Manchester-based Peel Environmental — working in partnership with Waste2Tricity — has submitted plans for a ‘waste plastic to hydrogen’ facility at its 54-hectare Protos site near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, to help reduce fossil fuel consumption and create jobs.

The £7 million plant will use advanced thermal treatment technology developed by Chester-based PowerHouse Energy Group at Thornton Science Park, which is next door to Protos.

The plant will take up to 35 tonnes of unrecyclable plastics a day and produce hydrogen that could be used to power buses, HGVs and cars. It would also generate electricity that could be supplied to commercial users via a microgrid at Protos.

Myles Kitcher from Peel Environmental, which part of Peel L&P (www.peelenvironmental.co.uk), said: “This is a great step forward towards delivering the first of many ‘waste plastic to hydrogen’ facilities around the UK.

"There is huge potential for hydrogen to replace fossil fuels in our transport system, as we already have hydrogen buses in Liverpool and trains being converted to hydrogen in Widnes.

"Using waste plastic to generate a local source of hydrogen would not only help to reduce our reliance on landfill but also improve local air quality with a clean and low-cost fuel for buses, HGVs and cars.”

The Protos strategic energy hub is within the Energy Innovation District (EID), which is spearheaded by the Cheshire Energy Hub and brings together energy users, network owners, innovators and partners working alongside Cheshire & Warrington LEP, Cheshire West and Chester Council and the University of Chester.

The EID is looking to develop a local energy microgrid, which a recent report said could lead to energy cost savings of up to 25% and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 34%.