Drax has announced plans to hold a second trial of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) under a partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
A new pilot facility will be installed at its Yorkshire power station and used to test whether two of MHI’s proprietary solvents are suitable to extract carbon dioxide from the biomass flue gases. The trial is due to begin in the autumn and will last for 12 months, with around 300 kilograms of carbon dioxide being captured each day.
“Our plans to develop ground-breaking BECCS at the power station in North Yorkshire will help to boost the UK’s economy following the Covid crisis and support the development of a zero carbon industrial cluster in the Humber region – delivering clean growth and protecting thousands of jobs,” said Drax group chief executive Will Gardiner.
“We’re very pleased to be working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on this exciting pilot which will further our understanding of the potential for deploying BECCS at scale at Drax – taking us closer to achieving our world-leading ambition to be a carbon negative company by 2030.”
Nigel Adams, minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, commented: “This is an exciting collaboration between Drax and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which has the potential to further the development of technology which could help the UK achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and contribute to the post-Covid economic recovery.”
Last year, Drax held a six-month trial of BECCS in partnership with the Leeds-based startup C-Capture.