A research partnership looking at tackling climate change through the capture, transport and underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has received a £150,000 funding boost.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have each committed £50,000 to support Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage (SCCS), the UK’s largest research partnership of its kind.
Established with SFC funding in 2005, SCCS is a research and knowledge exchange partnership between Heriot-Watt University, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde, and the British Geological Survey.
Dr Philippa Parmiter, SCCS Project Manager said “Our team brings academia, government and industry together to develop and build projects both in the UK and internationally.
Dr Philippa Parmiter, Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage Project Manager
“Naturally, we are delighted to receive this funding grant and look forward to continuing our work alongside Scottish universities to tackle climate change by reducing the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere.”
SCCS assisted in bringing Scottish experts to the ACT Acorn Project. Led by energy consultants Pale Blue Dot, the Acorn project is working to develop the UK’s first operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire.
The project has received funding from the Scottish Government, UK Government and the European Union.
Scientists from Heriot-Watt University, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen joined other experts in the UK, the Netherlands and Norway to model CO2 storage characteristics, while Robert Gordon University researched public perception and the role of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS). SCCS has also
advocated for the role of CCUS as a recognised technology in the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy system within the Scottish Government’s work to establish a Just Transition Commission.”
The Acorn Project will see existing gas terminal infrastructure re-purposed to capture around 200,000 tonnes of CO2 initially. This will be transported for storage in depleted oil and gas fields under the North Sea using existing pipelines. A 2016 survey estimated the UK’s offshore geological storage potential at over 78 gigatonnes of CO2 (the equivalent of over 200 years of the UK’s 2017 CO2 emissions). One tonne of CO2 fills roughly the same space as a small house.
In spite of perceptions about its commercial potential, CCUS technology is now seeing a positive resurgence with initiatives like Acorn and SCCS’ partnership with the UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre giving Scotland opportunities to build international links and export its research expertise around the world. “SCCS’ role is to provide evidence and create partnerships to support the development of this technology in Scotland and the UK, coordinating research and policy analysis, as well as identifying funding opportunities,” Dr Parmiter said.
Beyond the potential to lease storage capacity to other countries in future, CCUS technology could also ease Scotland’s transition to a low-carbon economy, whilst still utilising oil and gas industry infrastructure, skills and jobs.
“For example, decarbonising natural gas, otherwise known as methane, could give us a low-cost, high volume method of producing hydrogen, which is a zero carbon fuel when burned to provide energy and heat,” she
said.
The areas which CCS can help to decarbonise – power, industry, heat and transport – account for 83% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. This also includes industries, such as construction, which are associated with high carbon emissions through the production of materials like steel and cement.
Dr Stuart Fancey, SFC Director of Research and Innovation, said: “SCCS brings our universities and their partners to bear on the challenges of this new technology, a technology that can work with existing oil and gas infrastructure and offer new economic opportunities for Scotland.”
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