The international research group, known also as CERC-ACTC, is made up of US and Chinese universities, research organisations and industrial partners to advance coal utilisation and carbon capture, utilisation and storage processes.

As the world’s two largest producers and consumers of coal, both countries are seeking to work together to improve the sector’s environmental performance and efficiencies.

As a member-at-large, school environmental engineering science Professor Richard Axelbaum will be evaluating staged oxy-fuel combustion for carbon dioxide capture from coal-fired power plants.

Axelbaum said Washington University was honoured to be invited into the consortium and was looking forward to the work ahead.

Other research CERC-ACTC is working on includes advanced power generation; clean coal conversion technologies; pre and post-combustion capture; CO2 utilisation; CO2 sequestration, simulation and assessment; and communication and integration.

The US Advanced Coal Technology Consortium is led by West Virginia University environmental and natural resource economics Professor Jerald Fletcher.

The China consortium is led by Huazhong University of Science and Technology Professor Zheng Chuguang.

The group was first launched in November 2009 by US President Barack Obama and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao, who provided a five-year, $150 million commitment that brought the two countries together to keep building on three decades of work.

US Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Chinese Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang lead the CERC’s oversight steering committee.