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CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering

Data and models to optimize maritime CO2 transport and offshore injection

Alternative title: Data og modeller for å optimalisere maritim CO2-transport og utaskjærs injeksjon

Awarded: NOK 8.0 mill.

By 2030, there is a need to develop a system of large-scale, flexible and cost-effective logistics chains enabling collection, transport, injection and safe storage of many millions of tonnes of CO2 per year. This will include CO2 from a variety of sources around the North Sea, all with varying degree of impurity. A potential major cost-saving concept is to transport the CO2 by ship with direct offloading offshore, and injection directly into storage sites under the seabed. CO2FFER will perform fundamental research to support the optimization and further development of such concepts, with focus on the following topics: CO2 ship transport: CO2FFER will (i) Provide new thermodynamic analyses to reduce the need for costly purification and dewatering of CO2 before liquefaction, (ii) Clarify the extent and consequences of dry-ice (solid CO2) formation in transport vessels and loading/offloading equipment, to increase operability and safety at optimal transport conditions. Direct injection from ship: CO2FFER will (i) Perform simulations and experiments on vertical CO2 flow, well integrity and injectivity to draw up a safe operational window for relatively cold-temperature injection (recommend injection temperatures, injection rates, duration of injection pauses and possibly alternative materials/fluids for well construction), (ii) Define reservoir selection criteria that can maximize practical storage capacity and minimize containment integrity problems. The multi-disciplinary project team consists of experts from SINTEF Energy Research, SINTEF Industry and NTNU. New knowledge will be gained through a combined experimental and modelling effort involving three ECCSEL laboratory set-ups and advanced multi-physics numerical models. CO2FFER is a competence building project awarded to complement existing work carried out at the NCCS Centre. All results will be published, and key models are open source.

By 2030, there is a need to develop a system of large-scale, flexible and cost-effective logistics chains enabling collection, transport, injection and safe storage several tens of millions of tonnes of CO2/year. This could be as part of Longship or separately, and it includes handling CO2 from a variety of sources around the North Sea, all with different qualities. A potential major cost-saving concept is to transport the CO2 by ship with direct offloading offshore, heating through exchange with seawater and injection into saline aquifers. CO2FFER will perform fundamental research to support the optimization and further development of the concepts, with focus on the following topics: CO2 ship transport: CO2FFER will (i) Provide new thermodynamic analyses to reduce the need for costly purification and dehydration of CO2 prior to liquefaction. (ii) Clarify the extent and consequences of dry-ice formation in transport vessels and loading/offloading equipment to increase operability and safety at optimal transport conditions close to the CO2 triple point. Direct injection from ship: CO2FFER will (i) Perform simulations and experiments on vertical CO2 flow, well integrity and injectivity to draw up a safe operational window for relatively cold-temperature injection into saline aquifers (recommend injection temperatures, injection rates, duration of injection pauses and possibly alternative materials/fluids for well construction). (ii) Define reservoir selection criteria that can maximize practical storage capacity and minimize containment integrity problems. The multi-disciplinary project team consists of experts from SINTEF Energy Research, SINTEF Industry and NTNU. In addition, external collaboration with LBL in the USA is planned. New knowledge will be gained through a combined experimental and modelling effort involving three ECCSEL laboratory set-ups and advanced multi-physics numerical models. All results will be published, and key models are open source.

Funding scheme:

CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering