Call 1 – Cross-cutting issues

This project will produce and disseminate the first design and operating guidelines for the flexible operation of CCS pipeline networks. The research will explore how CCS pipeline networks can react effectively to short, medium and long term variations in the availability and flow of CO₂ from capture plants, as well as responding to the constraints imposed on the system by the ability (or otherwise) of CO₂ storage facilities to accept variable flow. The work will develop relevant scenarios for modelling the likely variability of CO₂ flow in a CCS pipeline network, develop hydraulic models of CO₂ behaviour, engage stakeholders in the process through practitioner workshops, and deliver guidelines to the industry and other interested stakeholders.

The first Flexible CCS Network Development (FleCCSnet) workshop was held on the 30 April 2014 at the University of Edinburgh, UK. It was the first of two workshops aimed to bring together leading industrialists and academic experts to discuss future scenarios of flexible CCS networks. Read the blog here

Meeting notes and a summary of scenarios have been produced from the first workshop.

The second FleCCSNet workshop was held at Newcastle University on the 18 May 2015. The theme of the workshop was “Investigating transient pipeline operation issues” and further details are available here. A blog on the event is here.

Project research completed at the end of August 2015 and its final report was submitted early February 2016. The final blog can be read here (or below). The guidelines are planned to be completed and published at the end of 2016.

Project Outputs

• Developing CO₂ networks: Key lessons learnt from the first Flexible CCS Network Development (FleCCSnet) project workshop. Report from the first Flexible CCS Network Development (FleCCSnet) project workshop, Edinburgh, 30 April 2014
• Enhanced operating flexibility and optimised off-design operation of coal plants with post-combustion capture. Paper presented at GHGT-12, Oct 2014 and published in Energy Procedia 63
• Flexibility Issues in CCS Networks: Initial Findings from the Fleccsnet Project. Project update presented by Hamed Aghajani, Newcastle University, at the UKCCSRC Cranfield Biannual Meeting, 22 April 2015
• Operational flexibility options in power plants with integrated post-combustion capture. Paper published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, in print Jan 2016, online 12 February 2016

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-40
Project fund amount: £221,000
Project date: Oct 2013 to Aug 2015
Lead institution: Newcastle University
Principal investigator(s): B. Wetenhall
Co-Investigator(s): M. LucquiaudM. NaylorJ.M. Race
Category: CCI/Whole System
Primary research theme: Whole system modelling

This project will develop and experimentally validate a heterogeneous flow model for predicting the transient depressurisation and outflow following the puncture of dense phase CO₂ pipelines containing typical impurities. Such data is expected to serve as the source term for the quantitative consequence failure assessment of CO₂ pipelines including near field and far field dispersion, fracture propagation and blowdown.

Project Outputs

• Multiphase flow modelling for hazard assessment of dense phase CO₂ pipelines containing impurities. Project update presented by Solomon Brown, University College London, at the UKCCSRC Cranfield Biannual Meeting, 22/04/2015.
• A geometrically based grid refinement technique for multiphase flows, Computers & Chemical Engineering, November 2015
• Simulation of two-phase flow through ducts with discontinuous cross-section. Computers & Fluids, October 2015
• Modelling the non-equilibrium two-phase flow during depressurisation of CO₂ pipelines. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, November 2014
• Modelling heat transfer in flashing CO₂ fluid upon rapid decompression in pipelines.Proceedings of 8th International Conference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Multiphase and Complex Flow. October 2014
• A coupled two-phase flow model for predicting the flashing of liquid CO₂ during pipeline decompression. Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium On Turbulence, Heat and Mass Transfer, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, September, 2015

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-07
Project fund amount: £115,000
Project date: May 2013 to Sep 2014
Lead institution: University College London
Principal investigator(s): H. Mahgerefteh
Category: CCI/Transport
Primary research theme: CO₂ Transport

This project will determine the dew point of water, or “water solubility”, in impure CO₂ mixtures (e.g. containing N₂ and H₂). At present, key data for defining water levels have not been determined. The data are important because liquid water is highly acidic in the presence of excess CO₂; this acidity can be increased by trace amounts of SO2 and H₂S and acidity will greatly accelerate corrosion. This research will provide the first accurate data for CO₂ transportation systems, which can be used to develop accurate equations of state and define more robust pipeline specifications. These in turn can be applied to inform cost benefit analyses on the additional costs on the pipeline material and construction balanced against the cost of purification and the needs of safety. The research will provide critical physical property data to enable the safe and cost effective transportation of CO₂.

Project Outputs

• Determination of Water Solubility in CO₂ Mixtures. Project update presented by Stephanie Foltran, University of Nottingham, at the UKCCSRC Cranfield Biannual Meeting, 22/04/2015.
• Determination of water solubility limits in CO₂ mixtures: Ensuring the safety of CO₂ transport. Project update presented by Stephanie Foltran, University of Nottingham, at the UKCCSRC Cambridge Biannual Meeting, April 2014
• A synthetic-dynamic method for water solubility measurements in high pressure CO₂ using ATR–FTIR spectroscopy, Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, February 2016
• Understanding the Solubility of Water in Carbon Capture and Storage Mixtures: An FTIR Spectroscopic Study of H₂O + CO₂ + N₂ Ternary Mixtures, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, April 2015

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-21
Project fund amount: £100,000
Project date: Dec 2013 to Dec 2014
Lead institution: University of Nottingham
Principal investigator(s): M.W. George
Category: CCI/Measurement
Primary research theme: CO₂ Properties

This project will tackle one of the key technical challenges facing the development of commercially viable CO₂ transport networks: modelling the phase behaviour of impure carbon dioxide, under the conditions typically found in carbon capture from power stations, and in high-pressure (liquid phase) and low-pressure (gas phase) pipelines. Models for phase behaviour are known as equations of state (EoS). EoS vary in their mathematical form, accuracy, region of validity and computational complexity. Because different applications have different requirements, there is no single EoS that is ideal for all applications. This project will use cutting-edge computer algorithms to automatically reparameterise EoS for CCS modelling. This flexible technique will allow a user to specify their requirements and re-derive model parameters matched to their needs. Our algorithms will directly produce functional forms for EoS from experimental data, thus fully automating the derivation of EoS. This will enable users to rapidly produce bespoke EoS that are tailored to their particular application, and will enable these models to continually evolve as new measurements become available, ensuring that experimental advances are rapidly converted into improved CCS modelling and, ultimately, better performance and efficiency of real CCS processes.

Project Outputs

• Understanding and predicting CO₂ properties. Project update presented by Richard Graham, University of Nottingham, at the UKCCSRC Cranfield Biannual Meeting, 22/04/2015.
• A new equation of state for CCS pipeline transport: Calibration of mixing rules for binary mixtures of CO₂ with N₂, O2 and H₂, The Journal of Chemical Thermondynamics, volume 93, p294-304, T. Demetriades, R. Graham

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-22
Project fund amount: £93,000
Project date: Apr 2013 to May 2014
Lead institution: University of Nottingham
Principal investigator(s): R.S. Graham
Category: CCI/Measurement
Primary research theme: CO₂ Properties

A key element of risk assessment for the geological storage of CO₂ offshore is the monitoring of transport of leaks from the subsurface via shallow sediments in the marine environment, including its effect on the ecosystem. In 2012, the NERC-funded QICS project constructed the first marine in situ controlled sub-seabed release facility for CO₂ in the world in Ardmucknish Bay, Oban when 4.2 tonnes of CO₂ was injected. There is significant international interest in this unique facility and the project provides an opportunity for the UK to consolidate its leadership in environmental monitoring and impact studies for CCS. This scoping project will explore the viability and potential scientific goals for a follow on project, with the capability of delivering useful knowledge at the start of the UK CCS commercialisation program.

Main project funder category: UKCCSRC – Call 1
Funder name: UKCCSRC
Grant number: UKCCSRC-C1-31
Project fund amount: £58,000
Project date: Jan 2013 to Jul 2013
Lead institution: University of Edinburgh
Principal investigator(s): M. Naylor
Category: CCI/Environment
Primary research theme: CO₂ leakage environmental impacts: sea and land monitoring