Tata Chemicals Europe Plant to Commence Ops in 2021

Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) has unveiled plans to build an industrial-scale carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) demonstration plant in Northwich. With planning permission granted earlier this month, the plant at TCE’s Northwich industrial site is scheduled to commence carbon dioxide capture operations in 2021.The first large-scale CCU project of its kind in the UK, the project also marks a world first in capturing and purifying carbon dioxide from power generation plant emission gases to use as a key raw material to manufacture high purity sodium bicarbonate.Supporting the government’s Clean Growth Strategy, the £16.7m project will be funded by TCE with the support of a £4.2m grant from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through the Carbon Capture and Utilisation Demonstration (CCUD) Programme. TCE is the UK’s only manufacturer of soda ash and sodium bicarbonate and a major producer of salt. The products it makes are used in glass, food, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing sectors.The project will be completed over the next two years, the CCU plant is to be designed and delivered by TCE alongside a supplier of CO2 capture and purification technologies.In another move to reduce its carbon footprint, TCE is also investing £7.2m this year in state-of-the-art boilers at subsidiary, British Salt.