The first UK industrial-scale carbon capture and utilization plant was launched last week. Tata Chemicals Europe announced on June 24th the opening of its plant at Northwich that will use captured CO2 to make sodium bicarbonate.
The carbon capture and utilization plant is UK’s first and largest such project and will take away CO2 from a gas-fired power plant at the facility. The installation will capture about 36,000 tonnes of CO2 a year but this capacity will eventually rise to 40,000 tonnes or 11% of the facility’s emissions.
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The emissions will be purified and turned into liquefied CO2, utilized to make sodium bicarbonate. The product will be named Ecokarb® and will be exported to over 60 countries around the world. Most of it will be used in hemodialysis to treat people living with kidney disease and the rest will be used by the food industry.
Some other products that could be made using the low carbon sodium carbonate are essential items like glass, washing detergents, pharmaceutical products, food, animal feed or be used in water purification.
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“The completion of the carbon capture and utilization plant enables us to reduce our carbon emissions, whilst securing our supply of high purity carbon dioxide, a critical raw material, helping us to grow the export of our pharmaceutical-grade products across the world,” said Martin Ashcroft, Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Europe.
The carbon capture plant was supported with a $5.2 million (£4.2 million) grant from the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (“BEIS”) Energy Innovation Programme.
The Secretary of State for Business and Energy, Kwasi Kwarteng also commented on the opening of the carbon capture and utilization plant, saying the £4.2 million government investment is helping carbon capture attract new private capital into the UK and is boosting new innovation in green technologies.
