UK's first carbon capture pilot at an energy from waste facilty launched in Yorkshire

The firm also described the launch – which took place at its Ferrybridge facility in Knottingley – as a “milestone for the sector”.

Mike Maudsley, CEO of Enfinium, said: “We are proud to have this sector-leading project up and running at our Ferrybridge facility. Carbon capture and storage technology is central to how the UK will be able to decarbonise its unrecyclable waste.

“CCS is also critical to generating carbon removals at scale so the UK can achieve Net Zero. Using carbon capture, the energy from waste sector can provide significant levels of carbon removals.”

The technology, a containerised, scaled-down version of the CCS technology that Enfinium plans to deploy across all of its sites, was supplied by green technology company Hitachi Zosen Inova.

Enfinium said the pilot, which is installed at its Ferrybridge-1 energy from waste facility, is capturing one tonne of CO2 emissions from the plants operations per day.

The trial, which will run for at least 12 months, is being used to demonstrate how the technology can be applied at scale across the firm’s fleet of six energy from waste facilities.

Throughout the pilot, the company will collect operational data on performance, such as CO2 capture rate and solvent degradation, and will assess the performance of different amine solvents.

Olivia Powis, CEO of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said: “The launch of CCS at Ferrybridge is very exciting to see. With millions of tonnes of unrecyclable waste produced by the UK, this is an important demonstration of the use of CCS to generate clean power via energy from waste, as well as providing a future route to establishing the UK's greenhouse gas removal market.”

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “I’m delighted to see the fantastic work being piloted in Ferrybridge, continuing the long tradition of energy generation and innovation in West Yorkshire."

Earlier this year, Enfinium announced its Net Zero Transition Plan, setting out how it plans to decarbonise its own operations and deliver up to 1.2 million tonnes of carbon removals a year in the 2030s. The plan is underpinned by an investment programme of up to £1.7bn, with a focus on investing in carbon capture and storage technology across its energy from waste facilities to deliver carbon removals.