20 years of SCCS

SCCS at 20 years 

Prof. Stuart Haszeldine, The University of Edinburgh (UoE) 

Who would’ve thought we’d be here? Way back when SCCS first became a sparkle to be followed by crystallisation, there was no intention to create a long-lived addition to the constellation of energy organisations in Scotland or indeed the UK.  

If there was a single event which created the SCCS tipping point, it was a train journey in 2004. That was after a meeting of the Industry and Power Association of central Scotland (mainly populated by thermal engineers associated with (Doosan) Babcock, experienced in building excellent coal-fuelled power plants). On that day, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Prof. Adrian Todd of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) and myself  shared a railway carriage table.  

Adrian had a long-standing interest in CO₂ disposal by use in Enhanced Oil Recovery. And for several years I had co-operated with Prof. Patrick Corbett (HWU) in MSc teaching. But it was not until we discovered each other attending the prototypes meeting at the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) in the Department of Energy in London that we realised that we and the two universities had overlapping and common aims. 

At this time, the Scottish Higher Education and Funding Council (SHEFC) created a strand of funding to encourage novel co-operations between disciplines and between universities throughout Scotland. That was based on a premise that Scotland hosted many talented individuals researching in energy, but that the critical mass was dispersed and unable to compete with larger UK universities, and especially international research institutes. So why could Scottish Universities not share, and “pool” their resources?   

There were (and still are) many good reasons why universities compete, not collaborate. In spite of that, the research application was drafted and, after several reviews and conversations, the concept of SCCS was born. The focus was to combine our expertise from the engineered thermal power sector, together with oil and gas knowledge, and an understanding of the disciplinary types of work needed to create Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Also, our belief that Scotland — with one gas-fired power plant seeking lifetime extension, and two operating coal-fuelled power plants (one the largest in the UK, the other the least efficient): Peterhead. Longannet and Cockenzie respectively — should have customers locally. Additionally, with a wealth of subsea geological information, we should be able to convince operating companies to be interested in local research. That produced the world’s first Professor of CCS — but not an operating project. 

And indeed, that turned out much better than expected. SCCS created and led the first fully integrated public plan of a CCS project with the help and management of BGS’ Dr. Martin Smith and soon after, Dr. Maxine Akhurst. That became the CASSEM project, which compared central Scotland with the east coast Bunter sandstone. We then went on to work with about 20 different oil companies and engineering providers to examine the CO₂ storage potential offshore of Scotland, and followed on with further investigations of storage around the UK.  SCCS also pioneered, with Prof. Eric Mackay (HWU), the effects of dynamic trapping calculations of CO₂ storage — rather than static pore volumes. And, with Prof. Chris McDermott (UoE), the CO₂ MultiStore Joint Industry Project investigated pressure interference effects of injecting CO₂ into adjacent reservoirs. At the same time of course, the process engineers led by Prof. Stefano Brandani (UoE) were seeking more effective solvents for CO₂ separation, designing efficient pressure swing absorbers and starting the first experimentations with Direct Air Capture.  

Several years on, SCCS has consolidated on those topics and driven new investigations in the economic and public aspects of CCS. Through participation in several cycles of European major project collaborations, SCCS has also gained reputation and respect globally. As well as persistently advocating for and explaining CCS and CC(U)S to generations of political leaders and interested publics, a crucial role has been the continued training of PhD researchers, and multiple postdoctoral and early career researchers. The world’s first MSc training in CCS was also launched at UoE, which gradually formed a foundation for the world-leading free Climate Change Course, that has reached over 45,000 learners (and counting) globally. 

And to the future — never easy to predict, there is clearly the imminent startup of real industrial CCS projects of capture to injection at Teesside and Merseyside, to be followed by Scotland and Humberside (at least). From which plenty of questions will undoubtedly emerge.  The role of hydrogen is also not yet clear in relation to renewables, in terms of providing low-cost and continuous energy. 

And the advantages of bio-CO₂ in atmospheric removal, and challenges of economic utilisation for CO₂, and solving the fundamental commercial problem of how to make CCS into the new ‘business as usual’. Although the world started CCS at least 50 years too late, SCCS has done — and will try to continue doing — more than its fair share.