UK recycling, resource and waste management company Viridor has appointed Turner & Townsend to support the installation of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technology at its Energy from Waste facility at Runcorn - a process that will remove almost one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.

The global professional services consultancy will provide Project Management Consultant (PMC) services for the project, where new CCUS technology will be retrofitted and integrated to the existing fully operational site in the north-west of England. CCUS is an essential part of the UK government’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution supporting green jobs and accelerating the path to net zero.

The capital delivery programme will also lay the groundwork to integrate the facility with the HyNet North West low carbon and hydrogen energy cluster. HyNet will enable the carbon dioxide captured at Runcorn to be transported and permanently stored offshore in depleted Liverpool Bay gas fields. Hynet, is one of the two industrial cluster schemes to receive Track 1 status for CCUS as part of the UK government’s industrial decarbonisation challenge.

This new contract will see Turner & Townsend deliver project management, project controls and contract & procurement services. Working collaboratively with an industry-leading team of consultants for engineering, CCUS technology, legal, planning, permitting and economic modelling, the aim of the initial phase will be to develop the Phase 2 submission as part of the Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) industrial decarbonisation challenge fund.

Runcorn is at the foundation of Viridor’s decarbonisation strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, and the ambition to be the first net negative emissions waste and recycling company in the UK by 2045. Developing modular CCUS plants on another five EfW sites combined with two planned bespoke CCUS plants, would deliver c.1.5 MT CO2 savings a year. This investment would also create around 1,000 construction jobs and up to 180 skilled green jobs in Scotland, Wales and the English regions.

Andrew Etherington, director, natural resources at Turner & Townsend, said: “The installation of CCUS technology at the Runcorn Energy from Waste facility is a first of a kind project in the UK and a major enabler of the new low carbon industrial age. We are delighted to be involved with such a cutting-edge project that will help reduce carbon emissions in the UK.

“Collaboration across government, investors, academia and industry is absolutely vital to addressing the climate emergency and this major programme is a live example of how that partnership can work. Given the number of EfW plants in the UK and globally, the project also represents a major opportunity for the UK to encourage inward investment, skills, and jobs, as well as taking a global lead on this rapidly evolving technology.”