Scots company to ease food industry reliance on CO2 from fertiliser production
A new source of food grade carbon dioxide (CO2) is due to come on stream as soon as this weekend, thanks to the initiative shown by brothers Richard and Ed Nimmons.
Their Dry Ice Scotland company has attracted £4.5m of investment to allow it to refine gas already produced as part of the anaerobic digestion process.
This means that instead of the food industry relying on production from a few giant fertiliser plants, it will be able to source locally-produced gas from an agricultural process.
CO2 is used by abattoirs to stun pigs and poultry, as well as in food packaging to maximise products’ shelf-life and for the brewing of beer.
The Nimmons brothers are to start production on a site at Castle Douglas, adjacent to an existing anaerobic digester, with gas piped to their plant which will capture the CO2 and separate it from the methane, which is the main gas produced.
It is believed to be the first operational carbon capture and CO2 recovery facility in the world.
Richard Nimmons, age 36, and his brother Ed, age 35, set up their Dry Ice Scotland business in 2012 and became heavily involved in dry ice blasting, a technique used to clean North Sea oil and gas components.
By Ewan Pate / Farmers Guardian
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