{"id":1570,"date":"2026-04-09T08:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/?p=1570"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:40:10","slug":"construction-underway-at-innovative-warrington-carbon-capture-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/?p=1570","title":{"rendered":"Construction underway at innovative Warrington carbon-capture facility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff<\/p>\n<p><meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no\"><meta http-equiv=\"X-UA-Compatible\" content=\"IE=edge\"><meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no\"><meta charset=\"utf-8\"><title>Construction underway at innovative Warrington carbon-capture facility<\/title><meta name=\"description\" content=\"\"><meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"\"><meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index,follow\"><meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index,follow\"><meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\"><meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Construction underway at innovative Warrington carbon-capture facility\"><meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"\"><meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"website\"><meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vitalenergi.co.uk\/media\/press-releases\/construction-underway-at-innovative-warrington-carbon-capture-facility\/\"><meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Construction underway at innovative Warrington carbon-capture facility\"><meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"rich-text-case-study rte\">\n<div class=\"wrap rich-text-case-study__wrap\">\n<p><strong>Work has begun at a new state-of-the-art carbon-capture plant at Lingley Mere business park which also aims to be the first in the UK to provide low-carbon heating to local buildings.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The project, <a href=\"https:\/\/merseybiochar.co.uk\/\">Mersey Biochar,<\/a> will lock away over 2,500 tonnes of carbon a year into biochar, a versatile product with a range of uses from improving soil quality to decarbonising the construction industry. Led by climate-action organisations Severn Wye Energy Agency and Pure Leapfrog, a consortium of experts, including Vital Energi and Pyrocore are behind the project, which is hosted by United Utilities.<\/p>\n<p>Capturing carbon and other greenhouse gases will be critical for the UK\u2019s plans to meet net zero by 2050 and the Mersey Biochar pilot will help to strengthen UK expertise in this area.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"quote\">\n<div class=\"wrap quote__wrap\">\n<div class=\"swiper-container js-simple-quotes\">\n<div class=\"swiper-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"swiper-slide\">\n<div class=\"quote__holder\"><span class=\"quote__icon\"> <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"36\" height=\"28\" viewbox=\"0 0 36 28\"><g fill=\"#F58220\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M12.319 0h3.648a2 2 0 0 1 1.838 2.788l-10.286 24A2 2 0 0 1 5.681 28H2.033a2 2 0 0 1-1.838-2.788l10.286-24A2 2 0 0 1 12.319 0zM30.319 0h3.648a2 2 0 0 1 1.838 2.788l-10.286 24A2 2 0 0 1 23.681 28h-3.648a2 2 0 0 1-1.838-2.788l10.286-24A2 2 0 0 1 30.319 0z\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg> <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"quote__holder\">\n<p class=\"quote__text\">We are very excited to see work getting underway at Lingley Mere. To achieve net zero we must find creative ways of heating our homes and businesses. Mersey Biochar will help us prove we can generate energy, capture carbon and create biochar. We\u2019re looking forward to demonstrating that this technology can be rolled out across the country to help tackle climate change.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"quote__author\">Warren Spiers , <span class=\"quote__position\"> Vital Energi<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-text-case-study rte\">\n<div class=\"wrap rich-text-case-study__wrap\">\n<p>Severn Wye CEO Sandy Ruthven says:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We are very excited to see work getting underway at Lingley Mere. To achieve net zero we must find creative ways of heating our homes and businesses. Mersey Biochar will help us prove we can generate energy, capture carbon and create biochar. We\u2019re looking forward to demonstrating that this technology can be rolled out across the country to help tackle climate change.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mersey Biochar will capture carbon from green waste or \u2018biomass\u2019, in this case a byproduct of local forestry management which would otherwise release its carbon back into the atmosphere as it decays. Carbon is locked in through a process called pyrolysis, which heats the biomass in a virtually oxygen-free environment to produce biochar.<\/p>\n<p>Every tonne of biochar produced can remove up to 3.6 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it away for centuries. This facility is expected to produce 700 tonnes of biochar each year which will equate to over 2,500 tonnes of carbon reduction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-text-image rte\" data-anchor=\"\">\n<div class=\"wrap rich-text-image__wrap\">\n<div class=\"rich-text-image__img-holder\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rich-text-image__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vitalenergi.co.uk\/media\/ztihetw4\/severn-wye-lingley-mere-184.jpg?anchor=center&amp;mode=crop&amp;width=835&amp;height=474&amp;rnd=133534988593130000\" alt=\"Severn Wye Lingley Mere 184\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vitalenergi.co.uk\/javascript:\" class=\"js-read-more-rte read-more-btn\">Solution detail<span class=\"btn__link font-ico-plus\"><\/span><span class=\"btn__link font-ico-minus\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-text-case-study rte\">\n<div class=\"wrap rich-text-case-study__wrap\">\n<p>Paul Gilligan, CEO of decarbonisation specialist partners Pure Leapfrog, says:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018As we continue along our planned product development pathway, we will see this unit, and more like it in the future, not just to capturing and storing carbon but also delivering clean heat to communities and providing energy services to the electricity grid. This technology has an exciting and valuable future.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Once the facility\u2019s carbon-capture capabilities are proven, the project also aims to be the first of its kind in the UK to recycle the heat generated from biochar production to heat and power United Utilities\u2019 buildings on the site \u2013 part of the company\u2019s long-term sustainability goals.<\/p>\n<p>As United Utilities\u2019 Bioresources and Green Energy Director, Tom Lissett, explains:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This innovative technology opens up the opportunity to decarbonise our office heating requirements at Lingley Mere using the heat created during the pyrolysis process. It is an important step forward for us in our journey to decarbonising our head office in Warrington.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mersey Biochar is funded by the UK\u2019s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero through their\u00a0Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal\u00a0innovation programme, established to find new and inventive ways of reducing UK carbon emissions.<\/p>\n<p>Industry experts PyroCore supplied the first elements of the plant in November. The facility is being built by energy specialists Vital Energi and expected to be in operation at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff Construction underway at innovative Warrington carbon-capture facility Work has begun at a new state-of-the-art carbon-capture plant at Lingley Mere business park which also aims to be the first in the UK to provide low-carbon heating to local buildings. The project, Mersey Biochar, will lock away over 2,500 tonnes of carbon a year into biochar, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ve_media_section":[3],"ve_media_year":[],"ve_sector":[],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","ve_media_section-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"ve_media_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fve_media_section&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"ve_media_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fve_media_year&post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"ve_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitalenergi.creativespark.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fve_sector&post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}