New Research Projects Accelerating CCS Efficiency and Safety

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The UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Community Network+ (UKCCSRC) has awarded funding to 13 important research projects through their Flexible Funding 2024 call.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been described as a necessity not an option by international climate changes organisations.  “CCS is a quick way of deep removal of CO₂ as compared to other technologies to combat the current challenge of climate change,” agrees Dr Nejat Rahmanian, University of Bradford.

Dr Wei Li, University of Nottingham, voiced the passion and pragmatism shown by all the funded researchers: “I’m passionate about using my expertise as a geological and environmental engineer to make a real impact, ensuring that my research not only advances scientific knowledge but also delivers tangible benefits to the world, for current and future generations.”

The funded researchers have arrived at their current careers in CCS via different paths. After winning a PhD, as an early career geoscientist, Dr Aaron Cahill, Heriot-Watt University, realised he was “intrigued by understanding CCS’s environmental risks and could contribute to enabling it through better understanding. I saw deployment of CCS as a necessity in the fight against climate change and had a strong belief it would be a key tool needed to stabilize the climate in the coming decades.”

Similarly, Professor Mathieu Lucquiaud, University of Sheffield, started working on CCS during his PhD, having studied Energy and Environmental Engineering as an undergraduate.  “I wanted to work on a big, bold idea to fight climate change,” he said.  “My research will help TWICS (Transforming Waste Into a Climate Solution), providing evidence on what the best climate use is for the million tonnes of biogenic waste that we produce every year.”

A different route was taken by Ceri Vincent, from the British Geological Survey, who was offered a role in CO₂ storage when she was fresh out of university and is still there over 23 years later!  Her project “will help provide assurance to local communities, project operators and regulatory bodies that CO₂ is securely stored by testing the sensitivity of the latest CO₂ sensors and assessing how we can best use these sensors around CO₂ storage sites and pipelines.”

A wide range of projects were funded, with a strong focus on improving efficiency and safety.  At Heriot-Watt University, Farshad Jafarizadeh’s project is looking at improving “the safety and effectiveness of carbon storage by using advanced techniques like 4D seismic to monitor subsurface faults during CO₂ injection, preventing leakage and ensuring CO₂ remains securely stored.”

Other projects, like Reinaldo Juan Lee Pereira’s, at Heriot-Watt University, will use large language models (LLMs) to reduce costs and “improve performances of chemical production processes, by identifying materials which can be used to produce hydrogen or power whilst capturing CO₂, and finding the right combinations of the complex metals.”

Two of the funded projects at Durham University are connected to direct air carbon capture (DAC), a technology which Dr Mrinal Bhowmik says will enable “the extraction of CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, potentially achieving negative emissions.”  Dr Ruiqi Wang’s project is “developing an integrated direct air capture system powered by a green hydrogen-fuelled solid oxide fuel cell, designed to minimise environmental impacts while maximising carbon reduction efficiency.”

Jeremy Carey, UKCCSRC Board Director said: “It’s great to see CCS research topics evolving to embrace a wider range of approaches that may support large-scale deployment of CCS. The number of strong ECR applications signals a bright future for the UK CCS industry.”

A total of £286k was awarded to the projects, which all support the UK Government’s net zero objectives and will last between three to nine months.  The UKCCCSRC is able to fund these projects thanks to their ongoing funding support from the EPSRC.

