Researchers and industry partners convened in Madrid for a two-day CCUS ZEN project meeting under the theme: How to make a CCUS value chain fly? The event focused on accelerating the deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) within the nascent regions of the Greater Baltic Sea, covering Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland; and the Mediterranean Sea, covering Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey.
What’s going on:
We are excited to announce the forthcoming publication of our white paper on the non-technical challenges and opportunities in developing Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) hubs and clusters. This document is an important outcome of the CCUS ZEN project. By delving into the multifaceted aspects beyond the technical realm, we highlight features that are crucial for the success of CCUS initiatives.
The EU will not reach climate neutrality without deploying CCU as a climate-mitigating solution. CCU technologies play a significant role in climate neutrality by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and by providing alternative carbon feedstock to produce essential products and substitute virgin fossil carbon use in several key sectors of our economy. CO2 Value Europe’s recent scenario development and modelling exercise shows that at least 20% of GHG reduction from technologies will come from CCU by 2050.
CCUS ZEN researchers have been working together to produce a unique map of CO2 emission sources, potential transport corridor networks and storage sites that will help guide future CCUS development in Europe.
Leandro Henrique Sousa, Energy Transition Consultant at Ramboll in Copenhagen is coordinating the design of a comprehensive technical and business plan for a vast CCUS network linking Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
Born in Portugal to Goan/Mozambican immigrant parents, Leandro has worked a wide array of jobs throughout his high school and university years, including working in an ambulance and volunteering in a museum.
How did you become interested in CCUS?
By Soyoung Oh
By IOM Law
On May 2nd, CCUS Zen held the first workshop focused on legal and regulatory issues. The presentation focused on international and regional instruments with bearing on CCS operations. It was followed by workshop discussions with a focus on hubs and clusters related issues. The discussion elicited views and concerns, as well as potential steps forward to overcoming barriers. .
Key observations of the workshop presentation
On 23-24 May Alla Shogenova and Kazbulat Shogenov from TalTech (WP3 leader) and Cathrine Ringstad from SINTEF (WP1 leader) participated in the 2nd European Underground Energy Storage Workshop (UESW) in Paris and made three oral and one poster presentation acknowledging the CCUS ZEN project.
Fifty researchers and industrial stakeholders from 25 countries, including EU countries, Norway, UK, Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia and USA, took part in the workshop.
We profile Eirik Falck da Silva, our project coordinator
In our relatively young carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, Eirik Falck da Silva, our project coordinator, can be considered a veteran.
Looking through ads for PhDs back home while working as a research scientist for Mitsubishi Chemicals in Japan, he settled on an opportunity to study carbon capture at his alma mater the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
As part of its mission to accelerate the roll out of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in Europe, CCUS ZEN will this year identify two industrial clusters suitable for deployment of CCUS, one in the Mediterranean and one in the Baltic region.
To meet the challenging targets of the Paris Agreement, global CO2 emissions must be reduced by 50-85 percent by 2050. A large part of the CO2 emissions in Europe comes from industry. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) can play a crucial role in ensuring that energy-intensive industries and the power sector in Europe are able to transition to climate neutrality, and for the EU to be able to deliver on its net-zero commitments.
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