Nottingham to partner in carbon capture centre

Nottingham University will play a key role in the new UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC), a £13m initiative announced by the Government, which will
lead research into safe storage of greenhouse gases produced from power generation.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest £10 million in the Centre over a five-year period, with funding of £3 million from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to establish new capital facilities that will support innovative research. This forms part of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme, which is led by EPSRC.

DECC has also launched its CCS Commercialisation Programme and Roadmap, setting out the Government’s vision for achieving commercial deployment of CCS in the UK in the 2020s, including investing £125 million in CCS research and development between 2011-2015. A key priority will be to support the UK economy — by driving an integrated research programme focused on maximising the contribution of CCS to a low-carbon energy system for the UK.

Dr Trevor Drage, Associate Professor in Clean Fossil Energy at The University of Nottingham, said: “Nottingham is one of the key partners in the new UK CCS Research Centre. Academics at the University lead and are involved in a number of multidisciplinary research projects on CCS, for example projects on developing novel capture technologies funded by E.ON and EPSRC as well a collaborative research projects with China and recently funded project on carbon capture from natural gas.

“The centre also compliments the Efficient Fossil Energy Technology EngD centre which aims to train the research and industry leaders of the future in clean fossil energy and CCS. The UKCCSRC is an exciting development and through the collaboration Nottingham academics and researchers will continue to undertake world leading research and be a key partner in the programme to commercialise CCS in the UK.”