WP4 - Development of Solvent Qualification Programme

The main objective of WP4 is to develop and consolidate the LAUNCH solvent qualification protocol using the lab-scale LAUNCH Rig 2 (capturing 25 kg of CO2 per day) and the PACT pilot-scale unit (capturing 1 tonne of CO2 per day).

Work undertaken will benefit from a range of previous studies, but will differ due to an emphasis on acceleration of results in order to support commercially relevant timescales. Our research will allow the necessary range of solvents and countermeasures to be properly assessed.

WP4 is divided into 4 key tasks:

Task 4.1 Qualification of the small-scale LAUNCH rigs approach
Task 4.2 Accelerate degradation
Task 4.3 Control degradation under accelerated conditions
Task 4.4 Recommendations on how to build a generic “LAUNCH rig”

Coordinator profile

Mohamed Pourkashanian, Coordinator of WP4
Coordinator Name: Mohamed Pourkashanian
Coordinator Job Role: Head of University Energy Research Institute, University of Sheffield
Professor M. Pourkashanian is the Head of University Energy Research at the Energy Institute, University of Sheffield, General Secretary of the International Flame Research Foundation (IFRF), and chair of the International Test Centre Network (ITCN). Professor Pourkashanian led the establishment of the Pilot-scale Advanced Capture Technology (PACT) national facilities in 2012 and has been the Executive Director of PACT for the past 6 years. Recently, he has received £21M+ from BEIS and the EU to establish the Translational Energy Research Centre at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. He is a Professor of Energy Engineering and has completed numerous major research projects on clean energy technology and has received a substantial sum of grants from RCUK-EPSRC, EU, NATO and industry. He has published over 466 refereed research papers and has co-authored books on biomass, coal combustion and CCUS technology (h-index 45 - Web of Science). He leads a team of 15 research fellows and 29 PhD students with an active grant of over £27M (2019). He played a leading role in developing the NOx post-processing computer codes and subsequently soot/NOx models that were later employed in the commercial CFD software. He worked as a technical consultant (1994-2000) for BOC Group Technical Centre, USA, on oxyfuel combustion in glass manufacturing. He is a member of numerous international and national scientific bodies including an invited member of the All Party Parliamentary Renewable Transport Fuels Group, member of technical working group for the Department of Energy & Climate Change (CCS Roadmap UK2050) and Expert-Member in EU-GCC Clean Gas Energy Network.

More About the Project

Work Packages

WP0

Management, Dissemination and Exploitation

WP1

Predicting Degradation

WP2

Controlling Degradation

WP3

Closing Degradation Knowledge Gaps

WP4

Development of Solvent Qualification Programme

WP5

Demonstration of Solvent Qualification Programme

WP6

Techno-economic Evaluation

Objectives

The primary objective of the LAUNCH project is to accelerate the implementation of CO2 capture across the energy and industry sectors by developing novel solvents and establishing a fast-track, cost-effective de-risking mechanism to predict and control degradation of capture solvents.

Outcomes

The LAUNCH project will deliver the necessary knowledge and tools to allow CO2 capture plants to operate in a more controlled and cost-efficient way. The project will also provide solvent developers with the tools to assist in designing and validating novel solvents. By avoiding uncontrolled build-up of degradation products, LAUNCH will improve the performance and economics of CO2 capture.

Publications

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