A Swedish Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECSS) project and a Spanish project to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into chemicals and biofuels will each receive a share of €1.1 billion ($1.21 billion). dollars) in grants awarded by the European Commission on 1 April.

On April 1, the Commission signed grant agreements with seven large-scale projects through the European Innovation Fund, which is funded by revenues from the EU emissions trading scheme. The projects will deploy innovative low-carbon technologies at industrial scale, covering key sectors such as hydrogen, steel, chemicals, cement, solar energy, biofuels and capture and carbon storage.

The BECCS project, led by Stockholm Exergi, has received €180 million and will be located at a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Stockholm, Sweden. The project will feature the use of hot potassium carbonate (HPC) for carbon capture and storage (CCS). According to the European Commission, HPC technology has proven itself with multiple installations over the years. To date, however, it has not been associated with a commercial-scale biomass-fired cogeneration plant. Stockholm Exergi currently operates a smaller-scale research and development facility at the plant site with support from the Swedish Energy Agency. The BECSS project is currently expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2023 and has the potential to sequester approximately 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the first decade of operation.

The MSW-to-chemicals and biofuels project, led by Ecoplanta Molecular Recycling Solutions SL, has received €106.38 million and will be located in a petrochemical complex in El Morell, near the port of Tarragona in Spain. The proposed plant will produce 237,000 metric tons per year of methanol through a gasification process, recovering 70% of the carbon present in non-recyclable materials used as feedstock. The project is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2026 and achieve 3.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions reduction in the first 10 years of operation.

Additional information on the seven projects selected for funding is available on the European Commission’s website.