On Wednesday 7th January, the annual meeting of the Tectonic Studies Group comes to Edinburgh this year and will include a special "Question Time" session to debate geological aspects of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
Power plants constitute one of the largest CO2 emitting sectors. With increased emphasis on abatement of emissions to meet the 2030 deadline set by the UK Committee on Climate Change, the power-plant sector is relying on CCS retrofits using post-combustion capture to clean up flue gases. However, despite the highly transient nature of power plant operation characterised by frequent shut-downs and start-ups (up to twice a day), the retrofits are currently designed for a constant base-load operation and hence cannot maintain even liquid distribution during unsteady loading.
Research Themes:
Carbon Capture and Separation Processes
Multiphase flows, interfaces and phase change from nano- to macro-scales
Carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and change in land use are forcing a rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 levels leading to climate change. The initial implementation of plans to reduce the levels of CO2 is based on a combination of increased use of renewable energy and the implementation of carbon capture and storage from industrial sources and power plants on a wide scale.
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.
The general objective of CleanCOALtech project is: to create and develop an educational and training system for promoting, developing and implementing clean coal technologies, through knowledge and best practices shared from advanced EU country – UK to South-East European region – Romania and Greece in order to provide high performance and innovation in the vocational education and training systems and to raise stakeholders level of knowledge and skills.
The research focuses on develop a microwave swing technique to selectively heat solid at molecular level for adsorbent regeneration, and then compare the results with temperature swing. The project is supported by EPSRC.
Carbon capture from power stations and industrial sources is an essential pillar in the effort of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the legally binding target set by the 2008 Climate Change Act of 80% reductions by 2050. The current state-of-the-art technologies for post-combustion capture (including retrofit options for existing plants) are based on amine scrubbers, but inherent energy requirements make this an expensive option and significant research is aimed at the development of next generation carbon capture processes that reduce the cost of capital equipment and the energy needed.
Gas separations on offshore platforms are of increasing importance for the purification of natural gas and for the separation of CO2 used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
The proposal aims to develop an international collaborative research programme under Topic 4 of the FENCO-NET call: New innovative CO2 capture technologies.
New ideas for carbon capture are urgently needed to combat climate change. Retro-fitting post-combustion carbon capture to existing power plants has the greatest potential to reduce CO2 emissions considering these sources make the largest contribution to CO2 emissions in the UK. Unfortunately, carbon capture methods based on existing industrial process technology for separation of CO2 from natural gas streams (i.e. amine scrubbing) would be extremely expensive if applied on the scale envisaged, as exemplified by the recent collapse of the Government's CCS project at Longannet power station. Moreover, many of the chemical absorbents used, typically amines, are corrosive and toxic and their use could generate significant amounts of hazardous waste. So, more efficient and 'greener' post-combustion CCS technologies are urgently needed if CCS is to be adopted on a global scale.
