UK's biggest carbon capture project is step-change on emissions

(The Guardian, 27 Jun 2019) Tata-owned Cheshire plant to turn 40,000 tonnes of CO2 a year into useful products.

The UK’s biggest carbon capture project will soon block thousands of tonnes of factory emissions from contributing to the climate crisis, by using them to help make the chemicals found in antacid, eyedrops and Pot Noodle.

Within two years a chemical plant in Cheshire could keep 40,000 tonnes of carbon from the air every year, or the equivalent of removing 22,000 cars from the UK’s roads.

The plant’s owners, a division of the Indian-owned Tata conglomerate, will then use the captured carbon to make the chemicals found in glass, baking soda or even medicine.

The project is a step-change in the UK’s battle to cut carbon emissions from heavy industry and will capture more than 100 times the carbon dioxide trapped by an existing trial at the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire.

The plans are backed by the government, which has agreed to give Tata Chemicals Europe a £4.2m grant towards the £16.7m cost of the project.

Drax will receive a £5m government grant for a pilot, which could keep up to 16m tonnes of carbon from the air by the mid-2020s.

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The Guardian, 27 Jun 2019: UK's biggest carbon capture project is step-change on emissions