Leeds firm C-Capture launches Europe’s first carbon capture trial in flat glass industry

C-Capture, developer of next generation technology for carbon dioxide removal, has started Europe’s first carbon capture trial on a mainstream flat glass manufacturing plant.
Lizzie Murphy
By Lizzie Murphy
Published 20th Dec 2023, 16:45 BST
Updated 20th Dec 2023, 17:20 BST

The trial forms part of the company’s national project, ‘XLR8 CCS – Accelerating the Deployment of a Low-Cost Carbon Capture Solution for Hard-to-Abate Industries’. The project aims to demonstrate that a low-cost carbon capture solution is a reality for difficult-to-decarbonise industries in the race to net zero.

Beginning with glass production, XLR8 CCS aims to prove the ability of C-Capture’s innovative carbon capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the flue gas emissions of three industries which are difficult-to-decarbonise but committed to reducing their carbon levels.

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Carbon capture trials will follow in the cement and energy from waste industries as part of the project which secured £1.7m in funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

C-Capture’s project manager, Claudia Hernandez and XLR8 CCS project partners at the CCSCU which has been deployed at Pilkington UK’s site in St Helens, UK, to trial C-Capture’s carbon capture technology in the glass manufacturing industry. Picture supplied by C-CaptureC-Capture’s project manager, Claudia Hernandez and XLR8 CCS project partners at the CCSCU which has been deployed at Pilkington UK’s site in St Helens, UK, to trial C-Capture’s carbon capture technology in the glass manufacturing industry. Picture supplied by C-Capture
C-Capture’s project manager, Claudia Hernandez and XLR8 CCS project partners at the CCSCU which has been deployed at Pilkington UK’s site in St Helens, UK, to trial C-Capture’s carbon capture technology in the glass manufacturing industry. Picture supplied by C-Capture

The funding is part of the £20m Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) Innovation 2.0 programme aimed at accelerating the deployment of next-generation CCUS technology in the UK.

Additional private sector contributions support a £2.7m total for this multi-industry project.

The carbon capture trial is underway in St Helens at Pilkington’s UK glass manufacturing site. Leeds-based C-Capture said it is the first demonstration of a carbon-capture technology on an industrial flat glass furnace in Europe.

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The compatibility of C-Capture’s proprietary solvent-based technology will be assessed with a further five carbon capture trials from next year at sites owned by project partners Glass Futures, Heidelberg Materials and Energy Works Hull – in conjunction with consulting and engineering company, Wood. Carbon capture solvent compatibility units (CCSCUs) designed and built by C-Capture and Wood will be installed and operated on partners’ sites.

Tom White, chief executive of C-Capture, said: “Based on a fundamentally different chemistry to other commercially available approaches, our next generation technology is an innovation in the carbon capture sector.”

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