The environmental services group will supply two purification and dehydration units for a Cheshire waste-to-energy development expected to capture about 370,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Veolia has secured a contract to design and supply two carbon dioxide purification and dehydration units for the Protos carbon capture project near Ellesmere Port.
The contract was awarded by Kanadevia Inova, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the development. Veolia’s equipment will be installed at Encyclis’s Protos Energy Recovery Facility. No contract value was disclosed.
The units will remove impurities and moisture from captured CO₂, preparing it to meet the specifications required for pipeline transport and permanent geological storage. Veolia said their modular design would allow them to fit within the limited space available at the site.
Encyclis and Kanadevia Inova describe Protos as the UK’s first full-scale carbon capture plant integrated with an energy-from-waste facility. The UK government has called it one of the world’s first projects of its kind.
This pioneering project establishes Veolia at the forefront of industrial decarbonisation and environmental security.
The energy recovery facility is designed to process up to 500,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste annually and generate as much as 49.9MW of electricity. Its developers expect the carbon capture plant to collect about 370,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year — a figure they compare with the annual emissions of approximately 200,000 petrol cars.
Captured gas is expected to enter the HyNet North West pipeline network before being stored in depleted gas reservoirs beneath Liverpool Bay.
Anne Le Guennec, chief executive of Veolia’s water technology activities, said: “This pioneering project establishes Veolia at the forefront of industrial decarbonisation and environmental security.
“We are delivering on our promise to drive ecological transformation by enabling industries to transition towards net zero, in line with our GreenUp strategic programme.”
Encyclis says about half of the captured carbon will come from biogenic material in the waste stream. On that basis, it expects the project to deliver net carbon removals, provided the CO₂ is captured and permanently stored as planned.
The energy recovery facility is currently being commissioned, while the adjoining carbon capture plant is scheduled to begin operating in mid-2029.
