Liquid carbon capture plant given green light
Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter
The carbon capture phase of a new £282 million waste-to-energy plant in north Wales has been approved.
The Deeside Anaerobic Digestion Clean Energy Plant is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe and when completed will be 10 times bigger than any other Anaerobic Digestion facility in the UK.
It is designed to turn landfill waste into biomass energy for local manufacturing businesses businesses like Toyota as they move away from fossil fuels.
Now the latest phase of development has been approved – the capture and liquefication of carbon dioxide generated during waste processing.
The plans will see a new facility built on the former Gaz de France site where the main energy plant is under construction.
The carbon capture facility will process the biomethane – the gas used as an industrial fuel – and remove the carbon dioxide.
While the biomethane will be used to generate power for industrial sites like Toyota in Deeside, the carbon dioxide will be separated out and purified before being compressed to become a liquid.
That liquid carbon dioxide will then be stored until it is taken off-site by Air Liquide. Initially there will be one 24-tonne container per day leaving the site – growing to a maximum of three per day.
From there the liquid could be used as a refrigeration agent or in the process of arc welding.
The process will utilise a unique hydromechanical anaerobic digestion, separation and preparation process designed by German firm BioConstruct GmbH.
This advance process recovers 70% – 90% of residual waste materials and produces high methane content biogas for several green energy uses.
The waste-to-energy plant – once fully operational – will generate approximately 41,182 cubic metres of biogas and 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
It aims to reduce the amount of residual waste sent to landfill to just 10% while increasing the proportion of waste recycled to around 85%.
This new application seeks to take one of the waste products from that process – carbon dioxide – and turn it into a valuable resource.
In approving the application Flintshire County Council’s planning officers said: “The proposed development is considered acceptable and therefore it is recommended planning permission is granted.
“One of the key considerations was the potential impact on the River Dee Special Area of Conservation.
“Natural Resources Wales were consulted on the application, considered the submitted information and hold no objection to the proposal. They consider from the information provided that the proposal would not be likely to have a significant effect on the SAC. The council concur with this assessment.”
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