Protos carbon capture plant moves onto next phase

The Cheshire site will be home to the UK’s first carbon capture EfW plant.

Once completed in 2029, the plant is set to capture around 370,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the nearby Protos Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).

As the first of its kind, Encyclis said that the project represents “a landmark roll-out that will provide a blueprint for the decarbonisation of essential industrial sectors”.

Helen Moon, Project Manager for CCS at Encyclis, said: “We are making excellent progress towards delivery of the UK’s first decarbonised Energy from Waste facility, which will enable us to fulfil our essential function in society by treating residual waste, recovering reusable resources and generating baseload electricity, while removing greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change.

“We have assembled an outstanding team of project leaders, engineers and contractors to make sure this groundbreaking project continues to move forwards on schedule.”

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Kanadevia Inova has now completed initial enabling works at the 4.4-acre site to establish a working platform.

This provides a stable base to allow for intensive construction activity and the introduction of heavy machinery.

With site establishment complete, Encyclis said that it would now focus on continuous flight auger (CFA) piling activities to ensure the safe and efficient progress of the project.

CFA uses deep drilling tools to create cast-in-place concrete piles for the installation of foundations.

The update comes six months after construction on the site began.

Protos Energy Recovery Facility

The adjoining Protos ERF – from which the carbon will be captured – is now in its final stages of commissioning near Ellesmere Port.

The CO2 captured from the site will be transferred via pipeline to Liverpool Bay for subsea storage.

Protos ERF will provide capacity to process up to 500,000 tonnes per year of the region’s waste while producing 49.9MW of baseload electricity.

It also has the potential to recover resources such as aggregates and metals for onwards processing.

The Protos carbon capture project was given the green light in October 2025 via a public-private funding agreement with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

The funding comes as part of the government department’s industrial decarbonisation cluster programme.

In 2024, the government committed to investing £21.7 billion in carbon capture projects in the UK over the next 25 years.

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