Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Worley Begin Padeswood CCS Project in United Kingdom

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Worley, and Heidelberg Materials have entered the execution phase for the Padeswood Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Flintshire, North Wales, United Kingdom. At Heidelberg Materials’ Padeswood plant, MHI will deploy its Advanced KM CDR Process to capture approximately 800,000 tons of CO₂ per year from cement production operations—the first deployment of its kind in Europe.

“We are proud to support Heidelberg Materials in realizing the United Kingdom’s first full-scale carbon-capture facility in the cement sector,” said Tatsuto Nagayasu, Senior Vice President of Green Transformation Solutions at MHI. “Using our Advanced KM CDR Process, this project will play a role in decarbonizing one of the most challenging industrial sectors. Together with Worley, we look forward to delivering this CCS facility that will contribute to the long-term resilience of U.K. industry and help fulfill the country’s net-zero ambitions.”

Following capture, the CO₂ will then be transported via pipeline for permanent sequestration in depleted gas fields beneath the Liverpool Bay, as part of the HyNet Northwest cluster. In 2024, MHI and Worley were awarded a front-end engineering design study for the project, with Heidelberg Materials’ final investment decision arriving in September 2025. The Padeswood CCS facility is scheduled for operation in 2029.

During the execution phase, MHI and its regional representative, MHI-EMEA, will provide engineering and procurement for the CO₂-capture technology, associated plant equipment, and compressors. Worley will perform engineering, procurement, and construction management for balance of plant. The project was approved by the U.K. Government under Track-1 of its carbon capture, utilization, and storage cluster sequencing program.

“This project is a landmark for industrial decarbonization in the United Kingdom and Europe and part of the HyNet carbon-capture cluster,” said Chris Ashton, Chief Executive Officer of Worley. “We're proud to be working alongside Heidelberg Materials and MHI to deliver a facility that will help transform cement production and support the U.K.’s net-zero ambitions. Our role in this project reflects our ability to enable sustainable industrial solutions and leverage our global expertise in delivery for complex energy and infrastructure projects.”

The Padeswood CCS project is expected to generate around 50 new, permanent jobs and secure over 200 existing roles, while supporting up to 500 construction jobs. Under the HyNet Northwest cluster, the project will help build a long-term carbon management infrastructure in the United Kingdom while allowing Heidelberg Materials to supply low-carbon cement for the construction industry.

Cement production is responsible for approximately 7 – 8% of CO₂ emissions globally. Most of these cement-based emissions come from the calcination chemical process; therefore, CO₂ output cannot be avoided by transitioning to cleaner energy sources. As a result, CCS remains the only viable option to fully decarbonize cement production operations.

Ammonia Cracking Plant

In late October 2025, MHI and Nippon Shokubai obtained approval from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization for their jointly proposed project: Development of Technologies for Building a Competitive Hydrogen Supply Chain. The project aims to build a hydrogen supply chain using ammonia as a carrier molecule, developing a medium-scale decentralized ammonia cracking technology near hydrogen demand sites.

The ammonia cracking technology uses steam and exhaust gases and leverages an independently developed, low-temperature, highly active and highly durable cracking catalyst without deploying the noble metals typically used in conventional low-temperature active catalysts.