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Veolia, Carbon Clean to trial carbon capture at EfW facilities

Veolia is set to become the first UK operator of energy recovery facilities (ERFs) to demonstrate the latest carbon capture technology with Carbon Clean.

Carbon Clean, a global leader in low-cost carbon capture technology, has been working with Veolia for four years, and this new joint project will highlight how the patented technology can work effectively on energy-from-waste (EfW) plants. The trial is estimated to start this spring.

Veolia currently operates 10 plants that transform approximately 2.3 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste into electricity for more than 400,000 homes. This combined generating capacity of 180 MWe takes the pressure off the stretched UK electrical grid and effectively avoids using fossil fuels for generation.

Some of these facilities also produce heating for communities via district heating networks, by using combined heat and power (CHP) technology. As an estimated 20% of the nation’s carbon emissions are generated by domestic heating, due to a low standard of energy efficiency, using this type of non-fossil fuel heating cuts carbon emissions and can help reduce cost, and fuel poverty, in vulnerable groups.

Gavin Graveson, executive vice-president of Veolia UK & Ireland, said: “This project marks another significant step forward for the industry by making it possible for ERFs to contribute to the environment through lowering carbon and delivering landfill diversion, grid resilience, district heating, and carbon capture.

“By using the potential of non-recyclable waste to generate energy and support communities, we can power the low-carbon cities of the future.”

The latest Carbon Clean technology is significantly smaller than other technologies, making it suited to retrofit applications, such as EfW, and will extract and purify CO2 from combustion flue gas emissions into a valuable commodity that can form part of a new carbon circular economy.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Veolia to deliver on our shared goal of decarbonising the EfW sector,” commented Aniruddha Sharma, CEO of Carbon Clean.

“This partnership with the operating experience of Veolia will help us bring the cost of carbon capture to $30 per tonne, which will accelerate the take-up of the next generation modularised technology across the sector and beyond.”




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