hydrogen technology solution supported by the UK government, which has contributed approximately £9.4m of funding under the Greenhouse Gas Removals and H 2 Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) innovation programmes. This technology demonstration will also be one of the world’s first operational BECCS-to-hydrogen facilities. By the end of 2024, KEW hopes to operate commercially, taking this solution to a higher technology readiness level (TRL), proving its effectiveness and readiness for market launch and commercialisation. The culmination of 10 years of hard work and challenges, the SEC has proven the reliability and commercialisation of its technology. Demonstrated through running hours and established protocols, feedstock providers have been able to assess the reliability of the technology to process specified waste, and the industry can see a commercial-scale waste- to-molecules and CCUS solution before it hits the market. As the technology is modular, the same process can be replicated and scaled up as needed and, most importantly, in a de-risked manner as it avoids process scale-up risk. Funding and support Over the last decade, government support has been invaluable going back to initial funding
from the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a partnership between government and industry. To date, KEW has received more than £28m in public funding for key innovation demonstration projects, including: • Carbon capture and hydrogen (CCH 2 ) module at the SEC, enabling >20,000 tonnes per year of greenhouse gas removal, delivering a net carbon-negative H2 modular solution for industry or transport sectors. • Taking its waste-to-hydrogen solution into ‘real-world’ demonstration at the SEC, allowing it to retrofit its gasification plant with a new add-on technology to separate hydrogen (H2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). • Working with global glass manufacturer NSG and installing technology at its Pilkington site in St Helens, UK, for co-location near its plant’s float furnace, operating continuously with a partial fuel switch from natural gas to waste/ biomass-derived syngas. Successful joint venture and trials One of KEW’s more high-profile projects is the creation of the first UK plant producing renewable and recycled carbon DME, as a sustainable fuel for off-grid energy generation at Teesside using an earlier version of the same end-to-end process at the company’s existing SEC facility. Working in partnership with Dimeta, a
Figure 3 KEW ’s commercial-scale Sustainable Energy Centre (SEC)
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