New Research Projects Accelerating CCS Efficiency and Safety

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