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57 min ago 3 min read
A carbon capture and liquefaction facility at a more than £60m ($81.2m) anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Deeside, north Wales, has been approved by Flintshire County Council, according to Energy News.
The facility will capture carbon dioxide (CO2) separated during the upgrading of biogas into biomethane at the Deeside Anaerobic Digestion Clean Energy Plant, which is currently under construction on the Deeside Industrial Estate.
The captured CO2 will be purified, compressed and liquefied on site before being transported off site for commercial applications.
The wider Deeside AD project is being developed by The Circular Economy Development Ltd in partnership with infrastructure investor abrdn Global Sustainable Infrastructure Partners IV.
The project reached financial close in September 2024 at a total cost of more than £60m ($81.2m), according to abrdn.
The plant is designed to process around 120,000 tonnes of food waste annually and produce approximately 180 GWh of biomethane, alongside renewable electricity for local industrial users.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK’s Deeside engine plant is expected to use the biomethane produced by the facility as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
The carbon capture addition will recover CO2 separated during the biomethane upgrading process, creating an additional product stream from the AD operation.
The facility is expected to capture around 16,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 annually. The gas will be liquefied on site before being transported for use in commercial and industrial applications.
Industrial gas major Air Liquide is expected to transport the liquefied CO2 from the site, according to local reports.
The gas will initially be supplied for applications including refrigeration and arc welding, with reports indicating that one 24-tonne container could leave the site each day, rising to up to three containers per day once the facility reaches full capacity.
The involvement of Air Liquide would provide a route to market for the recovered CO2, linking the biomethane production process with established industrial gas supply chains.
The AD technology is being supplied by German company BioConstruct, whose hydromechanical digestion and separation process will be used to recover biogas and separate the CO2 during upgrading.
The project forms part of a wider effort to use food waste to produce renewable energy while reducing the amount of material sent to landfill.
Once operational, the facility is expected to become one of the UK’s largest AD plants, with the developers targeting commercial operations later this year.
The capture of biogenic CO2 adds another potential emissions reduction pathway, allowing carbon separated during biomethane production to be recovered and supplied to industrial users rather than vented.
The approved system will initially focus on CO2 utilisation, with the liquefied gas supplied for commercial applications rather than permanent geological storage.
The project is also separate from a second carbon capture development at the Deeside Industrial Estate being pursued by waste management company Enfinium at its Parc Adfer energy-from-waste facility.
Both projects involve CO2 capture at Deeside, but use different feedstocks, processes and capture applications.
