C-Capture designs world-leading chemical processes for the capture of carbon dioxide. We have patented a unique, safe, low-cost post-combustion capture technology which uses up to 40% less energy than current commercially available technologies. The technology uses a new class of capture solvents that are amine and nitrogen free, are not classified as hazardous, are inexpensive, and could be manufactured on a large scale from biological sources. Data generated thus far has demonstrated our solvent to be very resistant to oxidation, and therefore would not degrade as quickly as existing technologies in industrial applications. Hence, C-Capture's technology presents an ideal decarbonisation solution for heavy industry, at considerably lower cost than existing options, freeing up funds to sustain their economic recovery from the pandemic. We wish to build upon existing data and expose our solvent to the most challenging conditions, such as those found in the glass-making industry which contains very high levels of oxidants. We propose to build an enhanced oxidation rig to expose our solvent formulation to extreme conditions of flue gas pollutants, to demonstrate the resilience of our solvent technology. This feasibility study will evaluate the robustness of C-Capture's advanced carbon dioxide capture process, with a view to subsequently piloting the technology in collaboration with Pilkington Glass, with whom we are working closely, in order to fully understand their requirements. By working alongside customers who are trying hard to find technological solutions to decarbonise, we are optimising our technology to fulfill market needs. Many industrial customers operate in markets characterised by razor thin margins, and are currently fighting for survival due to COVID-19\. These feasibility experiments are a crucial step in providing an industrial carbon capture technology which allows customers to recover sustainably from the pandemic by investing in infrastructure which provides jobs and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This will have a positive impact on climate change and environmental sustainability and enable the industrial sector to 'build back better' from the COVID-19 pandemic, create a more sustainable economy, and help deliver on the government's Clean Growth Strategy and net zero ambition.

Renewable biomethane is one of the key low carbon fuels of the future. Distributing biomethane in the national gas grid presents a major opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of heat, electricity and renewable fuel. Estimates for biogas output in 2020 are significant, however there is a need for lower gas production costs to increase the amount of biogas that can be economically utilised for grid injection. Biogas upgrading represents a significant part of the production cost of biomethane. This project will look at the feasibility of scale up and cost reduction of C-Capture's (CCL) biogas upgrading process for improved grid injection economics. CCL has developed a range of patented amine-free CO2 separation solvents with drastically reduced energy use, lower corrosion and smaller environmental footprint, while also having a low capital cost as compared to the state-of-the-art.

The motivation for this proposal is that the global reliance on fossil fuels is set to increase with the rapid growth of Asian economies and major discoveries of shale gas in developed nations. The strategic vision of the IDC is to develop a world-leading Centre for Industrial Doctoral Training focussed on delivering research leaders and next-generation innovators with broad economic, societal and contextual awareness, having strong technical skills and capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams covering a range of knowledge transfer, deployment and policy roles. They will be able to analyse the overall economic context of projects and be aware of their social and ethical implications. These skills will enable them to contribute to stimulating UK-based industry to develop next-generation technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and ultimately improve the UK's position globally through increased jobs and exports. The Centre will involve over 50 recognised academics in carbon capture & storage (CCS) and cleaner fossil energy to provide comprehensive supervisory capacity across the theme for 70 doctoral students. It will provide an innovative training programme co-created in collaboration with our industrial partners to meet their advanced skills needs. The industrial letters of support demonstrate a strong need for the proposed Centre in terms of research to be conducted and PhDs that will be produced, with 10 new companies willing to join the proposed Centre including EDF Energy, Siemens, BOC Linde and Caterpillar, together with software companies, such as ANSYS, involved with power plant and CCS simulation. We maintain strong support from our current partners that include Doosan Babcock, Alstom Power, Air Products, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), Tata Steel, SSE, RWE npower, Johnson Matthey, E.ON, CPL Industries, Clean Coal Ltd and Innospec, together with the Biomass & Fossil Fuels Research Alliance (BF2RA), a grouping of companies across the power sector. Further, we have engaged SMEs, including CMCL Innovation, 2Co Energy, PSE and C-Capture, that have recently received Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)/Technology Strategy Board (TSB)/ETI/EC support for CCS projects. The active involvement companies have in the research projects, make an IDC the most effective form of CDT to directly contribute to the UK maintaining a strong R&D base across the fossil energy power and allied sectors and to meet the aims of the DECC CCS Roadmap in enabling industry to define projects fitting their R&D priorities. The major technical challenges over the next 10-20 years identified by our industrial partners are: (i) implementing new, more flexible and efficient fossil fuel power plant to meet peak demand as recognised by electricity market reform incentives in the Energy Bill, with efficiency improvements involving materials challenges and maximising biomass use in coal-fired plant; (ii) deploying CCS at commercial scale for near-zero emission power plant and developing cost reduction technologies which involves improving first-generation solvent-based capture processes, developing next-generation capture processes, and understanding the impact of impurities on CO2 transport and storage; (iimaximising the potential of unconventional gas, including shale gas, 'tight' gas and syngas produced from underground coal gasification; and (iii) developing technologies for vastly reduced CO2 emissions in other industrial sectors: iron and steel making, cement, refineries, domestic fuels and small-scale diesel power generatort and These challenges match closely those defined in EPSRC's Priority Area of 'CCS and cleaner fossil energy'. Further, they cover biomass firing in conventional plant defined in the Bioenergy Priority Area, where specific issues concern erosion, corrosion, slagging, fouling and overall supply chain economics.