Australia and the UK renew their efforts on carbon capture and storage (CCS) research, to advance the technologies which can prevent carbon dioxide produced from energy generation and heavy industrial processes from reaching the atmosphere and are vital to the global effort of reducing CO2 emissions.
Two world leaders in CCS research, Australia’s CO2CRC Limited and the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share information and collaborate on research programs in carbon capture, transport and storage technologies.
This builds on the success of the last MoU that saw UK and CO2CRC researchers work together on first of a kind research at the CO2CRC Otway Facility in Victoria. “Under the last MoU, the collaborative research proved that CO2 can be safely stored in the subsurface for over 1000 years” said CO2CRC CEO, Tania Constable, “It is a fantastic opportunity for UKCCSRC researchers to come and work at our world class Otway Research Facility.” The results have been presented at conferences in the United States, Edinburgh, London and Vienna, further broadening international collaboration into CCS.
The MoU was initiated by the announcement that the UKCCSRC secured funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to continue its work to 2022.
Prof. Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC Director, said “The MoU with CO2CRC is the first to be renewed to span the lifetime of the new EPSRC funding for UKCCSRC, and will be a catalyst to renew the MoUs held with its other partner organisations in the Netherlands, China, Canada and the USA.”
Tania Constable and Jon Gibbins signed the MoU took in Abu Dhabi at the mid-year meeting of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, an international climate change initiative focused on the development of cost-effective technologies for CCS.
Under the MoU, CO2CRC and UKCCSRC have agreed to:
- initiate, develop and source funding for collaborative research projects
- share collaborative research data
- bring their research communities together through joint events
- participate in each other’s conferences and other technology exchange activities, such as workshops, seminars and webinars
- foster early career researchers through graduate student and post-doctoral fellow exchanges
- cooperate on generating information and communication materials about their research and making them available to the general public.
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Robert Hilkes, CO2CRC Communications and Marketing Manager, +61 (0) 413 338 144, robert.hilkes@co2crc.com.au