Post-combustion carbon dioxide capture: emerging techniques
Summary
The Environment Agency has published guidance on emerging techniques for post-combustion carbon dioxide capture, focusing on how to prevent or minimise environmental impacts from amine-based and hot potassium carbonate systems. The guidance applies to new plants and retrofits, and explains how regulators should approach permitting where carbon capture is not fully covered by existing BAT reference documents.
Why it matters
While aimed at industrial operators and regulators, the guidance is relevant to surveyors involved in industrial, energy or redevelopment projects where carbon capture infrastructure may form part of the site. It also signals how environmental permitting and compliance expectations are evolving around low-carbon retrofit technologies.
Key points
- Covers post-combustion carbon capture for new and existing power and energy-from-waste plants.
- Guidance is not itself a regulatory requirement, but regulators expect operators to follow it or justify an equivalent alternative.
- Environmental permits must address emissions and other impacts where existing BREFs do not fully cover carbon capture.
- The guidance applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland uses SEPA guidance.
- Operators must tell the regulator whether they will follow the guidance when applying for a permit.
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