FLEXIS wins EPSRC funding for CDT in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems, hosted at The Gas Turbine Research Centre

The EPSRC has today announced funding for a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems, creating a unique capability to carry out research in energy-intensive applications over the next eight years. Industry partner, GE Power, states that the CDT is “an area of research which is critical to ensuring carbon reduction targets are met within the UK.”

Cardiff University’s arm of the new CDT will be based at The Gas Turbine Research Centre (GTRC), an off-site, large-scale facility undertaking world-leading research into new gas turbine combustion systems and fuels.

 
The collaboration between the Universities of Nottingham, Cardiff and Sheffield will investigate re-purposing and re-using existing energy infrastructure to deliver rapid and cost-effective decarbonisation across the following four themes:

• Allowing the re-use and development of existing processes to generate energy and co-products from low-carbon biomass and waste fuels, and to maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits for the UK from this transition.
• Decreasing CO₂ emissions from industrial processes by implementation of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), integrating with heat networks where appropriate.
• Assessing options for the decarbonisation of natural gas users (as fuel or feedstock) in the power generation, industry and domestic heating system through a combination of hydrogen enhancement and/or CO₂ Also critical in this theme is the development of technologies that enables the sustainable supply of carbon-lean H₂ and the adoption of H₂ or H₂ enriched fuel/feedstock in various applications within these sectors.
• Automating existing electricity, gas and other vector infrastructure (including existing and new methods of energy storage) based on advanced control technologies, data-mining and development of novel instrumentation, ensuring a smarter, more flexible energy system at lower cost. This allows flexible operation to support a system with lots of variable renewable generation.

The next stage of the process will be to crystallise research projects to start in October 2019 or February 2020.

Applications are now open through the Centre for Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems website.