C-Capture, technology developers for carbon dioxide removal, has begun a carbon capture trial at Pilkington UK’s glass manufacturing site in St Helens, UK.

The trial is the first demonstration of a carbon-capture technology on an industrial flat glass furnace in Europe.

It forms part of the company’s national project, ‘XLR8 CCS – Accelerating the Deployment of a Low-Cost Carbon Capture Solution for Hard-to-Abate Industries’.

The project aims to demonstrate that a low-cost carbon capture solution is a reality for difficult to decarbonise industries in the race to net zero.

Beginning with glass production, XLR8 CCS will prove the ability of C-Capture’s carbon capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from flue gas emissions.

Carbon capture trials will follow in cement and energy from waste industries.

The project secured £1.7m in funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The funding is part of the £20 million Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) Innovation 2.0 programme aimed at accelerating the deployment of next-generation CCUS technology in the UK.

Additional private sector contributions support a £2.7 million total for this multi-industry project.

The compatibility of C-Capture’s solvent-based technology will be assessed with a further five carbon capture trials from 2024.

The trials will take place at sites owned by project partners Glass Futures, Heidelberg Materials and Energy Works Hull – in conjunction with consulting and engineering company, Wood.

Carbon capture solvent compatibility units (CCSCUs) designed and built by C-Capture and Wood will be installed and operated on partners’ sites.

Project success will see C-Capture and its partners well placed for deployment of commercial-scale carbon capture facilities across the three industries by 2030, which could capture millions of tonnes of CO2 per year.

Paul Skinner, Global R&D Portfolio Manager at NSG Group, said: “To have demonstrated at our Pilkington UK operation that carbon capture is indeed possible is a very exciting development and a key milestone in our decarbonisation technology journey, aiming towards our target of carbon neutral glass manufacture.

“It’s been great to collaborate with the C-Capture and Glass Futures team in getting to this point, and we look forward to the further valuable learning we will gain from the rest of the XLR8 CCS project.”

Dr Masimba Toperesu, R&D Projects Lead at Glass Futures, said: “This European first for the glass industry is a monumental step toward implementing technology that will help the glass industry and our partners in other sectors to better understand CCUS.

“Through demonstrations on working industrial sites such as this, we will ultimately decarbonise these essential industries.”