Three UK clean-technology companies are teaming up to create what may be Europe’s biggest direct air capture facility.
Low-carbon project developer Progressive Energy, together with carbon-capture specialists Airhive and Mission Zero Technologies, has formed a new company to build a plant in northeast England capable of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. UnionDAC, as the venture is known, aims to begin sequestering CO2 in 2030 and, by 2032, capture 60,000 tons annually.
UnionDAC’s plant, if it reaches its target, would overtake Climeworks AG’s Mammoth project in Iceland as Europe’s largest direct air capture facility. Mammoth can take in 36,000 tons at full capacity.
While removing billions of tons of carbon dioxide will be essential to avoid catastrophic levels of warming, global carbon-removal capacity remains far below what scientists say is needed. The UK, with abundant geological storage beneath the North Sea and a government committed to net zero, is viewed by some as a natural place for technologies such as direct air capture.
The new facility on Teesside, almost 40 miles south of Newcastle, will demonstrate that direct air capture can be deployed commercially and replicated elsewhere, said John Egan, project director for industrial decarbonization at Progressive Energy.
“We want the UK to really grab all bits of that and be the world leader through this project,” he said in an interview.
DAC uses chemical processes to remove CO2 directly from the air and then inject it deep underground into depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers, where it is intended to remain permanently. Airhive deploys so-called fluidized-bed technology, while Mission Zero uses an electrochemical process to capture carbon.
Both companies will install their modules on Teesside, and UnionDAC plans to connect to the carbon capture and storage infrastructure of the Northern Endurance Partnership. That network will transport the captured CO2 through pipelines to permanent storage sites deep beneath the seabed.
Progressive Energy, Airhive and Mission Zero will all be shareholders in UnionDAC. The company intends to raise about £100 million ($134 million) to develop the plant. Through sequestration of CO2, the company also intends to generate carbon-removal credits that can be sold to external buyers.
Nicholas Chadwick, chief executive officer of Mission Zero, said the UK can “champion a playbook for economic growth, coupled with decarbonization.” UnionDAC exemplifies “what the next chapter of that looks like for the 2030s by bringing together bankable DAC technologies in a landmark endeavor,” he said, adding the plant should produce 50,000 carbon-removal credits per year.
By 2040, the UK will need about 21.3 million tons of so-called engineered carbon removals — projects that pull CO2 from the air and store it permanently — to offset residual emissions from sectors such as aviation, according to the Climate Change Committee, the government’s official climate adviser. That requirement is projected to rise to 35.8 million tons by 2050, with direct air capture accounting for about 8 millions tons, or 22% of the total.
Reaching anything close to those levels will require a major expansion. Engineered removals in the UK are currently limited to a few small pilot projects, including those operated by Airhive and Mission Zero.
Rory Brown, CEO of Airhive, said the UK is well placed to capitalize on the opportunity thanks to the CO2 transport infrastructure being developed, including on Teesside, and the favorable geology of the East Irish Sea and the North Sea. The British Geological Survey estimates the UK has the potential to store 78 gigatons of CO2, equal to about a quarter of Europe’s total storage potential.
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