Researchers in the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Engineering have a crucial role to play in a carbon capture project that’s just received a six-figure funding boost.
Project MONET (MOF-based Negative Emissions Technology) has been awarded £445,848 by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) as part of its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) CCUS Innovation 2.0 competition, which aims to accelerate the development of next generation carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) in the UK – with the aim that it can be deployed at scale by 2030.
Over the next 18 months, a prototype carbon capture unit will be designed and installed at Drax’s CCUS Incubation Site in Selby, North Yorkshire. The capture unit will utilise metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as the novel solid sorbent – a class of materials that can be used to selectively adsorb certain gases. The installed unit will demonstrate the effective separation of CO2 from industrial flue gas streams, enabling more energy efficient CO2 capture.
Nottingham’s researchers will conduct lifecycle assessments and technoeconomic analysis on data collected from test trials, which will be undertaken by University of Nottingham spin-out Promethean Particles. This data will be compared to alternative sorbent technologies, where corresponding data is publicly available, to validate the innovation of novel solid sorbents, allowing a strong business case to be built for the commercialisation of these new technologies.
Dr Orla Williams, Anne McLaren Research Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for the university to be involved with a project like MONET. Not only does it expand our CCUS expertise and project portfolio, but the demonstration of such a prototype unit, which utilises MOFs as the novel sorbent materials, is expected to significantly de-risk the innovation and, in turn, pave the way for adoption in a range of point source carbon-emitting processes and industries.”
James Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer of Promethean, said: “We are extremely proud that project MONET has been chosen by the Department as one of the winners of this competition. Carbon removal is now a necessity in mitigating the devastating effects of climate change. Our continuous manufacturing process uniquely enables the production of these exciting materials at the scale and cost necessary to make them a viable industrial solution.”
