• Our Current Projects

    From Carbon Capture to Storage, we have the carbon life cycle covered

RCCS Research is cross-disciplinary bringing together engineers, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, bio-scientists, and geologists. The Centre collaborates and is supported by industries, international energy policy advisors, government organisations, regional development agencies, national and international universities and research centres. The Centre has contributed and is currently active in a large number of collaborative research and development programmes, as outlined below.

  • Low carbon jet fuel through integration of novel technologies for co-valorisation of CO2 and biomass

    Low-Carbon Tech
    CO2
    Capture

    Title
    Low carbon jet fuel through integration of novel technologies for co-valorisation of CO2 and biomass
    Description
    Our project aims to produce low carbon synthetic aviation jet fuel using renewable energy from waste agricultural and forestry biomass and captured CO2. An integrated chemistry and engineering approach will be implemented towards high selective and efficient jet fuel production.
    Funder
    EPSRC, EP/N009924/1
    Grant
    £1,800,517
    Website
    lcjf.hw.ac.uk

    Project Green Fuse

    NETs
    CO2
    Capture

    Title
    Project Green Fuse
    Description
    This project aims to quantify olivine dissolution kinetics influenced by wave dynamics. Results will help us to assess the technical feasibility of coastal enhanced weathering.
    Funder
    Patrick Collison (via philanthropic gift)
    Grant
    NA

    Greenhouse Gas Removal by Enhanced Weathering (GGREW)

    Weathering
    CO2

    Title
    Greenhouse Gas Removal by Enhanced Weathering (GGREW)
    Description
    The Greenhouse Gas Removal by Enhanced Weathering (GGREW) project is a multi-institutional project funded by the NERC-led “Greenhouse Gas Removal from the Atmosphere” programme. The project brings together a multidisciplinary team from the University of Oxford, the University of Southampton, Cardiff University and the University of Cambridge to assess the potential and challenges of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by enhanced weathering. The project will explore the technological, environmental, economic and social feasibility of using silicate and carbonate materials as a source of cations to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into carbonate minerals and ocean alkalinity.
    Funder
    NERC-led “Greenhouse Gas Removal from the Atmosphere” programme
    Grant
    £2,000,000 (consortium led by the University of Oxford)
    Duration
    1 Aug 2017 – 24 Aug 2021

    Greenhouse Gas Removal in the Iron and Steel Industry

    CO2

    Title
    Greenhouse Gas Removal in the Iron and Steel Industry
    Description
    Decarbonising the steel industry is an important step in our pathway to avoiding dangerous climate change. This project explores the possibility of removing CO2 from the atmosphere by reacting it with slag, a by-product from the industry. Currently, around half a billion tonnes of slag are produced globally, which may be able to capture ~200 million tonnes of CO2.
    Funder
    UKRI Greenhouse Gas Removal Programme
    Grant
    £300,000
    Duration
    1 Aug 2017 – 24 Aug 2020

    MILEPOST-Microscale Processes Governing Global Sustainability

    Storage
    fluid dynamic

    Title
    MILEPOST-Microscale Processes Governing Global Sustainability
    Description
    We combine expertise and integrating ground-breaking work in: (i) additive manufacturing to produce three dimensional replicas of porous structures; (ii) tools to embed sensors to determine in-vivo propagation of fronts (pressure, temperature, pH) within complex structures; and (iii) novel high-fidelity in-silico pore models coupling relative permeability functions and critical saturations with compositional changes and validated using virtual reality tools. The ERC MILEPOST project will transform our ability to analyse and predict the behaviour of a wide range of pore-scale processes governing the macroscopic behaviour of complex subsurface systems and open up new horizons for science in other areas, e.g porosity controlled in polymers and bioprinting.
    Funder
    European Research Council (ERC)
    Grant
    €3m
    Duration
    September 2016– February 2022

    PROMOTEE: Functional porous carbon materials derived from coal tar for energy and environmental applications

