Cory's Riverside Resource Recovery Energy from Waste Facility in Belvedere, London | Credit: Pterre
Waste and resources firm claims plan would create the 'world's largest single site energy from waste decarbonisation project'
Cory has announced plans to fit carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to its existing energy-from-waste plant on the banks of the River Thames, in a move it estimates could save 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by the end of the decade.
The waste and resources firm said adding a system capable of capturing 90 per cent of CO2 from the facility - which processes household waste shipped down the Thames from across London - would create the "world's largest single-site, energy-from-waste (EfW) decarbonisation project".
The plans would also see a CCS system fitted to a new EfW plant Cory is currently developing which is expected to be operational by 2026 at a site adjacent to the existing facility in East London.
Cory said the site benefited from being close to a raft of other industrial facilities in the area, which could help establish a transportation hub to ship captured, liquefied CO2 from industry to potential subsea storage locations in the English Channel and North Sea.
Dougie Sutherland, CEO of Cory, said the CCS project "has the potential to be game-changing". "Not only would it be one of the largest CCS projects in the UK, but it would also lead the way for river-based solutions, using the existing, natural infrastructure of the Thames to transport CO2," he explained. "It could also help other businesses along the River Thames to unlock their contribution to the UK's net zero target by establishing a transportation hub using river shipment options."
The announcement follows the UK government's confirmation last week that it is "exploring whether to provide support to waste management projects" that plan to deploy CCS technology, through a financing model that could provide operators with a form of rebate for every tonne of carbon captured.
BEIS stressed its financing model proposals are at present only indicative "and do not constitute an offer by government".
Nevertheless, Sutherland welcomed the government's announcement, arguing carbon capture technologies would be "vital in the fight against the climate crisis".
"Subject to the right regulatory framework and support being in place, Cory stands ready to invest and help the UK to enhance its position as a world leader in green technology," he added.
The CCS plan forms part of Cory's wider decarbonisation plans, which have already seen it begin to use biofuels for barges which carry household waste down the Thames to the EfW facility as an interim measure before it eventually envisages using electric boats for the job.
The firm is also teaming up with Swedish energy firm Vattenfall to harness excess heat and water created at the EfW facilities to create one of the UK's largest heat networks, which is expected to eventually provide low carbon heating for 10,500 homes and businesses in the area. Once the new adjacent facility and further new homes are built in the area, the project could further scale up to supply up to 75,000 homes through the heat network, according to the firms.
Cory is one of a growing number of waste and resources firms exploring the potential of CCS to drive down emissions from EfW plants. Earlier this year Viridor announced plans to fit CCS technology to a number of EfW plants in its UK fleet, in a move it said could eventually remove at least 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2040, while enabling it to become a 'net negative' emissions business by 2045.
In related news, UK carbon capture technology specialist Storegga and its joint venture partner Talos Energy are working on plans to potentially develop a carbon capture and sequestration project at a natural gas pre-treatment facility on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the US.
Under the joint venture, the firms have signed a 'letter of intent' with Freeport LNG Development for the project, which would see CO2 captured from the gas pre-treatment facility and then injected into rocks for permanent storage at a site less than half a mile away.
"Freeport CCS has the potential to be storing CO2 by late 2024 and to scale up materially thereafter," said Storegga's CEO Nick Cooper. "We expect that this will be the first of several such projects from the Talos-Storegga partnership to serve Gulf Coast industrial CO2 sources and to contribute meaningfully towards net zero in the United States."
