A Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the development of the line has been signed between enfinium, which runs energy from waste incineration facilities in Ferrybridge, and Navigator Terminals, the country’s leading bulk liquid storage provider, in Teesside.

They plan to develop options to transport CO2 captured at the Ferrybridge plants in West Yorkshire to Navigator’s storage facilities in Teesside using rail freight.

The CO2 would then be transported safely offshore from Navigator’s facilities for permanent storage.

Bechtel, a global leader in engineering, construction, and project management, has been selected to support the feasibility work underpinning the concept.

By permanently storing the biogenic emissions captured from its waste stream, the Ferrybridge site would also generate around 700,000 tonnes of ‘negative emissions’ or ‘carbon removals’ every year – making a significant contribution towards the UK Government’s target to produce 23 million tonnes of negative emissions per year by 2035 to remain on track to achieve a ‘Net Zero’ economy by 2050.

Mike Maudsley, CEO of enfinium, said: “Our facility at Ferrybridge is the single largest energy from waste site in the UK and transforms non-recyclable waste into homegrown energy to power nearly 400,000 British homes.

"By installing carbon capture technology at Ferrybridge we could go one step further and remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we release. In doing so we could generate carbon negative electricity, support Yorkshire’s climate change targets and deliver high-quality jobs in an exciting new green industry.”

Jason Hornsby, CEO of Navigator Terminals, added: “The UK is a world leader in decarbonisation solutions, but it is clear that there is a need to develop alternative transportation and storage solutions for CO2 if we are to meet the country’s net zero ambitions.

"We have worked with enfinium to explore the opportunities for them to realise their decarbonisation plans by harnessing the rail network in the North East and connecting with our Terminal on Teesside before permanent sequestration of the carbon.

"This is an exciting UK first project, and we hope it can prove the concept of carbon transportation by rail opening up huge potential for further decarbonisaiton of British industry.”

It is hoped the Ferrybridge scheme could be an anchor project, leading to further similar projects involving industrial emission sites which wish to transport captured carbon by rail.

Last week, Mr Maudsley told The Yorkshire Post that he hopes it will be possible to add carbon capture facilities to the new £500m energy from waste plant the company is building at Skelton Grant in Leeds.

That site is due to be operational by 2025 but would require additional construction work for carbon capture.

'Rail to Zero' carbon capture transport plan revealed for Yorkshire in UK first