release. In doing so we could generate carbon negative electricity, support Yorkshire’s climate change targets and deliver high-quality jobs in an exciting new green industry."
Jason Hornsby, CEO of Navigator Terminals, added: "The UK is a world leader in decarbonisation solutions, but it is clear that there is a need to develop alternative transportation and storage solutions for CO2 if we are to meet the country’s net zero ambitions.
"We have worked with enfinium to explore the opportunities for them to realise their decarbonisation plans by harnessing the rail network in the North East and connecting with our terminal on Teesside before permanent sequestration of the carbon. This is an exciting UK first project, and we hope it can prove the concept of carbon transportation by rail opening up huge potential for further decarbonisaiton of British industry."
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