HZI partners with Enfinium for Waste to Energy pilot plant

The containerised and mobile plant aims to enable Enfinium to capture “up to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide each day” at the Ferrybridge 1 site in West Yorkshire.

The CC plant will utilise HZI’s amine-scrubbing technology, which interfaces with Enfinium’s onsite WtE operations.

The pilot plant will be a scaled-down version of the CC technology, which HZI said could be applied to WtE facilities “on a commercial scale” both at this plant and around the world, if the trial is successful.

The new facility will trial different amine-based solvents for 12 months and will be operational from July 2024.

Scalability

HZI has said that the CC technology will allow the “vital data gathered from testing to be analysed to demonstrate the future scalability of CO2 removal technology” across Enfinium’s fleet of WtE facilities.

Enfinium has said that the pilot plant will “optimise” its long-term onsite operations by customising the testing and training programmes for its employees, while “reducing future financial investment risks” to decarbonise its long-term operations.

Future

“It gives us tremendous pride to collaborate with Enfinium on this important carbon capture project and together continue to move the dial on decarbonisation across the UK’s waste management infrastructure,” said HZI’s chief executive officer, Bruno-Frédéric Baudouin.

“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 unrecyclable 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.”