IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) and Total signed a strategic R&D partnership that includes an agreement to endow a chair atthe IFP School, on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and technologies to curb CO2 emissions. The roughly €40 millionpartnership covers a period of five years.
The agreement has two parts: a strategic R&D partnership on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) aims to reduce the cost of infrastructure and improve the CCUS chain’s energyefficiency to secure its large-scale deployment. The partnership steps up the long-standing collaboration between Total and IFPEN by marshaling additional resources. The research will focus on fields related to new materials, process scale-up, underground carbon storage in deep saline aquifers, technical and economicfeasibility studies and the quantification of environmental benefits for the entire CCUS chain.
The Carbon Management and Negative CO2 Emissions Technologies to Net-Zero Carbon Future Chair will help train a new generation of international researchers and experts who willdevelop technologies to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Overseen by a scientific committee comprised of world-renowned, independent experts, the chair will bring together seven doctoraland five post-doctoral researchers for five years.
Following the signature of the agreement, Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total, stated: “We are delighted to accelerate the R&D partnership between Total and IFPEN. Wewant to pool our innovation capabilities to reduce the cost of CCUS technologies and improve their efficiency — both of whichare necessary for large-scale deployment. Total wants to help make the planet carbon neutral and boost the competitiveness of an industrial-scale CCUS sector.”
“IFPEN – Didier Houssin, Chairman and CEO of IFPEN, commented – has been actively researching carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies for nearly 20 years. Ourstrengthened partnership with Total will allow us to combine ourteams’ skills and know-how with Total’s and thus to accelerate the deployment of CCUS technologies, which are a key solution for drastically cutting CO2 emissions.”
According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) SustainableDevelopment Scenario, which corresponds to a less than 2°C rise in the global average temperature, it will be necessary to captureand store 6 billion tons of carbon by 2050. This will requiredeveloping viable, cost-competitive CCUS technologies.
IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) is a major research and training player in the fields of energy, transport and the environment. Total is a major energy player that produces and markets fuels, naturalgas and low-carbon electricity.
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