Plans revealed for UK’s first plant to turn plastic waste into hydrogen.

A proposal for a new waste to hydrogen plant in the UK has been revealed.

Peel Environmental is joining forces with Waste2Tricity to deliver a UK first hydrogen plant in Cheshire, England.

The £7 million plant will use pioneering advanced treatment technology developed by Powerhouse Energy to treat up to 25 tonnes of plastic waste a day that would otherwise end up in landfills.

Myles Kitcher from Peel Environmental said: “We have a huge problem with waste plastic in the UK – almost 1.2 million tonnes goes to landfill every year. Working in partnership with Waste2Tricity we are developing a closed loop solution where plastics are brought to Protos and recycled on-site with the leftover material used to create hydrogen instead of ending up in landfill.”

Not only does the plant help towards reducing the growing plastic pollution crisis, it also provides valuable hydrogen which can then be used to initially power buses and Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) in the region, before being rolled out to hydrogen cars.

Myles Kitcher added: “The hydrogen revolution is taking place now in the North West and this project shows how we’re leading the way.”

The transition to low carbon mobility is accelerating in the UK. A ‘world first’ Ultra-Low Emission Zone has just entered into force in London. Motorists, with a petrol vehicle that does not meet Euro 4 and a diesel vehicle that does not meet Euro 6, who enter the zone will have to pay £12.50 for cars and £100 for Lorries.

John Hall from Waste2Tricity said: “This will be the first of many waste to hydrogen projects for Waste2Tricity in the UK and overseas. The Protos site is ideally located in a strategic position in the North West where we have access not only to unrecyclable plastics but also a concentration of energy intensive industries. The beauty of Protos is that it can provide everything we need in one place.”

     11 April 2019