ExxonMobil has increased its participation in the proposed Acorn carbon capture project in Scotland, UK, by signing an expression of interest to capture, transport and store CO 2 from its Fife Ethylene Plant.
ExxonMobil has increased its participation in the proposed Acorn carbon capture project in Scotland, UK, by signing an expression of interest to capture, transport and store CO2 from its Fife Ethylene Plant.
The deal to include the ethylene plant, located in Mossmorran, Scotland, is in addition to an earlier announced agreement to capture and store emissions from gas terminals at the St Fergus complex at Peterhead, Scotland, which includes ExxonMobil’s joint venture gas terminal.
The initial phase of Acorn, which is bidding to be in the first wave of carbon capture clusters to be announced by the UK government, has the potential to deliver more than half of the country’s target of capturing and storing 10 million metric tonnes per year of CO2 by 2030. When expanded further, it will have the potential to store more than 20 million metric tonnes per year of CO2 by the mid-2030s.
The Acorn project recently announced plans to capture and store CO2 from the Grangemouth Refinery, and the addition of Mossmorran facilities will help Scotland to reduce emissions in its industrial sector.
The Fife Ethylene Plant recently completed a $170 million (£140 million) investment programme to upgrade key infrastructure and introduce new technologies that will significantly improve operational reliability and performance. A further project is underway to install an enclosed ground flare. On schedule to be operational by the end of 2022, the unit is designed to significantly reduce noise, light and vibration, and it is estimated the investment will reduce the use of the plant’s elevated flare by at least 98%.
ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions is evaluating several other carbon capture and storage projects around the world, including in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Normandy, France; LaBarge, in the US state of Wyoming and a world-scale carbon capture and storage hub concept in Houston, Texas.
