The RCN-CCUS and Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS) partnership, which commenced in 2013 to facilitate educational outreach in the field of CCUS, has continued this year. Founded in 2004, RECS is the premier carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) education and training experience in the U.S. that is helping to prepare a world-class workforce, enhance U.S. competitiveness, nurture career networks and facilitate research opportunities and technology breakthroughs.
The RECS network represents the nation's best-in-class in the CCUS field. Each year, the program accepts 30 graduate students and early career professionals who receive classroom instruction from globally recognized scientists and industry leaders in CCUS as well as embark on various CCUS site visits and hands-on field activities. The intensive 10-day interactive program covers the range of science, technology, policy, and business topics associated with CCUS deployment.
This year, the RECS 2014 program was held in Birmingham, Alabama from June 1-10, 2014. Participants visited several facilities owned and/or operated by Southern Power Company, including Plant Miller, the National Carbon Capture Center, Plant Berry, and Kemper County Energy Facility. They also spent time at the Tuscaloosa Core lab and participated in core matching experiences. Lectures included a variety of topics that ranged from air capture technologies, to integrated CCS with enhanced oil recovery, to CO2 Storage via Carbon Mineralization from Dr. Greeshma Gadikota from the RCN network.
As we did last year, RCN-CCUS continued to provide financial support for RCN-CCUS students to attend RECS. RCN-CCUS faculty also volunteered as instructors this year. The RCN-CCUS sponsored the RECS program with a contribution of $10,000. The students that were nominated from across the RCN and five students were accepted to participate in the RECS 2014 program: Maxim Stonor, Christophe Jospe and Junfeng Wang (Columbia University), Wenying Quan from Pennsylvania State University, and Nicolas Bompard from University of Southampton (UK). Student experiences were enriched by field trips and discussions with subject matter experts.
The detailed 2014 RECS program can be found at www.recsco2.org/program.
