Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage or CCUS is a divider of opinion. Personally I think it’s going to play a big role in the net zero future, as does the new government, however many say its too expensive, too unreliable and a licence to pollute.
In this week’s Net Hero Podcast, I explore if this tech can have uses on a much smaller scale with John Hartley who is the boss of Levidian. Its a company making small scale CCUS a reality.
The tech is very clever and is helping several industrial clients right now but I started by asking John why CCS or as he prefers CCUS is seen so negatively.
He explained: “Very often you hear carbon capture is about pumping carbon dioxide into the sea, it feels very wasteful, very expensive and you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen to that in the future. How do you account for it being permanently sequestered?
“So there’s a real importance, I think, in saying you’ve got carbon molecules in methane that have real value, what do we use them for? Let’s use those carbon molecules, lock them away to decarbonise other products.
“So I think there’s an overfocus on that capture of the carbon, not enough on the utilisation and that’s why the perception has been negative because it sounds inefficient and sounds like an uncontrolled way of moving the carbon dioxide problem somewhere else”
Levidian is working with large industrial customers who primarily use or produce methane as a waste and instead of seeing it burned they can capture the carbon and not only produce hydrogen for cleaner use but also create graphene which can be used in clothes, electronics, wider products and is a valuable material.
But the best thing is the size of the CCUS – it’s small scale and designed to be bolted onto an industrial plant.
“What we’re looking at are on-site solutions for industry. So let’s say you’re a big landfill site or treatment site, or you’re a big factory with a gas burning engine, we put out a containerised bit of kit you transport on a truck, connect up the gas flow, give it some electricity and then it gets up and running.“
Their mission is to decarbonise hundreds of smaller sites and industrial plants to prove CCUS can make an affordable solution for businesses.
One of their most famous clients is Worthy Farm home of Glastonbury and Levidian is helping them produce cleaner power for the festival, as well as absorb the methane from cow dung! Who said energy wasn’t trendy! Listen in for the full chat and make sure you subscribe for more.
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