• In an investment worth tens of millions of pounds, a storage facility for the temporary storage of liquid CO₂ will be constructed by Future Biogas Ltd (Future Biogas) by the end of 2024 on a dedicated site at Saltend, comprising up to 32 CO₂ storage tanks.
• Future Biogas’s carbon negative process uses energy crops from a regenerative farming system as feedstock for its Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants. Biomethane produced from the AD plant is then fed into the National Gas Grid and the byproduct (carbon neutral CO₂) will be transported to Saltend for short term storage and shipping to Norway’s ‘Northern Lights’ project for permanent CO2 storage under the North Sea.
• Geoff Holmes, CEO of px Group: “Today marks another significant milestone at Saltend with this major investment from Future Biogas, a company that itself is investing in this and other projects with a negative carbon footprint and quickening the country’s journey to Net Zero.”

 

Saltend Chemicals Park, owned and operated by px Group, revealed that it has been selected as the site by Future Biogas, the biogas plant developer and operations specialists, to construct up to 32 new CO₂ storage tanks at the Park in an investment worth tens of millions of pounds.

Future Biogas’ storage facility 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 the facilities operated by Future Biogas. 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. The development now goes into FEED (Front End Engineering Design) stage.

A simple step-by-step guide to the production, storage and transportation of the CO₂ is below, as is an explainer of how and why the process is Carbon Negative. 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 - a sentiment echoed by Future Biogas. Future Biogas comments that Saltend’s leading role in UK decarbonization, and its strategic goal of attracting key players in sustainable energy supply chains, was critical to it choosing Saltend. Saltend was recently selected as the site for a world-scale Hydrogen plant - the flagship project of the Zero Carbon Humber decarbonization initiative that recently secured major Government funding.

Saltend’s existing high-quality infrastructure and capabilities, such as its Deepwater Jetty providing access to transportation via the Humber, and px Group’s engineering and operational capabilities, were also cited as key plus points. Garry Gibbon, Group Commercial Manager, who oversaw the partnership with Future Biogas, adds: “Once again we have seen our commitment to top-class infrastructure at Saltend reap rewards. The development of Future Biogas is testament to the facilities and expertise on site.” Philipp Lukas, Future Biogas, CEO, comments: “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?

A Simple Step-By-Step Guide

1) Future Biogas will transport liquified CO₂ that it captures from its Anaerobic Digestion (AD) 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 project (CCUS) which is supported by the Norwegian Government and is currently under construction.

How is the Process Carbon Negative?

The Anaerobic Digestion facilities utilize energy crops from a regenerative farming system with negative carbon at its core. The products from the AD process are dealt with in two ways. The biomethane is fed directly into the National Gas 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.