Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS): SUEZ is innovating to reduce carbon emissions

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a major global challenge on the path to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Some industries are particularly hard to decarbonise: even after energy efficiency measures have been taken and processes have been optimised, there may still be some residual CO₂ emissions. CCUS, which consists of capturing CO₂ and storing or using it in the form of a new resource, is an innovative and effective solution. SUEZ has put together a multidisciplinary team that has been working on this topic for several years now.

What is CCUS?

CCUS involves the capture of CO₂, generally from large point sources like power generation or industrial facilities that use either fossil fuels or biomass as fuel. If not being used on-site, the captured CO₂ is compressed and transported by pipeline, ship, rail or truck to be used in a range of applications, or injected into deep geological formations such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers.

Source : IEA (International Energy Agency)

Why is SUEZ interested in CCUS?

SUEZ is working on CCUS for three main reasons:

To limit the impact of CO₂-emitting infrastructure
The waste processing and recovery plants that we own, as well as those we operate for our clients, all produce CO₂. This ranges across all aspects of our business including energy-from-waste (EfW) facilities, refuse-derived-fuel (RDF) boilers, anaerobic digesters, waste storage facilities, waste water treatment plants, etc.
We operate across the whole value chain, taking action to prevent and reduce waste to minimise CO₂emissions at the source. For the waste that we process after these efforts, energy efficiency measures are used at our facilities to further reduce our CO₂emissions.
Once we have used all available methods to avoid and reduce emissions, we have the potentiel to implement solutions to capture the residual CO₂ resulting from our processes. We can then store that CO₂ or use it in numerous applications. By using CCUS, we aim to achieve a long-term reduction in our residual CO₂emissions, while also helping communities to reduce their emissions.

CO₂ as a resource
We are exploring various innovative ways of recovering and recycling CO₂. Primarily for the decarbonisation of transport through the production of alternative low carbon fuels. Further applications include use in the food industry, chemical production, mineralisation, etc. as an alternate to CO₂produced by burning fossil fuels.
Biogenic CO₂present in the exhaust gases of EfW facilities and in the biogas produced by anaerobic digestion is particularly sought after for these applications.

Tighter regulations regarding CO₂ from waste processing
Laws on CO₂emissions are changing rapidly, and EfW facilities may soon be included in Emissions Trading Systems (ETS). In Europe, this could take place by 2028-2031, and in the UK, it is scheduled to happen in 2028. Accordingly, if EfW facilities do not take steps to reduce emissions, both upstream and downstream, their waste processing costs will increase significantly. SUEZ is anticipating these regulatory changes by exploring CCUS as a way of supporting our transition and the transition of our clients in the most effective way, and to offer clients alternative solutions for reducing the carbon emissions of their EfW facilities.

How is SUEZ innovating in this area?

We are stepping up our innovation efforts, with the aim of doubling our R&D budget by 2027 compared with 2023. In regards to decarbonisation, we have quadrupled our innovation budget and are planning to invest several tens of millions of euros in R&D projects by 2027 in order to optimise the performance of our facilities and develop CCUS.

Our CCUS team consists of 15 specialists who are monitoring regulatory and technological developments on a daily basis. We are developing innovative and sustainable solutions, along with transformative partnerships all along the CCUS value chain so that we can advise our clients about the best processes to use and develop carbon-reduction projects.

Our references

We are already developing several CCUS projects to help reduce carbon emissions, from our activities and those of our clients, in both the water and waste sectors. Our track record gives us a strong base from which to help our partners and clients in both the public and private sectors with their developments and their decarbonisation projects.

In the UK, SUEZ is developing multiple ambitious CO₂ capture and storage project within the East Coast Cluster. The aim is to capture up to 900,000 tonnes of CO₂ every year which is currently emitted by the Tees Valley EfW facilities operated by SUEZ at Haverton Hill and Wilton. The CO₂ will then be permanently stored in an aquifer under the North Sea. SUEZ has already carried out the initial pre-feasibility studies at each site and is planning to submit a funding request to the UK government as part of the Industrial Carbon Capture Track-1 Expansion project.

In France, at our Terres d’Aquitaine anaerobic digestion site in the Gironde region, SUEZ has joined forces with Prodeval to capture CO₂ from biogas, purify it and use it locally in greenhouses in order to increase crop yields. The facility, which has received financial support from the Nouvelle Aquitaine region covering 40% of the project, will begin operating in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will eventually allow the capture and reutilisation of up to 3,500 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ per year.

At the Pau Lescar wastewater treatment plant operated by SUEZ, we and our partner Storengy (part of the ENGIE group) have built an anaerobic digestion facility combined with a catalytic methanation unit. All CO₂ from anaerobic digestion is recovered and combined with hydrogen produced on-site to make a synthetic gas known as e-methane. Eventually, the facility will produce 13,000 MWh of biomethane and e-methane and thereby avoid around 5,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year. The facility is scheduled to come into service in late 2024.

SUEZ committed to reducing GHG emissions

In 2023, SUEZ produced 7.7 TWh of energy from waste and wastewater, and avoided the equivalent of 6.4 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions through energy and material recovery efforts. SUEZ is aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from its water-related activities by 39% and those from its waste-related activities by 26% by 2030.

>> Find out more about our 2023-2027 Sustainability Roadmap and our commitments