Most of the UK's electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels, mainly natural gas (42% in 2016) and coal (9% in 2016). A very small amount is produced from other fuels (3.1% in 2016). Renewable technologies use natural energy to make electricity (eg; wind, wave, marine, hydro, biomass and solar) and it made up 24.5% of electricity generated in 2016. Despite promising advances made in the renewable energy sector, the UK is considerably lagging behind the carbon emission reduction targets.

Above data clearly show that decarbonisation of our gas network would lead to significant reduction of current carbon emission levels. Methane cracking allows enrichment of natural gas with hydrogen, a carbon free fuel. In this context, further development and early deployment of methane cracking technology has become an urgent priority.

This project would 1) study established catalysts and new catalysts formulations to enrich natural gas at a conversion rate of 50% and beyond, 2) develop methods to efficiently remove value added by-products at scale, 3) building on from current techno-economic analysis, develop further economic models and regulatory scenarios by integrating renewable electricity (in close collaboration with offshore renewable energy Catapult, economists and PhD students attached School of Business and Economics), 4) in collaboration of external stake-holders (such as offshore renewable energy Catapult and industry), opportunities for early deployment of the methane cracking technology will be investigated.