Opportunity to meet zero carbon emissions closing fast

UK MPs and external stakeholders held a meeting in Westminster on 23 March to discuss the potential for industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives, in the light of the government’s 2050 industrial decarbonisation roadmap.

A new Scottish report* on CCS was presented at the meeting. The report warns that the opportunity to deliver net zero carbon emissions ‘should be grasped now’, with urgent need for strategic policy to regain lost momentum – following the UK government’s decision to cancel a £1bn competition for CCS technology last November, just six months before it was due to be awarded.

Two projects had been in the running to build commercial-scale demonstration plants. One was backed by Shell and SSE at Peterhead, whilst the White Rose consortium proposed to develop a project at the Drax power plant, though investment in the ‘troubled’ power plant was halted last September. Given the government’s decision, Shell said it would abandon the Peterhead project and focus CCS work in other countries.

Luke Warren, Chief Executive of the CCS Association said the government’s decision was ‘devastating’, after the goalposts had been moved in a four-year competition due for conclusion.

Potential job creation
The new Scottish CCS report was prepared by SCCS in partnership with Robert Gordon University, and suggests that large-scale CCS could retain skilled jobs and create new industrial clusters of industrial emitters around the UK coastline, with plans already developed for shared-cost CCS hubs. The report also highlighted the value of the ‘globally significant’ North Sea geological asset for CO₂ storage. With emphasis on the presence of an experienced oil and gas workforce that could build a new offshore CCS industry serving the UK and Europe.

The report also highlighted the potential cost to taxpayers of delaying CCS deployment, the risk of loss of crucial infrastructure through North Sea decommissioning and the risk of a ‘brain drain’ of expertise to countries where CCS is already being delivered.

Professor Stuart Hazeldine, SCCS Director, said: ‘The stark reality is that net zero carbon is unachievable without CCS. In the UK, we have an enviable set of unique offshore assets that, if used now rather than decommissioned, will deliver a least-cost pathway to a competitive, low-carbon economy.’

New research initiatives
However, there is some light on the horizon. Scientists from the SCCS research partnership have just been awarded £2.8mn for research into technology to support UK industry efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions. The SCCS researchers will lead three out of four projects being funded by EPSRC’s Research Challenges in Industrial CCS fund, and will work closely with industry partners on developing flexible and cost-effective carbon capture technologies.

A team lead by the University of Edinburgh, with researchers from the University of St Andrews and industry partners Air Products, INEOS, Lotte Chemical, Diageo, Howden Group Technology and Tees Valley Unlimited, will explore adsorption-based CO₂ capture, developing new materials tailored to various industrial processes.

A team led by the University of Edinburgh, in concert with Newcastle University and the University of Hull with industry partners Global Technology/SK innovation, Ferrite Microwave Technologies, Tan Delta Microwaves, Carbon Clean Solutions and UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre, will focus on developing a compact CO₂ capture process using amine solvents to combat industrial emissions. Two technologies will be combined – rotating packed bed absorption and microwave-assisted regeneration – which will enable small and flexible capture devices to be installed on a wide range of industrial sites.

*Achieving a low-carbon society: CCS expertise and opportunity in the UK http://www.sccs.org.uk/achieving-a-lowcarbon-society