Bioccus
UK Government-funded combined heat and power demonstrator plant with a carbon negative footprint to showcase climate repairing technology and demonstrate the effectiveness of community scale negative emission technology plus clean energy using sustainably sourced forestry waste.
The opportunity
Options to decarbonize residential and industrial space heating are limited, while captured CO2 of sufficient quality is a valuable resource for industry, in particular: concrete and construction, agriculture, food and beverage manufacture, and the energy sector. In order to demonstrate how the two currently separate industrial processes can be combined to benefit both, a UK Government funded consortium led by Ricardo aims to develop the model for widespread deployment.
The solution
Ricardo leads a consortium which combined an innovative carbon capture system developed by Ricardo with the hot air turbine technology from Bluebox Energy and pyrolysis technology from Woodtek Engineering, and secured funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) under the UK Government department formally known as Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), now known as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The plant takes sustainably sourced forestry waste and pyrolyses it to manufacture biochar, generate carbon removal credits and efficiently deliver the excess heat and co-generate electricity to for up to 300 local homes and businesses. In addition, the CO2 not sequestered in the biochar is captured using Ricardo technology with the goal of supplying to food and beverage manufacturers. It is a truly sustainable solution delivering on multiple decarbonisation challenges.