Pioneering decarbonisation

We are leading research with global industry partners across the entire carbon capture and storage chain, to provide innovative solutions to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and meet global energy demands.

Global demand for water, food and energy is predicted to grow by up to 50% to meet the rise of world's population to 8 billion by 2030. New solutions are needed fast for securing water, food and energy supplies. Reducing the amount of harmful CO2 emissions in the earth’s atmosphere remains one of the great scientific challenges of the modern age.

Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer has established an international reputation at the research interface of energy and the environment. She leads a team of 50 researchers in the EPSRC-funded Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) developing novel solutions to meet the worldwide strive for energy, with particular emphasis on clean technologies.

RCCS is developing a whole portfolio of technologies aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions while meeting energy demands. By uniquely combining interdisciplinary expertise and scientific breakthroughs, where science and diverse engineering fields meet, they work to accelerate the technological innovation needed for wider uptake of carbon capture and storage.

One project led by the award-winning scientist is the creation of low carbon, synthetic aviation fuel made from agricultural waste, forest biomass and captured CO2. The project is frontier research which, if successful, could scale up this greener fuel for commercial production, to reduce carbon emissions by 24 per cent by 2050.

Real-world impact

In a project with potentially ground-breaking impact on science and society, the team secured a €3 million European Research Council Advanced Award, one of only 16 awards made across Europe. This has allowed the team progress plans to 3D print porous rocks with incorporated micro sensors - effectively creating ‘smart rocks' which can ‘talk' about what actually goes on deep underground. 

Professor Maroto-Valer is also the UK Champion for Industrial Decarbonisation, leading the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) driving decarbonisation across six industrial clusters. Find out more about the work of IDRIC and the projects it funds on the IDRIC website.