    Low-Carbon Tech
    Green Tech

    Title
    PROMOTEE: Functional porous carbon materials derived from coal tar for energy and environmental applications
    Description
    PROMOTEE has been created as a complex European project aiming at the development of novel porous carbon materials for energy and environmental applications using low value coal-derived liquids as the carbon precursors. The objectives includes: • To maximize the use of coal-derived liquids as novel carbon material precursors with a view to their revalorization • To synthesize ordered mesoporous carbons via hard-templating from creosotes and rejects • To produce new carbon gels via sol-gel routes from phenolic oils • To understand the effect of coal tar-derived liquids on the characteristics of the carbon materials • To evaluate the performance of these new carbon materials in energy and environmental applications • To assess the feasibility of industrial applications of the porous carbons and compare them with commercial carbons
    Funder
    EU-Research Fund for Coal & Steel (RFCS)
    Grant
    €2.2m
    Website
    www.promotee-project.eu

    Solar fuels via engineering innovation

    Utilisation
    CO2
    Capture

    Title
    Solar fuels via engineering innovation
    Description
    Our vision is to engineer novel photoreactors that can achieve efficient hydrocarbon conversion and separation from CO2 for solar fuel production. This will be achieved via an integrated approach between chemical engineers and chemists to intensify the process of CO2 photoreduction through reactor innovation, and thus, provide alternative future energy options.
    Funder
    EPSRC - Challenging Engineering & Senior RAEng Fellow Programme
    Grant
    £1,179,790
    Duration
    March 2013- August 2018

    EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Critical Resource Catalysis - CRITICAT

    Catalyst
    Reaction Engineering
    Capture

    Title
    EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Critical Resource Catalysis - CRITICAT
    Description
    Our critical mass in critical resource catalysis will accelerate training, discovery, understanding, and exploitation within catalytic chemistry. We will focus our efforts on the future of catalysis, driving new advances for environmentally sustainable economic growth and underpinning current growth in the UK chemicals sector.
    Funder
    EPSRC-CDT
    Grant
    £4,324,694
    Duration
    April 2014– September 2022

    CO2TRIP: Long-term research activities in the area of advanced CO2 capture technologies for clean coal energy

    Green Tech
    CO2
    Capture

    Title
    CO2TRIP: Long-term research activities in the area of advanced CO2 capture technologies for clean coal energy
    Description
    The CO2TRIP project will last four years and it will be coordinated by the Czestochowa University of Technology, Poland with participation universities from Germany, United Kingdom, China, Japan, USA, and Australia. The duration of this project will be four years. The proposal will provide the necessary skills development through joint work both on a laboratory and pilot scale. Common interests all partners of CO2TRIP Consortium in advanced energy generation technologies with CO2 capture are very complementary. The main aims are to strengthen research partnerships through staff exchanges and networking activities between Partners.
    Funder
    FP7- Marie Curie Actions IRSES
    Grant
    € 300k
    Duration
    January 2014 – December 2018

    CO2 injection and storage - Short and long-term behavior at different spatial scales


    Title
    CO2 injection and storage - Short and long-term behavior at different spatial scales
    Description
    Although CO2 has been injected into petroleum reservoirs for over 50 years to improve oil recovery, there are still many uncertainties that must be addressed before governments will commit to the level of CCS that is needed to have a significant impact on CO2 emissions. This project addresses the gaps in our current knowledge in this field through an integrated laboratory and numerical modelling approach.
    Funder
    EPSRC
    Grant
    £1.2m
    Duration
    November 2013 – February 2017
    • Selective photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to olefins: a feasibility study
    • Performance of meters with dense phase CO2 and CCS Recovery Streams
    • Coriolis Metering Technology (COMET)
    • Centre for Innovation in Carbon Capture and Storage
    • Philip Leverhulme Prize
    • Carbon Capture and Storage by Mineralisation
    • Materials for Next Generation CO2 Transport Systems (MATTRAN)
    • Carbon dioxide conversion into valuable chemicals and fuels
    • Novel compressors for carbon dioxide
    • MERCURYCAP: High capacity sorbents and optimization of existing pollution control technologies for mercury capture in industrial combustion systems
    • Mercury oxidation by fly ash constituents and flue gases and its optimization for the development of mercury control technologies
    • ABETRAP: Abatement of emission of trace pollutants by FGD from co-combustion and environmental characteristics of by-products.
    • Novel adsorbents applied to integrated energy-efficient industrial CO2 capture
    • Next Generation Green Data Centres

Meet the RCCS Team!

One of the Top UK Carbon Research Team

Read Our Publications

We have over 400 publications and 30 books.

See our Facilities

Extensive state-of-art equipment covering CCS Chain