Tata Chemicals Opens UK's Largest Carbon Capture Plant

Tata Chemicals Europe opened the UK's first industrial scale carbon capture and usage plant, signalling a key milestone in the race to meet the UK's net zero targets.

The £20 million investment has been completed by UK-based Tata Chemicals Europe, one of Europe's leading producers of sodium carbonate, salt and sodium bicarbonate.

The plant captures 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year - the equivalent to taking over 20,000 cars off the roads and reduces TCE's carbon emissions by more than 10%.

The project will help unlock the future of carbon capture as it demonstrates the viability of the technology to remove carbon dioxide from power plant emissions and to use it in high end manufacturing applications.

In a world-first, carbon dioxide captured from energy generation emissions is being purified to food and pharmaceutical grade and used as a raw material in the manufacture of sodium bicarbonate which will be known as Ecokarb®.

This unique and innovative process is patented in the UK with further patents pending in key territories around the world.

Ecokarb® will be exported to over 60 countries around the world. Much of the sodium bicarbonate exported will be used in haemodialysis to treat people living with kidney disease.

Martin Ashcroft, Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Europe, said: "The completion of the carbon capture and utilisation plant enables us to reduce our carbon emissions, whilst securing our supply of high purity carbon dioxide, a critical raw material, helping us to grow the export of our pharmaceutical grade products across the world.

Speaking about the opening of the plant, Secretary of State for Business and Energy, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: "This cutting-edge plant, backed by £4.2 million government funding, demonstrates how carbon capture is attracting new private capital into the UK and is boosting new innovation in green technologies.