February 21st | Site Tour 1 – RICE Initiative, Wales

RICE project is hosting an exclusive site visit on Tuesday 21^st February, for the participants of the 2023 Decarb Catalyst conference. The site visit will take place at Vale’s nickel refinery hydrogen and algae demonstration units in Clydach, Swansea valley. The RICE (Reducing Industrial Carbon Emissions) project is an initiative by the Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University, funded through the European Regional Development Fund and the Welsh Government. The biorefinery demonstrates the utilisation of waste CO₂ emissions to grow algae to produce carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, as well as speciality chemicals such as phycoerythrin and phycocyanin pigments, which can be valued at up to £72,000 per kg. The refinery is working with multiple end users and is enabled by design to create a value chain model for commercial CO₂ utilisation. Unlike the vast majority of commercial hydrogen production, the RICE green hydrogen electrolysis employs green energy and rainwater as the only inputs. ROI has been determined to be only 2-3 years depending on cost of energy and use of H₂ and O₂ as side products. RICE at the Energy Safety Research Institute will welcome 30 attendees for this unique tour.

*Please note you are welcome to make your own way to the facility. Those travelling from London, meet at Paddington Station at 8:30am.

*Please ensure sturdy footwear is worn for the site visit, PPE will be provided for you.

Itinerary:

08.30am For those travelling from London, meet at Paddington Station

08.48am Train to Port Talbot, arriving 11.11am (approximate timings, trains to be booked individually)

11:15-11:30am Port Talbot to Vale’ Refinery – 20 minute drive (A complimentary coach will take you to the facility) 

12.00pm Arrive at facility for health and safety briefing

12.30pm Lunch provided

13.00pm Walk around, demo plants and Q&A (approximately 2 hours)

15.00pm End of tour (A complimentary coach will take you to Port Talbot train station)

15.42pm Depart Port Talbot. Approximate time for train to return to Paddington, arriving at 18.14pm

February 21st | Site Tour 2 – C-Capture, North Yorkshire

C-Capture, a CCS technology company, invites participants of the 2023 Decarb Catalyst Conference to visit their Labs and Pilot Plant at the Drax site in North Yorkshire. C-Capture was founded in 2009 as a spin-out company from the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds. With support from IP Group, they were able to work with CO2 to find new solutions to the carbon capture problem. In late 2011, they developed their first-generation technology up to pre-pilot scale. Participants will be able to explore the CCS technology.

*Timings to be confirmed in January.