“VUT hosted Dr Lord Ugwu for a presentation on decarbonisation through CCUS, hydrogen integration, and Africa’s clean energy strategy, highlighting VUT’s role in driving sustainable solutions.”
08 September 2025 | Story By: Qhawekazi Memani | Picture: Peter Masela
3 minutes read time.
The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) hosted an insightful presentation titled “Decarbonisation Through Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS): Engineering Pathways, Hydrogen Integration and Africa’s Clean Energy Strategy” by Dr Lord Ugwu on Friday, 5 September 2025, at the VUT main campus auditorium in Vanderbijlpark.
This event followed VUT’s successful launch of the Green Hydrogen Centre of Excellence on Thursday 04 September 2025, during which the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Professor Khaled Abou-El-Hossein, invited Dr Ugwu to deepen the dialogue on hydrogen’s pivotal role in shaping South Africa’s energy future.
The presentation drew a diverse audience, including staff from VUT’s Faculty of Engineering, the Acting Dean, Dr Nolutho Mkhumbeni and team from the Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences, PhD candidates in Engineering, and laboratory assistants.
Dr Ugwu began by addressing the world’s continued dependency on fossil fuels, which intensifies greenhouse gas accumulation, global warming, and rising global temperatures. He emphasised the urgent need for nations such as South Africa to reassess and redirect their energy strategies towards sustainable and clean alternatives. The discussion covered the various types of hydrogen: grey, blue and green, each with distinct potentials and challenges. He underlined that the long-term goal is a clean hydrogen economy, with green hydrogen offering the most sustainable solution. He detailed methods of hydrogen production, catalytic applications, and integration into industries including transport, chemicals, fertilisers, glass manufacturing, and food and beverages.
Providing a comprehensive overview of CCUS technologies, Dr Ugwu outlined approaches ranging from post-combustion chemical absorption using amine-based solvents to advanced methods such as solid material adsorption, membrane separation, cryogenic separation, and direct air capture. He explained how these technologies capture CO₂ from flue gases, allowing for conditioning, compression, and transport, often via specialised shipping.
Highlighting utilisation pathways, Dr Ugwu explained how captured CO₂ can be repurposed for methanol and synthetic fuel production, urea fertilisers, polymers, mineralisation, and algae cultivation. He noted Africa’s unique potential to lead in clean energy innovations, drawing on its abundant sunshine and natural resources.
Drawing lessons from Canada, recognised as a leader in CCUS and hydrogen integration, Dr Ugwu illustrated how South Africa could adopt similar models in industrial hubs such as Sasol Secunda and Durban Petra. He stressed the importance of supportive policies, fiscal incentives, and carbon pricing frameworks to accelerate adoption of these technologies.
Commending VUT for its bold vision, Dr Ugwu applauded the university’s proactive steps towards becoming a centre of excellence for CCUS and hydrogen research, including ongoing doctoral projects focused on CO₂ capture. This positions VUT as a significant contributor to South Africa’s green economy transition.
In his closing remarks, Professor Khaled emphasised that the clean energy challenge is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring collaboration across faculties. He highlighted that initiatives such as this presentation empower the VUT community to make meaningful contributions to Africa’s clean energy strategy.
The interactive Q&A session revealed keen interest from academics, students, and industry stakeholders, sparking conversations on future collaborations and strategies to address regional pollution challenges.
As Dr Ugwu concluded, Africa stands poised to make significant strides towards a brighter, cleaner future, and VUT is ready to play a pivotal role in this journey.