The controversial new Edmonton incinerator could become “one of the first” in the country to include a “carbon capture” plant to make its fumes cleaner.
The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) is currently rebuilding and expanding the incinerator over the border from Chingford, increasing its maximum capacity to 700,000 tonnes of waste a year.
Last month, an NLWA committee led by the authority’s chair Clyde Loakes approved an initial budget of up to £2.5 million to investigate whether it would be possible to include a carbon capture plant in the new facility.
Such a plant would capture most of the carbon dioxide the incinerator is expected to produce each year, which would then have to be transported and stored under the sea.
At the meeting where the £2.5 million was approved, with the possibility of £7.5 million more at a later date, NLWA members raised concerns about the process of transporting the captured CO2 out of North London.
Minutes published this week show programme director David Cullen arguing there are “solutions that merit investigation” and NLWA chair Clyde Loakes strongly supporting the plan.
However, he admitted the authority would need to “push boundaries” and that a solution might take “a couple of years” to be clear.
An early assessment shows there is no simple solution for transporting the CO2 either to the Kent or Norfolk coast.
Using lorries would need “around 100” trips a day, south-eastern England’s railways are already congested and laying a pipeline from Edmonton to the coast “will be challenging”.
Brian Mark, an engineer who has advised the Government on waste incinerators, said carbon capture is “wishful thinking” to avoid stopping fossil fuels.
He said: “It’s all been done in proof-of-concept installations but the costs just make it ‘la la land’ – we’re talking about storing [carbon dioxide] for geological amounts of time.
“It’s…
Source : times
