Peel signs UK waste plastic to hydrogen deal

Peel Environmental – part of Peel L&P – has signed a collaboration agreement with Waste2Tricity and PowerHouse Energy which would see 11 waste plastic to hydrogen facilities – representing an investment of £130mn – developed across the UK. The first facility will be located at the company’s Protos site near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.

Using a ‘UK first’ advanced thermal treatment technology, the network of facilities could transform the way waste plastics are dealt with nationally, says the company. The DMG® (distributed modular gasification) technology developed by Powerhouse Energy produces a local source of hydrogen from unrecyclable plastics. This clean and low-cost hydrogen could be used to power buses and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), before being rolled out to hydrogen cars, helping to reduce air pollution and improve air quality on UK roads.

The technology also provides a solution to plastics that cannot be reused or recycled and that would otherwise end up in landfill. With almost 1.2mn tonnes of waste plastics going to landfill every year, local authorities across the country are looking for alternative treatment technologies.

Myles Kitcher, from Peel Environmental, comments: ‘Hydrogen is increasingly being seen as a vital part of our journey to zero carbon. This deal could be transformational in delivering a UK first technology that can generate local sources of hydrogen but also provide a solution to plastic waste. As a business we’re looking at solutions for all plastics with a vision for these facilities to sit alongside recycling and recovery. We’re pioneering this solution in the North West, but local authorities across the country could benefit from a more sustainable way to treat waste plastic, whilst also creating a local source of low carbon transport fuel which could help them meet their climate change targets.’

For more on hydrogen initiatives, see Petroleum Review’s forthcoming September 2019 issue.

Photo: Peel Environmental