UK’s largest carbon capture project secures government funding

The UK’s largest carbon capture project to date, removing 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere each year, could be up and running by 2021 thanks to government backing. A total of nine companies have secured £26mn of government funding, in addition to industry backing, to advance the rollout of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in the UK – a crucial step towards the UK’s net zero emissions and the end of the UK’s contribution to global warming. It is the next milestone for the government’s ambition for the UK to be a world-leader in the field as laid out in the Clean Growth Strategy and last November’s CCUS Action Plan.

The awards were announced by Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore, on a visit to Tata Chemicals Europe’s plant in Winnington, Cheshire. The plant, which is the UK’s only manufacturer of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate, is being awarded £4.2mn toward the construction of a facility to capture and utilise 40,000 t/y of CO₂ – the equivalent of 22,000 cars. When fully operational in 2021 it will be the largest carbon capture plant in the UK, removing 100 times more CO₂ from the atmosphere than the country’s current largest facility.