Call 1 – Capture

The aim of the Bio-CAP-UK project is to accelerate progress towards achieving operational excellence for flexible, efficient and environmentally sustainable bio-CCS thermal power plants by developing and assessing fundamental knowledge, pilot plant tests and techno economic and life cycle studies. In terms of assessing CO₂ capture, the UK CCS on-going research portfolio includes coal and gas-fired generation, whilst limited work is being conducted on the assessment of dedicated biomass to power with CCS, or indeed, of co-firing fossil fuel generation with higher rates of biomass with CCS. The project will also greatly expand the on-going research in SuperGen Bioenergy concerning supply chains of torrefied biomass and Bio-CCS.

Project Outputs

Bio-CAP-UK: Air/Oxy Biomass Combustion with CO₂ Capture Technology, UK Study. Presentation by Karen Finney (University of Leeds) in the Biomass CCS technical parallel session at the UKCCSRC Cardiff Biannual Meeting, 10 September 2014.
The BIO-CAP Programme: Impacts of biomass feedstock properties on air/oxy combustion with carbon capture. Presentation by Karen Finney (University of Leeds) at the SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub Annual Assembly 2014, 5/11/2014, Birmingham. PDF Video

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-38
Project fund amount: £750,906
Project date: Dec 2013 to Mar 2017
Lead institution: University of Sheffield
Principal investigator(s): M. Pourkashanian
Co-Investigator(s): J.M. JonesM. LucquiaudP. Thornley
Category: Capture/Oxyfuel
Primary research theme: Oxyfuel

The project will investigate the impacts of real flue gas and vent gas recycling on the combustion performance, emissions, ignition and flame stability of oxy-coal combustion by means of 250kW PACT facility testing and comprehensively validated CFD modelling, and to assess various flue gas recycling scenarios and the benefits of vent gas recycling by process simulation.

Project Outputs

Experimental Investigation with PACT facility and CFD modelling of oxy-coal combustion with recycling flue gas. Project update by Sheraz Daood (University of Sheffield) at the UKCCSRC Cranfield Biannual Meeting, 22 April 2015.

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-27
Project fund amount: £255,000
Project date: Aug 2013 to Mar 2017
Lead institution: University of Nottingham
Principal investigator(s): H. Liu
Co-Investigator(s): C. Sun
Category: Capture/Oxyfuel
Primary research theme: Oxyfuel

Membrane processes are a promising alternative to the more classical post-combustion capture technologies due to the reduced maintenance of the process, the absence of dangerous solvents and their smaller footprint. This project aims at supporting the development of new mixed matrix membranes for post-combustion applications. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are composite materials formed by embedding inorganic fillers into a polymeric matrix in order to overcome the upper bound and combine the characteristics of the two solid phases: mechanical properties, economical processing capabilities and permeability of the polymer and selectivity of the filler. Despite several studies on the concept, the interactions between the two phases and their effect on the transport properties are not well understood. Yet, this fundamental knowledge is crucial in order to design the reliable materials needed for real-world-applications.

Project Outputs

Development of Mixed Matrix Membranes Containing Zeolites for Post-combustion Carbon Capture, Energy Procedia 63 (GHGT-12)
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Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-36
Project fund amount: £77,000
Project date: Apr 2013 to Mar 2016
Lead institution: University of Edinburgh
Principal investigator(s): M. Ferrari
Category: Capture
Primary research theme: Membranes

Conventional power generation in the UK faces a significant challenge in the face of decarbonising and maintaining a reliable, secure and cost effective electricity supply. The requirement for fossil-fuel based systems to integrate smoothly with CCS technologies has led to the realistic consideration of oxyfuel based generating plant for CCGT-CCS processes. For CCS to become more technically and economically feasible, it has been suggested that the CO₂ scrubbing component of the CCS process will work more effectively if the CO₂ concentrations in the exhaust gas were higher. Hence, enhancement of oxygen in the combustion process and the enhancement of CO₂ concentration in the plant exhaust via Exhaust Gas Recycling (EGR) can dramatically increase the net efficiency of CO₂ scrubbers. Whilst oxyfuel and EGR are known to be potentially very promising technologies for integration with CCGT-CCS processes, there exists a significant lack of fundamental data on the design and reliable operation of industrial burner systems with this technology.

Project Outputs

Methane Oxycombustion in a Pressurised Swirl Stabilised A Gas Turbine Burner. Presentation by Richard Marsh, Cardiff University, in the Natural Gas CCS technical parallel session at the UKCCSRC Cardiff Biannual Meeting, 11/09/2014.
Methane Oxycombustion in a Swirl Stabilised A Gas Turbine Burner. Presentation by Richard Marsh, Cardiff University, at the UKCCSRC Gas CCS specialist meeting, Brighton, 25/06/2014.

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-26
Project fund amount: £100,000
Project date: Apr 2013 to May 2014
Lead institution: Cardiff University
Principal investigator(s): R. Marsh
Category: Capture/Post-combustion
Primary research theme: GT modifications for post-combustion CO₂ concentration increases

While chemical looping (combustion, CLC) is a promising technology for carbon capture, however many questions still remain as to its applicability at an industrial scale. In Chemical looping combustion a metal oxide is shuttled back and forth between a fuel and air reactor, picking up oxygen in the air reactor and transferring it to the fuel reactor. The fuel is never mixed with the nitrogen from the air, so a stream of CO₂ and H₂O is produced directly from the fuel reactor; this potentially makes the integrated power production and CO₂ capture system highly efficient. Most CLC and CLOU schemes envisage using fluidised beds in which the solid fuel is intimately mixed with the oxygen carrier, or mixing of the solid fuel particles. This project aims to push forward chemical looping within the UK and integrates both experimental work and theoretical analysis to result in the first large-scale demonstration of CLC within the UK.

Project Outputs

Carbon Capture in the Cement Industry: Technologies, Progress, and Retrofitting, Environmental Science and Technology

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-39
Project fund amount: £300,000
Project date: May 2013 to Jun 2016
Lead institution: Imperial College London
Principal investigator(s): P.S. Fennell
Category: Capture
Primary research theme: Chemical Looping