Full list of successful applicants

• Dr Mrinel Bhowmik, Durham University – Twin carbon capture system: Direct air capture integrated with bio-gasification coupled amine-based carbon capture and storage system
• Dr Aaron Cahill, Heriot-Watt University – Development of a Quantitative Wellbore Leakage Risk Assessment Tool for Screening Storage Projects (Q-WELLRATe)
• Dr Aliakbar Hassanpouryouzband, University of Edinburgh – AssureFlow-CCS: Advanced Strategies for CO2 Flow Assurance
• Farshad Jafarizadeh, Heriot-Watt University – Minimizing Environmental Impacts of CO₂ Storage Projects: Time-Lapse Monitoring of Fault Reactivation for Safe Sequestration
• Dr Wei Li, University of Nottingham – Accelerating the Development of Advanced Silica-alkoxylated Polyethyleneimine (APEI) Adsorbents for Direct Air Capture
• Professor Mathieu Lucquiaud, University of Sheffield – Transforming waste into a climate tool: Assessing technology options competing for a limited resource
• Dr Stavros Michailos, University of Hull – EfW-UPCC: Techno-Economic Assessment of Ultra-high Post-Combustion Capture in Energy from Waste plants
• Professor Vahid Niasar, University of Manchester – Quantification of capillary suction induced by brine evaporation and salt precipitation during CO₂ injection in saline aquifers
• Reinaldo Juan Lee Pereira, Heriot-Watt University – Large language models for high-throughput discovery of novel metal oxides for carbon capture
• Dr Nejat Rahmanian, University of Bradford – Carbon Sequestration in Steel and Cement Industries using Indirect Mineral Carbonation (IMC) Process
• Ceri Vincent, British Geological Survey – Determining thresholds for CO₂ leakage detection (CO2DETECTIVE)
• Dr Hayley Vosper, British Geological Survey – Improving characterisation of the Bunter Sandstone through history-matching at the depleted Esmond gas field
• Dr Ruiqi Wang, Durham University – Environmental Considerations For Large-scale Direct Air Capture With Fuel Cell

In the latest episode of Tata Steel’s “SteelCast” podcast about decarbonising the steel industry, Professor Jon Gibbins, Centre Director of the UK CCS Research Community Network Plus at The University of Sheffield warns that the clock is ticking for global action by governments and industries such as steel to put in place technologies that will deliver a net zero economy by 2050.

Jon said: “What the steel industry needs to face up to is the timescale – we’ve got 27 years to get to net zero globally (2050) to avoid dangerous warming and that’s a bit under 10,000 days.”

Tata Steel’s host Tim Rutter welcomed Jon to the pod to talk about the opportunity for energy intensive industries, such as steel, to utilise carbon capture and storage (CCS) as an alternative—even if as part of a transition—to technologies such as electric arc, scrap-based steelmaking.

In the podcast, Jon argued that the principle of capturing carbon emissions from industry, and sequestering (burying) them deep in disused offshore oil and gas fields, is not only feasible but desirable, adding, “You want to keep CO2 out of use for at least 10,000 years.”

While the earliest the UK can expect to see an active carbon capture and storage facility is 2027, Jon sees existing ore-based steelmaking assets having an end-of life far beyond this date, in the UK and particularly globally.

Many industry experts say there is value in re-using carbon-rich emissions for commercial uses such as aviation fuel or acetic acid, but Jon is less convinced: “Turning carbon into a fuel only to be released later will not get us to net zero,” he said. “It would be nice to be able to reuse (all the carbon) but the quantities are so huge. and natural processes to permanently remove the CO2 are about 100 times too slow to avoid dangerous climate change. All the CO2 that we put in the atmosphere now, will have to be taken out in the future by other people.”

While some steelmaking sites are located close to existing oil fields and could benefit from a direct pipeline into the sea, others such as Tata Steel’s Port Talbot works would have to ship the CO2. This, said Jon, is not such a bad thing: “Single pipelines could be down for maintenance whereas with shipping you can go to multiple destinations.”

“The question is not ‘is Port Talbot expensive because you have to ship CO2?’ but ‘Is it more expensive than anywhere else that has to ship CO2?’ and the answer is no.”

He added: “How many steel plants globally don’t even have ship access or a CO2 pipeline – they’re in real trouble.”

The podcast discussion went on to talk about one of the alternative technologies for steelmakers: scrap-based electric arc steelmaking. And while Jon appreciated the value of the technology in massively reducing carbon emissions, he made the point that leading industrial countries such as the UK have a far wider responsibility to global climate change than simply solving their own problems.

“If we hit our targets by doing things that are perfectly obvious but things that the whole world can’t do, we’ve demonstrated nothing,” he said.

“We have to have a noticeable effect through demonstration. We have to do it in a way that encourages and enables other people to do the same.”

Host Tim Rutter added: “It was great to have Jon on the pod for a very lively debate. With over 20 episodes under our belt, the series has hosted steel experts, academics, politicians and green groups. We’re trying to open up the discussion around the challenges and opportunities of decarbonising the UK steel industry, with the people who know best.”

Listen to the podcast in full here