C-Capture has started its carbon capture trial at a mainstream flat glass manufacturing plant, aiming to demonstrate the ability of the company's carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to help decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.
C-Capture said it uses a solvent-based technology with a post-combustion capture approach. The company said this unique CCS method may be deployed on most all processes that require carbon dioxide to be separated from other emissions, such as thermal electricity generation, natural gas production, and steel or cement production. The CCS system may be installed on new facilities or retrofitted to existing buildings.
The trial, part of the company’s XLR8 CCS project, will remove carbon dioxide from flue gas emissions caused by glass production at NSG Group's Pilkington glass manufacturing site in the United Kingdom.
“Based on a fundamentally different chemistry to other commercially available approaches, our next-generation technology is an innovation in the carbon capture sector,” said Tom White, CEO of C-Capture. “It is lower cost and environmentally benign as it does not rely on the use of amines. It is also extremely robust and suitable for use in industries such as glass and cement which are essential to the economy but difficult to decarbonize due to the high level of impurities in their flue gases.”
Beyond this first trial, C-Capture’s technology will be tested through five additional CCS trials geared towards the cement and energy-from-waste industries, supported by $2.15 million in funding from the U.K. Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
The U.K. has recently unveiled its goal to establish a global carbon market by 2035 with its CCUS Vision plan, which outlines a competitive allocation process for carbon capture projects from 2027 to accelerate the sector’s progress.
CCS technologies may offer a solution for sectors that lack viable decarbonization solutions at present, such as industrial processes, but most CCS projects around the world are small-scale or are in pilot phases. However, the International Energy Agency reports that an increasing number of projects have been deployed in the past few years.
C-Capture has maintained one such pilot project at the U.K.'s largest power station, Drax, since February 2019. The company said that its progress may help with the development of a full-scale plant, capable of capturing over 10,000 tons of carbon each day. Further, the company aims to eventually develop a process where captured carbon may be used rather than stored, allowing for carbon-negative operations.
“The advantages of C-Capture’s approach mean it has the potential to break through the barriers that are currently preventing the widespread adoption of carbon capture and storage technology -- and make a globally significant contribution to tackling climate change,” said White.
