Carbon capture and storage (CSS) is the only technology that can substantially reduce the CO2 emission from fossil fuels and that can keep the rise in global temperature within the limits of the Paris Agreement.
CCS is also the only mean of achieving emission cuts in the steel, cement and petrochemical industries. Despite the importance of CCS technologies, there has been a large disconnect between policy ambitions, technology readiness and industrial uptake.
This is mainly due to the lack of a business model: costs are immediate but the benefits are long-term. Similarly, the introduction of hydrogen (H2) as a low-carbon fuel has been slower than expected. On the other hand, the commercial deployment of CCS technologies could be fast tracked by the usage of natural gas reforming for H2 production, which also produces CO2 and therefore requires the use of H2 - CCS chains.
ELEGANCY is a research project involving consortia from the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, supported by ACT (Accelerating CCS Technologies, an ERA NET Cofund) and national governments, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the UK. Imperial College London is the UK lead partner in ELEGANCY and it will be working with the British Geological Survey, Scottish Enterprise and INEOS Chemicals Grangemouth Ltd.
ELEGANCY has three main objectives:
1) to facilitate decarbonisation of power, heating and transport based on an existing fuel and infrastructure
2) to develop a commercial model for industrial CCS
3) to broaden public awareness of CCS
ELEGANCY will fast-track the deployment of CCS technologies in Europe and worldwide by providing innovative and cutting edge solutions to key technical challenges for CO2 transport, injection and storage, as well as H2 - CO2 separation. ELEGANCY will develop an innovative, open-source design tool for a fully integrated H2 - CCS chain.
The project will study business development opportunities, environmental aspects and public perceptions of CCS. Finally ELEGANCY will apply its research findings, technologies and tools to five national case studies in order to identify cost-effective opportunities for H2-CCS for each country represented in the project, providing key input for policy makers.
Within ELEGANCY, Imperial will contribute ground-breaking new research in CO2 storage, developing integrated H2-CCS chains and applying the research findings to a detailed national case study. The research will be carried out by a multidisciplinary team led by Professor Martin Trusler, Professor Nilay Shah, Dr Ronny Pini (Department of Chemical Engineering), Dr Sam Krevor (Department of Earth Science and Engineering) and Dr Niall Mac Dowell (Centre for Environmental Policy).