Essar Oil UK, a unit of India’s Essar, has formed a partnership with Elessent Clean Technologies for the development of its EET industrial carbon capture facility at Stanlow, UK.  

The partnership with Elessent Clean Technologies will see the integration of the BELCO gas cleaning technology into the planned carbon capture facility.  

The collaboration is a component of Essar Oil UK's $1.2bn investment plan to transform the Stanlow refinery into the world's first low-carbon refinery. 

Essar expects the initiative, which encompasses innovative projects, to contribute to a reduction of approximately two million tonnes (95%) of CO₂ emissions at the refinery.   

The first is the Stanlow facility, which was announced in November 2022 and is set to be operational by 2028, and aims to cut around one million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.  

The second project involves a shift to hydrogen fuel, replacing natural gas and other refinery fuels, which is also projected to reduce CO₂ emissions by roughly one million tonnes each year. 

With Elessent Clean Technologies now on board, Essar Oil UK has secured all its key technology partners for the project.  

Other partners in the project include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Topsoe. 

Essar said the development of the basic engineering design packages for the licensed technologies is currently under way.  

Essar Oil UK CEO Deepak Maheshwari said: “It is great to have our final licensor technology provider in place as we move into the next phase of our decarbonisation strategy.  

“With an investment of $1.2bn, Essar Oil UK is positioned to be the world’s first low-carbon refinery. Elessent Clean Technologies is a valuable partner in our plan to reduce our refinery emissions by 95% using the BELCO scrubbing technology. 

Elessent Clean Technologies vice-president of refining technologies Michael Cherry said: “Together with Essar, we have worked to provide an essential and reliable gas cleaning solution for the carbon capture facility. With our BELCO scrubbing technology, we will ensure clean and cool flue gas is delivered.”