Innovations to remove greenhouse gases such as CO2 from the air today won a new pot of D-BEIS grants.
Priming private investment by initially awarding taxpayers’ funds is Whitehall’s aim, as it disburses the cash to 15 projects dispersed from Edinburgh to Exeter, Swindon to Sheffield.
A device that can pull carbon dioxide out of air, a factory to convert household waste into hydrogen for use in cars and trucks and, and a system to remove carbon dioxide from seawater, feature among today’s beneficiaries.
D-BEIS’ funding comes under Phase 2 of the Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies competition.
Projects receiving funding today include:
- Advanced Biofuel Solutions in Swindon will receive £4.75 million for a plant that can convert gas from household waste into low carbon hydrogen for use in the transport industry
- Two-year old start-up Mission Zero Technologies in London nets £2.9 million to build a machine that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air
- SAC Commercial in Edinburgh will receive £2.9 million to develop technology that will capture methane produced from cattle, to reduce emissions from the livestock farming sector
- The University of Exeter will receive nearly £3 million to develop their ‘SeaCURE’ system to remove carbon dioxide from seawater
This week D-BEIS launched a consultation on business models for greenhouse gas removal. It seeks stakeholders’ views on how the UK can head the sector.
Greg Hands MP, still D-BEIS’ energy and climate change minister, hailed the move.
“This £54 million government investment announced today will help establish a greenhouse gas removal industry in the UK, which could be worth billions to our economy, bringing in private investment and supporting the creation of new green jobs”, said Hands.
For SeaCURE, Exeter University’s professor Paul Halloran said:
“The UK has world leading academic and industrial expertise in marine science and technology. The BEIS GGR programme is allowing us to bring this together to deliver a novel climate change solution which builds on the ocean’s natural capture of anthropogenic carbon.”
More details here.
