The Centre has been set up under the leadership of Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, who holds the Robert M Buchan Chair in Sustainable Energy Engineering at the University. She heads a team drawn from across the globe, spanning disciplines from chemistry and environmental science to chemical engineering and petroleum engineering.
The CICCS team has facilities to accommodate a team of 15 researchers. Research projects under way include looking at ways to make carbon capture cost efficient for the largest producers of carbon dioxide, in particular power plants and heavy industry and, at the other end of the cycle, understanding the fate of the long-term storage of carbon dioxide in geological formations under the seabed.
Prof Mercedes Maroto-Valer said, “Our new facilities have been made possible through the generous donation of our Chancellor, Dr Robert Buchan. These laboratories will be key to delivering our existing research programmes worth £3million. We also look forward to the opportunities that these new facilities will undoubtedly bring to further strengthen the leading position for Heriot-Watt in energy research.”
The Centre expects to contribute internationally relevant research, particularly focussing on rising economies such as Brazil, India and China. There were already plans to begin research exchanges with China, she noted.
To mark the opening of the Centre, doctorate students at Heriot-Watt were invited to present posters about particular aspects of their research relating to the work of the laboratories.
Heriot-Watt University is one of the three partners in Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage (SCCS), a research partnership which also includes the British Geological Survey and the University of Edinburgh. Prof Mercedes Maroto-Valer is on the SCCS Directorate.