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Further investment for Saltend Chemicals Park
Saltend Chemicals Park, owned and operated by px Group, has been chosen by Future Biogas as the site where it will construct up to 32 new CO2 storage tanks in an investment worth tens of millions of pounds.
The storage facilities constructed by Future Biogas will facilitate the temporary storage of 200,000 tonnes of liquified CO2 annually by mid-2025, and up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2 by the end of 2028. The CO2 is a by-product of anaerobic digestion plants and will be captured and liquified at facilities operated by Future Biogas across the UK.
As part of the development, px Group will be involved in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the infrastructure at the park, and potentially the CO2 storage facility itself.
Future Biogas is to construct up to 32 new CO2 storage tanks at the Saltend Chemicals Park in an investment worth tens of millions of pounds / Picture: px Group
px Group says that Saltend, a top tier COMAH site, was chosen for its expertise in handling complex, high-hazard materials and its quality record on safety. Future Biogas added that Saltend’s leading role in UK decarbonisation and Saltend’s existing infrastructure and capabilities, such as its deepwater jetty providing access to transportation via the Humber, were also critical in its decision.
Saltend was also recently selected as the site for a world-scale hydrogen plant – the flagship project of the Zero Carbon Humber decarbonisation initiative backed by major government funding.
Philipp Lukas, CEO of Future Biogas, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the team at Saltend, which will become an integral part of the carbon capture and storage supply chain. The environment at Saltend is ideal – the park has fantastic facilities, experienced people, and infrastructure which will support early exports to ‘Northern Lights’ whilst being complementary to Zero Carbon Humber in the future.
“We are looking forward to 2025 when the first deliveries of green-CO2 removed from the atmosphere roll into Saltend for onward transportation to permanent sequestration.”
How does the process work?
1 – Future Biogas will transport liquified CO2 that it captures from its anaerobic digestion and bio-energy sites across the UK via trucks to Saltend.
2 – Saltend’s facilities will temporarily store the liquid CO2 in the built-to-specification tanks.
3 – From the tanks, the liquid CO2 will be transported via Saltend’s jetty onto specially designed vessels for transportation to the Northern Lights carbon capture and underground storage (CCUS) project, which is supported by the Norwegian government and is currently under construction.
How is the process carbon negative?
– The anaerobic digestion facilities utilise energy crops from a regenerative farming system with negative carbon at its core.
– The products from the anaerobic digestion process are dealt with in two ways. The biomethane is fed directly into the National Grid’s network for domestic and commercial use, and the CO2 by-product is captured, liquified and transported to Saltend (in this case) for storage, transportation, and geological sequestration.
– The process removes CO2 from the atmosphere without releasing further CO2, making it carbon negative.