Kwasi Kwarteng, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, visited the incubation area at Drax power station (at Selby, north Yorkshire) and took the opportunity to learn more about C-Capture’s pioneering carbon capture technology which is being trialled in a partnership with Drax.
Leeds’ C-Capture has received significant funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as it has developed its unique technology, and were delighted to give the minister a tour of the facility, alongside the team at Drax.
C-Capture’s bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) pilot plant has been capturing CO2 from the flue gas at Drax power station since February 2019. The data generated is helping our engineers and scientists to answer the questions which will need to be addressed as the technology is scaled up, paving the way for Drax to become the world’s first negative emissions power station.
Four of the six boilers at Drax burn biomass, making the power station the biggest renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. If the CO2 can be captured and stored, this leads to net negative emissions, which will represent a significant contribution to the UK’s goal of becoming net zero by 2050.
Tom White, CEO of C-Capture, said: “It was a real pleasure to meet Minister Kwarteng and tell him about the exciting developments of the last year. We have demonstrated the compatibility of C-Capture’s unique solvent with the biomass derived flue gas at Drax, and the data generated shows how robust our technology is. The progress we have made, with continued support from BEIS, Drax and our other shareholders, is fantastic. With the climate crisis unfolding before us, the need for large scale deployment of CCS could not be more urgent and we are proud to be working with Drax and the UK Government in developing a solution”.