Teesside collective launches industrial CCS vision

The so-called Teesside Collective, which includes BOC, Lotte Chemical UK, steel maker SSI UK and fertilizer manufacturer GrowHow, hopes to use CCS technology to capture emissions, plug them into a shared pipeline network and send them for permanent storage beneath the North Sea.

The group claims that as well as making a significant contribution to UK carbon emissions cuts, CCS in Teesside would help local firms deal with escalating carbon permit prices, and put the UK at the forefront of worldwide industrial CCS development.

According to Amec Foster Wheeler – which has this week outlined the initial findings of engineering work  – retrofitting carbon capture technology to the four anchor projects’ different industrial processes - steel, ammonia, hydrogen and polyethylene terephthalate production – is operationally and technically feasible. The firm also notes that Teesside is well located for the transportation of the carbon to permanent storage facilities under the Central or Southern North Sea.