Small items of research equipment at Durham University

水、食物和能源是人类在地球上生存的基本需求。随着全球人口的增长，对这些资源的需求不断增加，随着国家的发展，对能源的需求也在扩大。世界已经变得依赖化石燃料，能源密集型材料，如煤，石油和天然气。不仅从长期来看，继续使用这些材料是不可持续的，而且其使用的后果在气候变化和其他污染方面可能是毁灭性的。维持现状不是一种选择。为了解决能源和可持续发展的复杂领域的研究，需要跨学科的项目，汇集在个别技术和应用领域的领先专家。由于这是一个快速增长的领域，这是一个自然的空间，年轻的，早期的职业研究人员发光，促进这些早期职业研究人员的一种方式是把他们聚集在一起，分享新设备，使新方法的培训和发展他们的研究设备基地。我们将利用EPSRC小型设备提案提供的资金创建能源和可持续发展小型设备基金（SEFES）。达勒姆大学，特别是达勒姆能源研究所（DEI）在这些国家重要领域的研究提供了可持续的社会技术解决方案，包括化石燃料等不可再生资源的最佳清洁利用，包括碳捕获和储存，可持续能源材料的开发（例如，基于地球丰富的矿物质的太阳能电池）、新型富油作物的设计以及用于生物能源生产的新藻类菌株。为了合理地重新布线生物质和石油生产的生物网络，我们的研究开发系统的方法，结合实验测量与计算分析。协调能源供应与需求也是我们智能电网研究的一个关键领域。在非常规和常规烃领域，使用于能源和化学原料的回收烃的产率最大化的研究都在增长。非常规烃是存在于基质中的油/气资源，其难以从中提取或可能具有低产率。因此，这些资源以前被忽视，因为风险太大或不经济，包括页岩油，重油，页岩气，致密气等。页岩气导致美国满足国内需求，潜在的出口盈余。然而，所采用的某些技术，例如水力压裂法一直存在争议，导致某些国家暂停和禁止。达勒姆大学目前正在领导研究，以建立该部门的安全工作实践。在获得“研究设备的小项目”赠款后，可访问的仪器将使达勒姆大学和达勒姆能源研究所能够加速这些关键领域的工作，由早期职业研究人员提供，并提供能力，以提高我们已经热衷于通过我们的多学科能源博士培训中心培养下一代研究人员。

Water, food and energy are the basic requirements for humankind's existence on planet Earth. As the global population grows there is an ever-increasing demand for these resources and, as nations develop, the demand on energy is magnified. The world has become dependent upon fossil fuels, energy dense materials such as coal, oil and gas. Not only is their continued use unsustainable in the long term but the consequences of their use potentially devastating in terms of climate change and other pollution. Maintaining the status quo is not an option. To address research in the complex fields of energy and sustainability, cross-discipline projects are required that bring together leading specialists in individual technology and application areas. As this is a rapidly growing field, it is a natural space for young, early career researchers to shine, and one way of facilitating these early careers researchers is to bring them together to share new equipment, to enable training in new methods and to grow their research equipment base. We will use the funding provided by this EPSRC small equipment proposal to create a Small Equipment Fund for Energy and Sustainability (SEFES). Research at Durham University, and especially the Durham Energy Institute (DEI), in these areas of national importance delivers sustainable socio-technological solutions including optimum, clean use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, including carbon capture and storage, development of sustainable materials for energy (e.g. solar-cells based upon Earth-abundant minerals), the design of novel oil rich crops, and new algal strains for bioenergy production. In order to rationally rewire biological networks for biomass and oil production, our research develops systems approaches, combining experimental measurements with computational analysis. Harmonising energy supply to demand is also a key area of our research on smart (electricity) grids. Research into maximising the yield of recovered hydrocarbons for energy and chemical feedstocks has grown in both unconventional and conventional hydrocarbon sectors. Unconventional hydrocarbons are oil/gas resources present in matrixes that are challenging to extract from, or may have low yields. As such, these sources have previously been overlooked as too risky, or uneconomic, and include shale oil, heavy oil, shale gas, tight gas etc. Shale gas has resulted in the US meeting domestic use, with potential surplus for export. However, certain of the technologies employed, for example hydraulic fracturing have been controversial, resulting in moratoriums and bans in certain countries. Durham University is presently leading research to establish safe working practices for the sector. The instrumentation accessible following the award of the 'Small Items of Research Equipment' grant will enable Durham University, and the Durham Energy Institute, to accelerate is work in these key areas, delivered by early career researchers, as well as provide the capability to enhance our already keen focus on developing the next generation of researchers through our multi-disciplinary Energy Doctoral Training Centre.