Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) has been selected by enfinium to deliver  pilot trials with a mobile, containerised plant for carbon capture at its existing Ferrybridge-1 waste-to-energy (WtE) facility in West Yorkshire, UK. The Ferrybridge-1 site generates up to 85MW gross of electricity, processing up to 725,000 tonnes of residual waste per year.

The carbon capture plant will use HZI’s amine-scrubbing technology capturing up to 1tCO2/day. Trialling different amine-based solvents for at least 12 months, the pilot plant is due to be operational by July 2024 and will be the first of its kind in the UK’s WtE sector.

It will allow data gathered from the testing to be analysed to demonstrate the future ‘scalability’ of CO2 removal technology across enfinium’s fleet of WtE facilities. In addition, enfinium will be able to utilise the pilot plant to optimise its long-term onsite operations by customising the testing and training programmes for its employees, while at the same time reducing future financial investment risks to decarbonise its long-term operations.

HZI’s Chief Executive Officer Bruno-Frédéric Baudouin, said “this initiative is evidence of HZI’s move beyond waste to energy and into so-called ‘waste to X’, where outputs, including energy generation, now extend beyond maximising heat use and the recovery of more metals into vital CO2 reduction and more. Projects such as this represent a crucial step in the journey towards enhanced decarbonisation, resource circularity and supply security, allowing us all to aim for a future free of ‘wasted’ waste.” 

Mike Maudsley, CEO of enfinium, said: “Installing carbon capture technology at energy from waste facilities is the only way the UK can decarbonise its un-recyclable waste. It also offers benefits including creating durable carbon removals, or negative emissions, at scale and generating reliable homegrown power. This groundbreaking partnership with HZI will allow us to test multiple capture techniques that could in the future be deployed across our facilities at scale.”