Twence is the largest producer of sustainable energy in Overijssel. Twence produces 688 GWh of heat and 370 GWh of electricity annually. This is enough to supply 62,500 households with heat for a year and 135,800 with electricity for a year. This energy is mainly generated from non-recyclable residual waste and industrial waste. What used to be regarded as waste is now a source of energy. Twence will soon capture the CO₂ that is released when electricity is generated. This will make renewable energy even more sustainable.

In the first quarter of 2022, Twence will start construction of the plant, which will capture and reuse no less than 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. The CO₂ can then, for example, be converted into sodium bicarbonate (baking powder) to clean flue gases. Or into liquid CO₂ to improve the growth of plants in greenhouses. Sustainable applications, in other words.

Energy and Raw Materials Transition
Our society is on the eve of an energy and raw materials transition. Energy will have to be generated almost completely sustainably. Raw materials will have to be used sparingly and reused as much as possible. In the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, far-reaching targets were formulated to limit global warming. These have been subsequently translated into national targets. Compared to 1990, the Netherlands has set itself the target of reducing CO₂ emissions by 49% by 2030 and by 95% by 2050. Under the current climate agreement, the waste and energy sector, which Twence is a part of, has the obligation to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1.1 million tonnes per year. Twence is contributing to this with the 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ that the new plant will capture and reuse.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy ((EZK) and accelerating sustainability ambitions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has made available a one-off subsidy of 14.3 million euros. State Secretary Yesilgöz-Zegerius: “The plant which Twence is investing in is innovative and large-scale. This will ensure a significant reduction in CO2 emissions in the coming years. Not to mention, Twence will set a good example for other large companies in the sector.”

Capturing CO₂ contributes to reducing CO₂ Emissions
Within the region, Twence is one of the largest emitters of CO₂ and must therefore play an important role in the reduction of it. Every year, Twence emits approximately 250,000 tonnes of CO₂ originating from fossil sources. By capturing and reusing this CO₂ through the construction of a new large-scale plant, Twence will make a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions and consequently to also achieving the climate targets.

How Is CO₂ captured?
Flue gases are created after incineration of non-recyclable residual waste and industrial waste in waste-to-energy plants. These are cleaned and stripped of CO₂. CO₂ does not exit through the chimney, but is reused instead. For example, as sodium bicarbonate (baking powder) or as liquid CO₂ in greenhouse horticulture.

Twence - a leader In CO₂ capture
Capturing CO₂ is nothing new for Twence. In 2014, Twence introduced the first plant in the world in Hengelo that captures CO₂ from cleaning flue gas and converts it into sodium bicarbonate (baking powder). Twence uses this sodium bicarbonate to clean flue gases in its most modern waste-to-energy plant.
In 2020, Twence took the next step with the construction of a small-scale CO₂ capture plant that liquefies CO₂ for use for plant cultivation in greenhouse horticulture. Thanks to the application of CO₂ from Twence, horticulturists no longer have to produce CO₂ from natural gas themselves.

Large-scale CO₂ Capture
“Thanks to our small-scale CO₂ capture plant, intensive collaboration with knowledge institutes such as TNO and universities, and through participation in national and international research projects such as Horizon 2020¹, ACT-CCS² and MOOI^{3, we have managed to gain a lot of experience in this field}. We are now ready for the next step: the construction of a large-scale plant that can capture 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year”, explains Marc Kapteijn, Managing Director at Twence. “This also gives us the opportunity to not only supply liquid CO₂ to greenhouse horticulture, but also to use it in other sectors, such as in the food industry, for the mineralisation of building materials, in the chemical industry or as a biofuel. With this plant, Twence will be contributing to a CO₂-neutral environment.”

Schedule
The first shovel will be driven into the ground in the first quarter of 2022. The plant is expected to start operating in the last quarter of 2023.