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Tennent’s lager starts work on £2.6m carbon capture plant

Scottish brewer Tennent’s has started work on a £2.6 million carbon capture plant capable of storing more than 4,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

The new plant, which will be based at the lager maker’s Wellpark Brewery site in Glasgow, can capture and store the equivalent CO2 emitted during 27,000 flights from London to Glasgow each year.

The company, which is owned by the C&C Group, said the plant will be the “biggest of its kind in Scotland” and will enable it to capture CO2 generated as part of the brewing process.

This will mean Tennent’s will no longer have to source its carbon dioxide from northern England, enabling it to further reduce its carbon footprint by eliminating 100,000km of journeys made each year.

The brewer said the facility will make it “as close to self-sufficient as currently possible”. Over 95% of the captured carbon dioxide can be reused and the company is aiming to have no net carbon emissions by 2025.

The project involves the installation of two 25-tonne CO2 recovery tanks, the modification of 24 existing fermentation tanks, and “significant ground work” to support the recovery tanks, which will weight 130 tonnes when full.

The plant is expected to be completed by September this year.

Tennent’s has already invested some £14.2 million in sustainable initiatives including scrapping plastic packaging, using green energy and implementing waste management practices.

It committed to eradicating single-use plastic this year, and now sells its lager cans packaged in cardboard rather than plastic, with plastic rings and shrink-wrap phased out.

The brewer has already installed a waste water treatment plant at its brewery, which generates bio-gas that is used to help heat the brewery. This has enabled it to reduce the amount of water it requires by 24.3 million litres per year.

Martin Doogan, group engineering manager at C&C Group, added: “To be able to support the brewery’s CO2 needs using carbon dioxide that is produced by the fermentation process, improves our local environment in the east end of Glasgow and is a significant step in our goal to be carbon neutral by 2025.

“We understand that our pledge to sustainability is a journey that will be further developed along the way; as illustrated by the installation of the new carbon capture facility following the launch of our sustainability plans last year. With clear targets in place for the future, we’re committed to tackling climate change now and in the years to come.”

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