CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is crucial to Europe’s ability to reduce its CO2 emissions across various sectors in order to meet climate targets. However, while the European Trading System (ETS) is a general enabler of the CCS market, the associated regulations specify a need for traceable, measurement-based methodologies in order to quantify the stored CO2. In addition, the EU taxonomy states that less than 0.5% of CO2 can be lost during its transportation from capture to storage in order for CCS to be classified as a sustainable activity.
In short, accurate and traceable fiscal metering of CO2 is required to quantify the value of stored CO2 as well as enable a reliable custody transfer along the CCS value chain, and is therefore essential for validating the CCS business model. Accurate metering is also needed for government control and regulation.
However, several challenges related to flow metering must be addressed in order to efficiently trade CO2 globally. The oil and gas industry already has numerous, coexisting metering techniques, some of which could be promising for CCS but first require pertinent technology validation.
So far, no verification tests have been performed at the relevant flow rates and conditions for full-scale CCS, primarily due to the lack of an independent, traceable test facility for research on and verification of flow meters with liquid CO2. Previous attempts to design such an industrial-scale facility have made it clear that traceable flow metering must be based on a primary reference. A novel primary reference targeting liquid CO₂ flow meter calibration for large flow rates has already been designed within the Norwegian CCS Research Centre (NCCS), but its construction is engineering and economically demanding.
PREFERENCE aims to progress CO2 metrology by experimentally testing a primary reference prototype designed to overcome the challenges of liquid and dense phase CO2 calibration. This primary goal is to be achieved by optimising and experimentally verifying the functionality of a novel primary flow reference prototype, based on combined gravimetric and volumetric proving principles. PREFERENCE will combine experimentation and dynamic modelling that considers the interaction between the fluid dynamics as well as mechanical and control systems to optimise the primary reference design for CO₂ service.
PREFERENCE will educate one PhD candidate, and activate effective collaboration between industry and research partners in order to address identified, pressing knowledge gaps while boosting the value of individual organisations.
A successful project execution will position the Norwegian research base at the forefront of CCS metrology and open economic perspectives for the Norwegian industry and society.
PREFERENCE is a collaborative and knowledge-building project (KSP) associated with the Norwegian CCS Research Centre (NCCS).