EC approves Dutch state aid for waste-to-energy carbon capture project

The European Commission has approved Eur14.30 million ($17.02 million) of Dutch investment aid to Twence Holding to build a carbon capture and liquefaction facility at its waste-to-energy plant at Hengelo, the EC said July 30.

Captured liquid CO2 is to be used primarily by greenhouses in the horticultural sector to enhance crop growth, the EC said.

"The investment project relates to the capturing process and equipment of the liquefied CO2 and not to its transport," it said.

The proposed state aid qualified for approval as the project reduced the use of primary energy sources for conventional forms of CO2 generation for horticultural processes, it said. Investment aid of around Eur14.3 million represented 37% of the eligible investment costs of the project.

This was "proportionate and does not exceed the minimum necessary to make the aided project sufficiently profitable," it said.

Twence plans to capture 100,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from flue gases at its Hengelo plant. The plant converts a million mt of waste to energy each year.

In 2019 Twence signed a contract with Norway's Aker Solutions for four of its Just Catch standardized carbon capture modules.

As well as trucking the liquid CO2 to greenhouses, Twence intends to certify its CO2 so it can used for cooling foodstuffs and vaccines.