The agreement is to produce renewable and recycled DME (a low-carbon liquid gas which allows off-grid businesses and households, reliant on LPG, to decarbonise their energy use). It has a low greenhouse gas footprint – reducing emissions by more than 85% over the project lifetime compared to fossil fuels – and is a safe, cost-effective and clean-burning fuel. It can also achieve over 100% emissions savings when carbon capture is used, helping the UK to achieve its 2050 net zero target.
SUEZ’s role in the Circular Fuels-led project is envisaged to be threefold:
- Jointly design and operate the pre-treatment process to produce a refuse derived fuel.
- Provide operation and maintenance services for the plant that will produce over 50,000 tonnes of DME, a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) replacement fuel.
- Supply some of the c.250,000 tonnes of RDF feedstock required each year to produce over 50,000 tonnes of low-carbon LPG replacement, providing over 5% of UK’s LPG demand.
The developer of the plant, Circular Fuels, sees advanced gasification specialists KEW Technology, join forces with Dimeta (a joint venture comprising the two largest global liquid petroleum gas producers).
The industrial scale plant will deploy KEW’s modular advanced gasification units at the scale of the existing operational facility, KEW’s Sustainable Energy Centre (SEC), and RenFuD’s syngas-to-DME synthesis technology.
Feedstock for the plant will come from household and commercial sources. The non-recyclable waste will go through a pre-treatment process to create a refuse derived fuel to feed the advanced gasification process to produce a syngas. This is then synthesised into DME. This sustainable LPG replacement will be supplied at commercial scale from the Teesworks plant as an alternative fuel for the LPG Industry and will contribute towards the sector’s ambition to be 100% renewable by 2040.
John Scanlon, Chief Executive Officer at SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, said:“We’re looking forward to deploying SUEZ’s extensive expertise in energy recovery to work with Circular Fuels as it scales up production of its LPG replacement fuel for households and businesses. Not only will this offer a fossil fuel alternative for off-grid households and businesses, it provides SUEZ’s customers with an innovative solution that reduces the carbon impact of managing their residual waste.
Renewable and recycled carbon DME is a sustainable fuel that can form part of the UK’s transition to a net zero economy. It also has the potential to achieve negative CO2 emissions and replace more carbon intensive fuels, such as coal and heating oil.”
Ed Hartley, Commercial Director at Circular Fuels, added:“We’re delighted to announce this MoU with SUEZ recycling & recovery UK today. As part of this MoU, we’re exploring numerous opportunities to work together, across all parts of the supply chain.
“Seeing the commitment from companies like SUEZ in the development of a circular economy through production of Renewable & Recycled Carbon DME enables its critical role in delivering an energy transition for off-grid areas and cements the importance of our mission. I look forward to seeing what we are able to achieve together in this partnership.”