UKCCSRC - Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) UKCCSRC Biannual, Strathclyde - CCS in the UK-Taking Stock - 8-9 September 2015

The UKCCSRC Autumn Biannual Meeting 2015, CCS in the UK – Taking Stock, was held at Strathclyde University (Glasgow), 8-9 September 2015.
The meeting proceedings including agenda, presentations etc. can be downloaded here.
You can also view photos and read blogs from the event.

AGENDA (click on presentation titles for available PDFs)

Tuesday 8 September 2015
10:00-12:00	Optional tour of the CCS facilities at Doosan Babcock, Renfrew
12:00-13.00	Arrivals, networking, lunch and registration
13.00-13.15	Welcoming remarks Prof Dimitris Drikakis – Dean of Engineering, University of Strathclyde Prof Jon Gibbins – Director, UKCCSRC
13:15-13:45	Opening Keynote – Seeing is Believing – Phil Hare, Pöyry CCS is not alone when predicting the costs of generation in the future. The wind sector manages this very well and recent reports by ETI and CCC have made a significant step forward in portraying the nature and costs of a wider deployment of CCS in the UK. Of course these also show some of the challenges facing the CCS industry, but never the less help policy makers engage.
13.45-15:05	New Projects in the UK Building the UK carbon capture and storage sector by 2030 – Scenarios and actions, Den Gammer, ETI The presentation will start with the CCS scenario work developed by ETI, Element Energy and Pöyry early in 2015. The presentation will then go on to show to what extent the CCS projects identified in that study could contribute to cleaning up the UK’s power sector and industrial sectors. Key factors which can influence build out both onshore and offshore will be presented. Grangemouth CCS project, Stephen Kerr, Summit Power The presentation will give an overview of the current status of the project including the planned work programme, opportunities and key challenges. CCS storage appraisal study, Sam Gomersall, Pale Blue Dot The presentation will outline the current DECC/ETI UK CO₂ Strategic CO₂ Storage Appraisal Project, being carried out by Pale Blue Dot Energy. The project is screening potential UK CO₂ storage sites to select 5 specific locations for detailed appraisal. The presentation will go over the project, its objectives and the progress to date. Blueprint for Industrial CCS in the UK, Mark Lewis, Tees Valley Unlimited This presentation will outline the recently launched suite of reports which make the case for establishing an industrial CCS network in the Tees Valley. The presentation will review the conclusions and the next steps being pursued following the report.
15:05-15:35	Break
15:35 – 15:55	Update on the TINA Refresh, Joshua Brunert, The Carbon Trust The update of the CCS Technology Innovation Needs Assessment (TINA) for the Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group is ongoing. This presentation will provide a background introduction to the process of the TINA and outline the objectives of the refresh exercise.
15:55-17:30	Enabling the next phase of CO₂ storage in the North Sea The role of Hydrogen storage in a clean responsive power system, Den Gammer, ETI System level modelling of the UK energy system by the ETI, using its ESME modelling system, shows adoption of H₂ production, storage of H₂ in salt caverns, and daily use of the stored H₂ can generate GWs of power during times of peak power demand. The ability to store H₂ means that the H₂ production facilities and the associated CCS infrastructure can be sized for the average load rather than the peak, and so can run at high load factor. ETI contracted Amec Foster Wheeler Energy and the British Geological Survey to carry out techno-economic studies on H₂ production schemes associated with salt cavern stores. This presentation will include the insights gained from the study, covering H₂ production, cavern systems from a UK perspective, the costs of dry operation of caverns of different depth and built up economics for power production from fossil fuels (with CCS) using such systems. Safer combustion of high hydrogen content fuels in GTs and gas engines is examined in a separate ongoing “High Hydrogen” project by the ETI, for which a short update will be provided. CO₂-EOR ERP study, Richard Heap, ERP The maturity of most North Sea oil fields means there is a narrow time window to deliver CO₂-EOR. With potential incremental oil recovered declining by a fifth, from about 500 million barrels between 2025 and 2030, if a supply of CO₂ is not delivered early enough redevelopment costs are likely to restrict the reopening of closed fields. Realising the benefits from CO₂-EOR including taxable oil revenues, offering low-cost storage for CCS and sustaining the wider oil industry, will require early approval of both CCS Competition projects with Phase 2 plants in operation by early 2020s. Enabling more than one CO₂-EOR project will require developing a CO₂ transport infrastructure to bring emissions from capture plants in either Teesside or Humber. Enabling the development of a CO₂ transport company would de-risk the link between capture and storage operators. Oil price variability presents a significant risk to CO₂-EOR investments. Interventions to the offshore tax regime will be needed to desensitize projects. Early engagement with the public will also be needed to inform developments and establish acceptance for CO₂-EOR. CO₂ Storage and Enhanced Oil Recovery in the North Sea: Securing a Low-Carbon Future for the UK, Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh Climate prediction persistently shows that immediate reduction of carbon emissions is essential to avoid terminal societal disruption. The North Sea has about one third of European CO₂ storage capacity immediately accessible. Converting this resource to commercial reserves will be slow unless: 1) More data is available at no/low cost from Oil and Gas Authority (seismic, dynamic fluids, boreholes) 2) A big enough storage demand is created to interest global investors – by CCS pricing or UK carbon certificate mandate, 3) Effective cost reductions are planned (co-located multiple storage users in one layer, and in stacked different layers; brine extraction) 4) Profitable CO₂-Enhanced Oil Recovery can attract oil companies. Followed by a panel discussion chaired by John Gluyas, Durham University
17:30	Sessions close
17:15-17:45	UKCCSRC Data and Information Archive Briefing This briefing will review what data archiving options are available to projects, explain the process of submitting data, what ‘types’ of data should be submitted and be the opportunity to answer any queries . This briefing is primarily for representatives of Call 1&2 projects and recent EPSRC funded projects but is open anyone who wishes to attend.
17:30-19:00	Networking reception
19:00-21:30	Networking dinner Speaker: Tania Constable, CO₂CRC

Wednesday 9 September 2015
08:30-09:00	Arrivals and registration
09:00-09:15	Future UKCCSRC activities and other funding opportunities, Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC Horizon 2020 Update, Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC
09.15-09:30	An update on the UK Government’s CCS policy, Brian Allison, DECC This presentation will give an update on how DECC are supporting CCS through R&D.
09:30-09:50	Energy Security and Innovation Observing System for the Subsurface (ESIOS) Update, Bob Gatliff, BGS In the 2014 Autumn statement the Government announced it will allocate £31M through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to create world class subsurface research test centres. ESIOS will be a national science facility for monitoring and observing how subsurface energy technologies interact with the environment and it will provide full-scale testing to help de-risk new and established energy and storage technology, increase efficiency and environmental sustainability. ESIOS will establish new knowledge and science which will be applicable to a wide range of energy technologies, including for example, carbon capture and storage, groundwater flooding, compressed air energy storage, geothermal energy, shale gas and shale oil, underground gasification, urban geological processes and soil geomicrobiology and other areas. Projects will address how the earth’s crust behaves in relation to subsurface energy activities. The opportunities for true-scale research are limited and the chosen sites will address uncertainty on a larger scale by studying overburden, seals, aquifers and the critical zone and how these interact beneath the ground and on the surface. NERC will soon announce a call for high-level ideas and will invite scientists and engineers from academia, industry and government to contribute to the next phase of planning at a “Town Hall” meeting. ESIOS is likely to start in 2016-17.
09:50-10:10	Break
10:10-11:40	Technical Parallel Sessions CO₂-EOR: financial game-changer for North Sea CCS or elusive chimera? Chair Andy Chadwick, BGS A UK Pathway to Rapid and Profitable CCS Rollout, Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh There are several methods of Enhanced Oil Recovery, but using CO₂ as a solvent for EOR is the only process which offsets greenhouse gases. A reliable UK CO₂ supply will soon be available when CCS develops and SCCS examined diverse blockages to profitable CO₂-EOR. These results are summarised in the recent SCCS EOR report where it discussed the carbon balance; geological suitability; 7x economic leverage; tax; oil price; social acceptance. Fracked shale and underground coal gasification domestic hydrocarbon production could provide more CO₂ and the rollout of commercial CO₂-EOR could enable 10x more CO₂ to be stored by 2050 than state-led pathways. CO₂-EOR in the UK: Analysis of Fiscal Incentives, Emrah Durusut, Element Energy The SCCS CO₂-EOR Joint Industry Project commissioned Element Energy to quantify the potential impacts of fiscal incentives for CO₂-EOR in the UK Continental Shelf in detail, recognising the additional costs, complexities, uncertainties and longer-term liabilities faced by CCS projects involving CO₂-EOR. The analysis was carried out in 2013 using financial modelling of investor behaviour under a wide range of drivers, scenarios, sensitivities. The approach drew on published data and the team’s data and models for oil and gas taxation, and the understanding of CCS and CO₂-EOR. Offshore CO₂-EOR: The Realists View, Steve Furnival, HoBoil Ltd CO₂-EOR has recovered over 2 billion barrels of oil from onshore oil fields in the Permain Basin of West Texas. Nowhere in the world has CO₂-EOR been implemented in an offshore environment. Why? Clearly the current oil price does not help but even if we were back at $100/barrel or more it is considered highly unlikely that CO₂EOR would work for technical reasons mostly relating to the interplay of supercritical CO₂ properties and the geological parameters favoured in the offshore. Carbon capture and storage for natural gas power stations Chair Mathieu Lucquiaud, University of Edinburgh Gas-FACTS: Gas – Future Advanced Capture Technology Options, Karen Finney, University of Sheffield The Gas-FACTS project is a consortium of five leading UK universities, providing important underpinning research for carbon capture development and deployment on combined cycle gas turbine power plants in the UK. The three main integrated, research-based work packages focus on: gas turbine modifications for improved CCS systems performance; advanced solvent-based, post-combustion capture technologies for future gas power systems; and whole systems performance assessments. These are the principal candidates for deployment in a possible tens-of-£billions expansion of the CCS sector between 2020 and 2030. In the presentation, the key findings of this research programme will be overviewed, linking the gas turbine options of humidification, exhaust gas recycling and CO₂ transfer/recycle (WP1), with the investigations into gas-specific solvents and flexible capture systems (WP2). These experimental phases of the project, primarily conducted at PACT facilities, have fed into the extensive modelling and process simulations concerning system integration and assessments (WP3); in particular looking at future operating requirements, RAMO and the trade-offs between solvent-turbine configurations under realistic constraints, as well as financial, social and environmental sustainability factors. The continuing interaction and involvement with our considerable industrial expert advisory panel has greatly facilitated the impact delivery aspects of the project (WP4). Adsorption Materials and Processes for Carbon Capture from Gas-Fired Power Plants – AMPGas, Enzo Mangano, University of Edinburgh We present the progress on the “Adsorption Materials and Processes for Carbon Capture from Gas-Fired Power Plants” project, an EPSRC funded research consortium led by the University of Edinburgh with the collaboration of the University of St. Andrews and Heriot-Watt University. The aims of the project are to apply a range of experimental techniques to determine equilibrium and kinetic properties of nanoporous materials purposely developed for carbon capture from diluted streams; develop an integrated adsorption process based on rapid thermal swings and demonstrate the process using a bench scale rotary wheel adsorber (RWA). Different adsorbents tailored for CO₂ separation from dilute streams are being developed, i.e. Zeolites and amine-containing MOFs, amine-based Silicas, activated carbons and carbon nanotubes. The ranking of all the materials is carried out using different techniques ranging from the Zero Length Column, to breakthrough, volumetric and gravimetric experiments, to assess the CO₂ capacity, the equilibrium and kinetics of the adsorbents. An innovative bench scale RWA has been designed and is being built at the University of Edinburgh to capture CO₂ from dilute streams using rapid thermal swing adsorption cycles. The system will demonstrate the proposed capture process and produce experimental results to validate the detailed adsorption model. Effective Adsorbents for Establishing Solids Looping as a Next Generation NG PCC Technology, Hao Liu, University of Nottingham The flue gas characteristics of natural fired gas power plants, mostly operating in a combined cycle of gas turbine and steam turbine (NGCC), differ significantly from those from coal-fired power plants. Comparing to the flue gas of the same size coal-fired power plant, the flue gas of a NGCC power plant contains significantly lower CO₂ and higher O2 concentrations and has ca. 50% higher flow rate, which make the separation of CO₂ equally, if not more, challenging. A new generation of PCC technologies for NGCC power plants which overcome drawbacks of amine scrubbing need to developed and demonstrated in the next 10 ~ 20 years in order for their commercialisation from ca. 2030. Solid adsorbents looping technology (SALT) is widely recognised as having the potential to be a viable next generation PCC technology for CO₂ capture compared to the state-of-art amine scrubbing, offering potentially significantly improved process efficiency at much reduced energy penalty, lower capital and operational costs and smaller plant footprints.The aim of this project is to overcome the performance barriers for implementing the two types of candidate adsorbent systems developed at Nottingham, namely the supported/immobilised polyamines and potassium-promoted co-precipitated sorbent system, in the solid looping technology specifically for NGCC power plants, which effectively integrates both materials and process development and related fundamental issues underpinning the technology development. Computational Modelling and Optimisation of Carbon Capture Reactors, Daniel Sebastiá Sáez, Cranfield University The scope of the present work is the development of a CFD model to describe the multiphase flow inside a structured packing absorber for post-combustion CCS. CFD models found in the literature are divided in three scales due to the current computational capacity: micro-, meso- and macro-scale. This work focuses on the three scales. Micro-scale has usually dealt with small 2D computational domains. Meso-scale has commonly been considered to assess the dry pressure performance of the packing and macro-scale studies the liquid distribution over the whole column assuming that the structured packing behaves as a porous medium. The novelty of this work lies in expanding the possibilities of the afore-mentioned scales: • At micro-scale, the interfacial tracking is implemented in a 3D domain. The UDF that describes the reactive mass transfer of the CO₂-MEA system is added in order to account for the influence of the liquid maldistribution in the mass transfer performance. • At meso-scale, the VOF method is included to describe flow characteristics such as the liquid hold-up, the interfacial area and the non-reactive mass transfer. • At macro-scale, liquid distribution within the porous medium along with chemical absorption is studied. International CCS Chair Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC Carbon Capture and Storage in Australia – Tania Constable, CO₂CRC Australia is currently the world’s third largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). With an additional 62 million tonnes capacity to come on stream soon, it will become the largest exporter. Australia exports 27% of the world’s coal and is currently the world’s second largest coal exporter. It also exports 650 million tonnes iron core and pellets, and is currently the second largest iron exporter. Australia’s economy benefits significantly from fossil fuels’ exports, earning $68 billion in 2014. Australia must progress Carbon Capture and Storage research development and deployment to ensure long-term and cost competitive deployment to meet long-term climate goals, whilst sustaining its export market in domestic energy security. That said, the business case in Australia is difficult. CCS must be socially acceptable, meet regulation and community concerns, must be cost competitive and technology neutral. Real projec ts will make an enormous difference to public and community perceptions. In this way, CO₂CRC’s Otway project and Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia are important to the deployment of CCS in Australia. Research Coordination Network on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Funded by National Science Foundation in USA – A.-H. Alissa Park, Columbia University Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is one of the largest challenges faced by scientists and engineers due to its scale and complexity. A group of researchers have come together to discuss and address the important questions related to CCUS to bring much needed synergy into the field. This effort is funded by the National Science Foundation in the United States and the members include over 100 scientists and engineers from 10 different countries. Our mission is to build a trans-disciplinary Research Coordination Network (RCN) on CCUS that will facilitate research collaborations and training that cross the boundaries of the natural sciences, engineering, and the social and economic sciences to develop new understanding, theories, models and technologies as well as assessment tools for the developed technologies and their implementation plans for global communities. In this presentation, the Director of the RCN-CCUS, A.-H. Alissa Park, will give the updates on the RCN-CCUS activities and highlight important accomplishments. Changes in the Dutch CCS Landscape – Jan Brouwer, CATO The presentation will address the Dutch CCS Landscape from a number of perspectives. – Political: the minister of Economic Affairs is expected to present the Dutch Energy Policy 4th Q 2015 and has drafted a CCS vision for the next decades. This vision includes continuing support to CCS R&D and a distinct government involvement in a long-term transport and storage strategy. – Industrial: the Rotterdam CCS demo (ROAD) is assumed to be close to a positive FID, now that the business case has improved by considering alternative funding and cost reduction options. – R&D: whereas the new Dutch CCS policy includes continuing R&D support, funds will become available only to CCS projects that implement international cooperation. This will significantly change the research landscape in the Netherlands. – Societal: strong opposition with respect to the production of natural gas has resulted from an increase in production related earthquakes in the Northern part of the Netherlands. This opposition affects the public support for the use of fossil fuels in general and hence CCS. It furthermore adds to the strong distrust of all sub-surface related activities (such as CO₂ storage). The Norwegian Instruments for CCS Development – Åse Slagtern, The Research Council of Norway Norway has an ambitious CCS strategy that ranges from high level R&D to plans for building a CCS demonstration plant by 2020. The CCS strategy is part of the Norwegian target of reducing CO₂ emission by 40% by 2030. The R&D activities range from basic research to pilot and demonstration activities. New innovative solutions for CO₂ capture is prioritized together with research that can lead to large scale CO₂ storage in the North Sea. International collaboration between research communities as well as knowledge sharing across borders is also essential in the CCS strategy. Capability Construction of Shanghai CCS Research Centre – Dehao Ju, Shanghai Jiao Tong University The presentation will cover these main points; progress and deployment of CCS demonstration projects in China, CCS activities in Shanghai and SJTU and the Shanghai CCS research centres plan. Guangdong Offshore CCUS Project (GOCCUS) – Xi Liang, University of Edinburgh GDCCUSC is an open platform to support industrial development, academic cooperation and process design in CCUS, and other near zero emission technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. GDCCUSC is the legal entity of the UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre, which was initiated by Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute (GEDI), UK CCS Research Centre and Scottish CCS, (both based at the University of Edinburgh). GDCCUSC is leading the development of a one million ton scale Guangdong Offshore Carbon, Capture, Utilization and Storage Project (GOCCUS), which includes capturing CO₂ from a conventional power plant with post-combustion capture and the first major offshore CCUS demonstration project in China.
11:40-11:50	Break
11:50-12:50	How does CCS figure in the divestment debate – and if not, why not? Panel discussion chaired by David Reiner, University of Cambridge Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh Student activism at Edinburgh placed divestment onto the University agenda. A formal evidence process was created, making recommendations to Court – the supreme governing body. This decided to differentiate between fossil fuel extractors, using environmental cleanup and CCS as one criterion. Divestment is intended to be public and prolonged. Some evidence, reports, and decisions are publicly available: www.ed.ac.uk. Richard Millar, University of Oxford Divestment has recently been in the news at Oxford and elsewhere around the world. Outcomes such as at Oxford, where the university agreed to divest from holding direct coal stocks (of which it didn’t own any anyway), make the lessons to take from this process unclear. Additionally, what divestment campaigns and other climate-relevant financial instruments currently don’t consider is what investment decisions public bodies and extractive companies should be making in terms of cumulative sequestration capacity based on what we know about the cumulative nature of the impact of carbon emissions on the climate. The Oxford Martin Safe Carbon Initiative is working to focus attention of all involved in climate/energy investment on the required long-term transition to zero carbon that we know is required and must be incentivised by investment decisions today. Angela Whelan, Ecofin Foundation Angela leads the UK CCS Commercial Development Group and works with potential financiers, insurers, project developers and policy makers that are most active in the UK CCS space. She will discuss some of the main challenges that need to be overcome if CCS is to become investable and be viewed as a viable route to decarbonising fossil fuel power generation. Belinda Perriman, CCS Consultant Belinda would like to challenge the narrative around climate change and the role of the fossil fuel industry in climate change mitigation. We have grown up on a narrative of Hollywood ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’; the fossil fuel industry being placed squarely in the ‘bad guy’ camp and renewable energy in the ‘good guy’ camp. The move away from fossil fuels to renewables is woefully slow. We have also grown up on Hollywood scripts where someone rides in to save the day at the very last moment. But we live in the real world; it’s the only world we have got to live on and we need to get real. Here is how and why CCS is vital in the real world narrative…. Chris Littlecott, E3G Chris will give an environmenta l NGO perspective on the role of CCS with respect to fossil fuel divestment
12:50-13:00	Wrap up and closing remarks
13:00 onwards	Lunch

ACCOMODATION
Unfortunately no student accommodation can be provided by the University of Strathclyde on these dates. A huge variety of accommodation is available in Glasgow and can be found online, but please book soon, as September is a busy month for Glasgow City Centre accommodation. A hotel option very close to the biannual meeting venue and currently with good availability is Z Hotel Glasgow (North Frederick Street).
TRANSPORT
The conference venue is in the heart of Glasgow City Centre and various transport options are available, see here for more information.
ECR MEETING FUND
The UKCCSRC is making its ECR Meeting Fund available to support UKCCSRC ECRs who need financial assistance to attend the biannual meeting at Strathclyde. For more information on this fund, how to apply and deadlines please click here.
ECR POSTER PRIZE
The UKCCSRC is delighted to announce that there will be an Early Career Researcher (ECR) Poster Prize at the Strathclyde Biannual Meeting on 8-9 September 2015. Up to four prizes will be awarded to ECRs for the best poster presentations covering the range of capture, storage and cross-cutting issues topics. Winners will receive a prize certificate and a voucher for £250 of CPD (continuing professional development) activities. For more information on the ECR Poster Prize and past winners please click here. Applications to the ECR meeting fund and poster prize have now closed.

Archived UKCCSRC Events UK Events

UKCCSRC Biannual, Strathclyde – CCS in the UK-Taking Stock – 8-9 September 2015

Recent Posts: