Scores of jobs look set to be created with a multi-million pound investment in waste to energy on the Humber Bank.
A pioneering decarbonisation plant is destined for Saltend Chemicals Park after owner and operator PX Group reached heads of terms with Standard Gas Technologies. It will bring the London-headquartered company’s cutting-edge commercial scale SG100 operation to the site, east of Hull, and follows a successful trial of the pyrolysis technology.
Should it be scaled up from beyond an initial unit, it could hit 100 jobs with a capital spend of £100 million. Front end engineering and design work will start in the new year, with deployment scheduled for 2025. PX is to provide a full package of engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning, going on to operate and maintain what is described as transformational technology.
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Geoff Holmes, chef executive of PX Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with Standard Gas on yet another pioneering decarbonisation project destined for Saltend. Decarbonisation is a non-negotiable, and carbon capture and removal – both on a large and small scale - will play a central role in reaching Net Zero targets here in the UK and Europe.”
Capable of processing up to 48,000 tonnes of a wide range of non-recyclable waste a year, the SG100 will typically generate 2,500 to 3,000 cubic metres of gas, described as being clean as natural gas and certified by the Environment Agency.
A single plant can produce 40,000 MWh of power annually, enough for around 10,000 homes, with the operations scalable.
Each requires a team of around 20 full time people working on rotation, and there are phased plans for multiple additions.
The advanced thermal conversion bakes but does not burn waste in a high-temperature, oxygen-free oven to generate both gas, which is immediately processed for cleanliness and to prevent tar formation, and carbon-capturing, sequestrable biochar.
Product gas can be used in electricity or steam and heat generation, as a natural gas substitute, or further processed for renewable transport fuels, or chemical feedstock. Biochar, which is like a ground charcoal and up to 90 per cent carbon, is removed, cooled, and stored ready to be sequestered in or help decarbonise construction products or used to enrich or condition soils for agriculture and horticulture.
Laurence Sharrock, technical director at Standard Gas, said: “An industrial park like Saltend is a perfect location for one or more SG100s, providing decarbonising power and products for on-site consumption. We already have a pipeline of over 20 SG100 units in four to five projects across several industrial and commercial sectors, and successfully deploying the technology at a high-profile location like Saltend will have much wider significance.
“Saltend has a highly skilled workforce on its doorstep, and a plethora of sector-leading businesses on site that can utilise the SG100’s output.”
The company has been working on the technology since late 2009, launching the near-scale demonstration plant in Huntingdon pre-pandemic. This is lined up as the first deployment for the team, now working in a former aircraft hangar near Norwich.
Bringing Standard Gas’ SG100 technology to Saltend would be the latest coup for the chemicals park, which has been the focus of huge decarbonisation investment and interest in recent years. Meld Energy, Pensana and Future Biogas are just some of those currently developing and realising plans, with it also home to Equinor’s first phase Humber hydrogen ambition.
Earlier this year Terrae Novo, a Leeds start-up working on converting non-recyclable plastic and bio waste into new plastics and low-carbon fuels, gained planning permission for a site at Saltend too.
