Spring Conference 2022 ECR blog series #1- highlights from the Welcome, Keynote Speakers and session 2C

As part of our Spring Conference 2022 resources, members of our ECR community have written blogs about our conference that took place 20-21^st April 2022. For our first piece in the Spring Conference 2022 ECR blog series, Muhammad Ibrahim Irshad, University of Hull and Fengtian Bai, University of Nottingham share highlights of the introduction and welcome delivered by Prof Jon Gibbins and Prof Mohamed Pourkashanian, the keynote talks from Alex Milward, BEIS and Bryony Livesey and the session 2C presentation from Dr Eni Oko, Newcastle University.

UKCCSRC Spring 2022 Conference – Building capacity for CCS deployment: 20-21 April 2022, Sheffield

Wednesday 20^th April

Welcome and introduction

Figure 2 Prof Mohamed introducing the Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield

Figure 1 Prof Jon giving a welcome speech

The conference kicked off on Wednesday with registration and a very nice lunch; then, Prof Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC Director and Professor of the University of Sheffield, made a big welcome speech starting the UKCCSRC Spring 2022 Conference. Prof Jon pointed out that developing competitive CCS is the most important thing we can do to deal with the unprecedented and life-threatening risks from dangerous climate change, especially under so many uncertainties from the global crisis.

Prof Mohamed, the head of the energy institute at the University of Sheffield, first gave a welcome speech as well and then opened the seminar with a brief outline of CCUS research and innovation at the University of Sheffield, where the Energy Institute is one of four research flagships. There are three centres, Translational Energy Research Centre, Sustainable Aviation Fuel Innovation Centre and Hydrogen Innovation Infrastructure, in the University, equipped with state-of-art national facilities, available for both academics and industries, to carry out these pilot-scale research, including CCUS (CO₂ capture), sustainable aviation fuels (CCUS), Hydrogen and zero carbon fuels. Prof Mohamed remarked that the CCUS community led the progress over the past 20 years and is meeting an exciting time with growing interest, hope and optimism.

Keynote Talk

Figure 3 Alex Milward discussing an update on BEIS

An update from BEIS was presented by Alex Milward, Director Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage at Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who talked about the UK Government action plan on the development of carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS). He discussed about different activities and paths to developing the UK CCUS secor and aims to achieve them by 2035.

Thursday 20^st April

Figure 4 Dr. Eni Oko talking about catalyst-aided solvent regeneration for PCC process

Parallel session 2C: UKCCSRC Flexible Funded Research Programme

On the second day of the event, three parallel sessions were held on UKCCSRC Flexible Funded Research Programme. Dr Eni Oko from Newcastle University gave an informative talk on Development of an energy-efficient and cost effective catalytic regeneration systems in the post-combustion CO₂ capture process. Dr Eni mentioned that using catalyst during solvent regeneration of CO₂ capture process can significantly reduce the energy consumption of the overall process. He discussed computational design and performance of different catalysts and compared their results to choose the best catalyst for CO₂ capture process.

Closing remarks

Figure 5 Bryony Livesey providing an update on the political landscape development of Industrial Decarbonisation

At the end of the Plenary Session, Bryony Livesey, Challenge Director of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge UKRI, provided an update on the political landscape development of Industrial Decarbonisation as well as the projects about CCS and decarbonization. She emphasized the importance of the Clusters, which encourage economic growth and provide jobs. She explained what the Clusters should look like and the need for an integrated approach to establish a net-zero Cluster. She also pointed out the importance of the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy launched in March 2021. Bryony stressed that communication, sharing, and obtaining information from domestic and foreign projects are valuable for putting the cluster project forward.