Stanlow Refinery, Cheshire County, UK (photo courtesy of Essar Oil UK)
Tokyo, November 9, 2023 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has been chosen as the licensor for CO2 capture technology for the project known as EET Industrial Carbon Capture, which is underway at the Stanlow Refinery, owned and operated by Essar Oil UK Limited in Cheshire County in North West England. Essar Oil UK is the UK arm of the Essar Group, a multinational conglomerate based in India.
The project at Stanlow will capture CO2 emissions from the liquid catalytic cracker in the refinery process. This helps make Stanlow the UK’s first low-carbon refinery. Once built, it will capture approximately 860,000 tonnes of CO22 Per year. The project is supported by HyNet, the carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) cluster in north-west England. It captured CO2 will be permanently sequestered in depleted gas fields under the sea in Liverpool Bay.
MHI, as licensor of the project’s CO2 capture technology, will support the project by providing the Basic Engineering Design Package (BEDP) using its “Advanced KM CDR Process™,” CO2 capture technology jointly developed with The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc.
The UK Government has set a target of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. In line with this initiative, the necessary infrastructure is being developed, including the formation of CCUS clusters, to carry out all related processes – from CO2 catch for transport and storage – in each of the country’s targeted industrial zones.
In October 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) designated two CCUS clusters, HyNet and East Coast. This is still supported by the subsequent new department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The project in Stanlow aims for 2028 as the start of operation of the EET Industrial Carbon Capture.
Essar Oil UK is actively promoting the decarbonisation of its refinery, putting it at the forefront of the UK’s energy transition. To do this, the company is investing $1.2 billion over the next five years to lower emissions from the refinery.
MHI Group has formally declared its intention to achieve CO2 neutrality by 2040 and the company is now working strategically to decarbonise both the energy demand and supply side. A core element of the company’s “Energy Transition”, which aims at decarbonisation on the energy supply side, is the development of a CO2 ecosystem solutions that integrate different sources of carbon emissions with methods of carbon storage and utilization. By providing the carbon capture technology at Stanlow, the company will contribute to the implementation of the project and the realization of the UK’s first CO2 capture for a refinery thereby increasing its presence in the UK CCUS market. Going forward, MHI Group will continue to respond to the decarbonisation needs of various industry sectors.
About MHI Group CO2 capture technologies
MHI Group has developed KM CDR Process™ (Kansai Mitsubishi Carbon Dioxide Recovery Process) and Advanced KM CDR Process™ in collaboration with The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. since 1990. As of November 2023, the company has delivered 16 plants using the KM CDR Process™, and two more are currently under construction. The advanced KM CDR Process™ utilizes the KS-21™ solvent, which incorporates technological improvements over the amine-based KS-1™ used on all 16 commercial CO2 collection system delivered to date. The advanced version offers superior regeneration efficiency and lower degradation than KS-1™ and has been verified to provide excellent energy saving performance, reduce operating costs and result in low amine emissions.
For further information about MHI Group CO2 capture plants:
