CO2QUEST

Techno-economic Assessment of CO2 Quality Effect on its Storage and Transport

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The CO2QUEST proposal addresses the fundamentally important issues regarding the impact of the typical impurities in the gas or dense phase CO2 stream captured from fossil fuel power plants on its safe and economic transportation and storage. The proposed work programme will focus on the development of state-of-the art mathematical models backed by laboratory and industrial-scale experimentation utilising unique EC funded test facilities to perform a comprehensive techno-economic, risk-based assessment of the impact of the CO2 stream impurities on phase behaviour and chemical reactions, and on pipeline and storage site integrities. The above involves the determination of the important CO2 mixtures that have the most profound impact on the pipeline pressure drop, compressor power requirements, pipeline propensity to ductile and brittle facture propagation, corrosion of the pipeline and wellbore materials, geochemical interactions within the wellbore and storage site, and the ensuing health and environmental hazards. Based on a cost/benefit analysis and whole system approach, the results will in turn be used to provide recommendations for tolerance levels, mixing protocols and control measures for pipeline networks and storage infrastructure. CO2QUEST addresses all the main themes of this Call in several ways. It involves the active participation of key players from the Carbon Capture Sequestration Forum, in particular China (partner), Canada and USA (Strategic Committee Members), and the world’s leading steel producer representing a CO2 intensive industry. CO2QUEST involves the participation of leading academics with directly relevant fundamental and pre-normative research track records. A main focus of attention will be maximising the project’s impact by ensuring that its results are effectively exploited and actively disseminated, in particular, supporting the development of relevant design and operation standards for CCS infrastructure.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Capturing post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plant smokestacks is an important way to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion. An EU-funded project is studying the impact of CO2 stream impurities on the whole capture and storage chain.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology involves CO2 capture from power plants and its transport to geological sites through pipelines. However, the captured CO2 contains various types of impurities, and the cost of their removal prior to pipeline transportation has a major impact on the economic viability of CCS.

Identifying the important CO2 mixtures that have the most profound impact on the different parts of the CCS chain is the aim of the EU-funded project http://www.co2quest.eu/ (CO2QUEST) (Techno-economic assessment of CO2 quality effect on its storage and transport). The project will use state-of-the-art mathematical models and large-scale experiments to achieve its goal. The techno-economic study will focus on the pipeline pressure drop and compressor power requirements, and the pipeline propensity to ductile and brittle fracture propagation and corrosion. In addition, it will include geochemical interactions within the storage site as well as the ensuing health and environmental hazards.

CO2QUEST will conduct a cost-benefit analysis, providing recommendations for CO2 purification levels, mixing protocols and control measures for pipeline networks and storage infrastructure. The analysis should lead to the development of relevant standards for CSS safe design and economic operation.

Project partners have already defined the range and level of impurities expected in CO2 product gas streams from different capture technologies and CO2-intensive industries. Based on a detailed thermodynamic analysis, they have drawn up compression strategies for minimising compressor power requirements.

The researchers have also conducted experiments using the fully instrumented CO2 pipeline test facility constructed in China to validate the pipeline decompression and fracture models. Numerical models have been applied to study CO2 spreading and trapping and the effects of impure gases on storage.

The methods and tools developed in the project should help safeguard against the consequences of CO2 leaks from transportation pipeline networks and geological CO2 storage sites. As such, the ultimate composition of the captured CO2 stream should be governed by safety, environmental and economic considerations.