I attended the TCCS-9 conference by NCCS – International CCS Research Centre under auspices of NTNU and SINTEF. This conference takes place every two years since 2003 and run for two days in Trondheim. A total of 115 presentations and 10 keynotes were delivered, and topics covered carbon capture, transport, storage and utilization. Cross-cutting issues as power and industry sectors, policies, public acceptance, collaborative projects and CCS status in different locations were also presented.

Initial keynotes gave an overview of objectives within the Paris Agreement and the Norwegian Strategy. CICERO, ZERO SINTEF, Statoil, Gassnova and the Norwegian ministry of Petroleum and Energy commented on the role of CCS in Norway, highlighting the need of CCS as part of the energetic symbiosis. Moreover, views on the development of CCS in USA were given by DOE, who presented few projects as for example the Kemper site. However, behind Norway, USA has not advanced much in CCS applied to the cement industry. Northern Gas Networks commented on the H21 Leeds City Gate project in UK and the speakers agreed on the golden opportunity to play cards right and the ambition not only with regards to 2020 but for 2050. CCS has been proved for more than 20 years and the strategy to achieve a cost-effective solution will be based on Research+ Development+ Demonstration.

First round of research presentations focused on solvents, membranes, CCS in intensive industries and storage projects. I joined the session on new solvents, where few talks were focused on amines and NTNU presented their research on imidazoles. Results on ionic solvents were also showed by Tsinghua University and CSIRO. During the afternoon, pilot and large-scale testing, novel technologies, chemical looping, public acceptance, EOR and shallow monitoring were covered. I attended the session on pilot and large-scale testing, and this session covered multiple technologies, from emerging solvents (precipitating and non-aqueous), to interesting experience in Saskatchewan. A fascinating highlight was given from Colin Campbell on the need of standardized measurements. Additionally, the speech on the issues found during their demonstration was an exciting overview on real problems during implementation. It must also be noted the pilot plant demonstration on membranes for post-combustion, presented by the group of Emerita Professor May-Britt Hagg (NTNU), who received the SINTEF and NTNU CCS Award to recognise her career, emphasising her role in business and the recent exclusive license agreement with Air Product.

The second day opened interesting discussions on the role of CCU on mitigating climate change, presented by Imperial College London. The keynote from Christian Michelsen Research AS highlighted the need of global collaboration, while RITE addressed their talk on their research lines. The following sessions were focused on novel systems, modelling, transport, pre-combustion, CCUS, negative emissions, storage and international R&D. I joined the novel systems and modelling talks, where the flexibility of operations was covered as topic to reach long-term economic solutions on CCS. Moreover, new configurations were presented as strategies to obtain more efficient CCS systems.

I believe that the TCCS-9 was a good opportunity to see recent advances on remarkable international research. Discussions on financial aspects on CCS, how to make it profitable or when it will take place opened interesting debates. The inclusion of CCS within a new energy system instead of considering it as unique technology to achieve the decarbonisation goals was noticeable, although still more work is needed across technical, policy and society areas.

More information about this conference can be found in: https://www.sintef.no/projectweb/tccs-9/