The UK is building a national hub to coordinate research on capturing carbon dioxide from power plants and factories and storing it underground. This matters because the UK has legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered essential for reaching them—yet the technology is not yet deployed at scale. The centre will tackle unresolved questions about how CO₂ behaves in underground reservoirs, develop cheaper capture methods, and model how CCS would fit into the UK’s energy system alongside renewable power, hydrogen production, and negative-emissions technologies like bioenergy with CCS. If the research succeeds, it could accelerate the rollout of CCS infrastructure—the pipelines, storage sites, and capture equipment that are currently missing from the UK’s energy grid. The centre also coordinates training for early-career researchers and maintains international links with other CCS programmes, raising the UK’s ability to compete for funding and expertise. This is applied, mission-oriented research aimed at solving a specific engineering and geological challenge, not fundamental science.
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The renewed UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC) provides key fundamental research and coordination activities to help the UK to meet future energy targets. Building on the success of the current UKCCSRC, the new centre grant, starting in 2017, supports a whole-systems based research programme and is an inclusive national hub to set CCS research strategies, coordinate research delivery, promote community cohesion, and act as vehicle for industrial and stakeholder involvement. The new Centre is led by the University of Sheffield, with partners the British Geological Survey, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Nottingham and Imperial College and additional investigators from Cardiff University, Cranfield University, University of Manchester, University of Strathclyde and University College London. An experienced Director and Centre Manager are supported by three Deputy Director research leads and the wider co-investigator team. Governance is through a Board appointed by the EPSRC. The Centre operates a Scientific Council to link all UK research activities and an Independent Advisory Panel comprising stakeholders from Government, regulators, industry and trade associations. The CCS Network links together all with an interest in CCS. Comprehensive stakeholder engagement and the whole systems insights from the Centre's research will play a key role in developing the short, medium and long term strategies needed to accelerate the deployment of CCS in the UK. International research links will be extended through collaborations with other world-leading CCS centres, participation in international initiatives (including CSLF, IEAGHG, GCCSI, UNECE) and an Associate Membership programme for leading researchers. The UKCCSRC will lead on coordinating international CCS strategy and activities, raising the UK's profile and ability to compete internationally. Postgraduate training and Early Career Researcher support are delivered in close partnership with the CCS CDT at Nottingham. The new centre also supports data and knowledge transfer and promotes shared facilities. The core research programme has three linked themes: storage, capture and systems. On storage, the recent Oxburgh Report highlighted work on residual storage uncertainties and transfer of long-term liability. Understanding of pressure increase and efficient use of reservoir pore-space are cross-cutting UK research priorities. Research topics include pressure migration and plume migration within storage reservoirs with impacts for geomechanical security, plume stability and site monitorability. The capture theme focuses on next generation CO2 capture technologies and processes including high and low temperature solids-based cycles and links closely to the systems work. Detailed modelling of each process investigated together with results from other work on BECCS (using the PACT facilities), integrated electricity and hydrogen production from natural gas and supercritical CO2 cycles is used to produce data for integration into overall UK systems studies. Work on UK-wide systems includes linking demand for heat and power, energy markets, industrial demand, CO2 transport infrastructure, and CO2 storage and greenhouse gas removal technologies (GGRs, particularly BECCS). The overall objective is to provide inputs into existing UK-wide energy system modelling and Integrated Assessment Models. We also examine 'social license to operate' for fossil-fired CCS as well as BECCS. Building on the core research programme and a supplementary £1.5M flexible funds for open research calls, the Centre will act as a mechanism for the research community to coordinate applications for additional funding for fundamental research from the Research Councils and other sources. The Centre will also support initiatives to take the outputs of research forward in collaboration with applied research funding agencies and industry.
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