• Energy Research
• Open Access close
• Embargo close
• 13. Climate action close
• 6. Clean water close
• Energy Procedia close

Abstract The Sleipner CO 2 injection project was the world's first industrial offshore CO 2 Capture and Storage (CCS) project with more than 16 Mt CO 2 injected since 1996. Key monitoring insights from Sleipner are the dual interpretation of seismic and gravimetric monitoring surveys to quantify the free CO 2 mass changes and plume geometry development as a function of time. The learnings from Sleipner have contributed to making guidelines for monitoring future CCS injection projects, showing that selection of monitoring technology and the timing and extent of monitoring surveys should be case specific and risk based, while also taking into account the long term nature of CCS projects.

AbstractThe Controlled Freeze Zone™ technology removes CO2 and H2S from natural gas in a single step cryogenic distillation process. Removal and management of acid gas impurities from natural gas pose significant challenges in developing sour gas fields. In many cases CFZ™ is capable of processing sour gases with a wide range of CO2 and H2S compositions at a lower cost than conventional technologies. The acidic components are removed as a high pressure liquid that can be injected into reservoirs for geosequestration or, when of suitable composition, to improve oil recovery. In either case, sulfur production from H2S and release of CO2 to the atmosphere can be eliminated.CFZ™ technology was successfully demonstrated through earlier pilot plant operations. Currently, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company is advancing CFZ™ to large scale commercial readiness through a commercial demonstration plant in Wyoming, USA. By building the commercial demonstration plant at ExxonMobil’s world-class Shute Creek gas treating and acid gas injection facility, integration of CFZ™ with acid gas injection, will also be demonstrated when the unit is operated in 2010–2011.

Abstract The impact of CO 2 leakage from underground storage formations on shallow water resources is a concerning aspect in CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) risk assessment. In Campo de Calatrava region (Spain), natural CO 2 fluxes from the Earth’s mantle interact with shallow aquifers, resulting in significant changes in their physical and chemical properties. The resultant water is slightly acidic (pH 5.9-6.4), oxidizing, and enriched in iron (up to 6.1×10 -4 mol·L -1 ) and other metals usually found at trace concentrations. Thermodynamic calculations reveal that aqueous Fe(III) carbonate complexes play an important role in the persistence of this high concentration of iron and trace metals in solution.

AbstractMany countries foresee the ability of offshore geologic settings to meet anticipated long-term national CO2 storage needs. Although the costs of operating offshore are significant, they may be offset by reduced issues of risk, property ownership and long-term liability. Continued interest in offshore CCS (e.g., EU, Australia, Japan, and U.S.A.) has focused on aspects familiar to onshore work: storage capacity, risk, monitoring, and containment assurance. Over the last decade, the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology conducted numerous studies of storage potential along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Much of the work focused on regional geologic characterization, capacity assessment, and identification of potential risks and migration pathways. In general, capacity estimates indicate that the offshore storage resource has been under- appreciated as a national resource in the United States, but is receiving more attention. Current research efforts focus on the offshore northwestern GOM where the bulk of potential storage capacity resides. The work has also focused attention on the significant role of regional structural compartmentalization on storage capacity, pressure evolution, potential migration pathways, and long-term containment.

Abstract The need to increase energy system flexibility, alongside the need to lower fossil fuel use in the food sector, and the importance of refrigeration infrastructure presents an opportunity for Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) integrated with refrigerated warehouses. To quantify this opportunity in Europe we analyse energy scenarios and existing refrigeration infrastructure for four countries with diverse energy systems (UK, Spain, Bulgaria and Germany). We find that with growing levels of electricity generation from variable renewable sources and numerous refrigerated warehouses, LAES has the potential to provide value in many areas of the EU through the 2020s. However, LAES is still pre-commercial, and with the proportion of electricity from variable renewable sources still low in many countries it is likely that LAES will not be deployed widely alongside refrigerated warehouses under current market conditions. Countries such as the UK and Spain, which have the greatest need for additional energy system flexibility and the most refrigerated warehouses are likely to gain the most value initially.

Abstract This study investigates the viability of novel green solvents for carbon capture. Three different types of amine based deep eutectic solvents were synthesized at three different molar ratio. The selected amines represent the primary (monoethanolamine), secondary (diethanolamine) and tertiary (methyldiethanolamine) amines, respectively. The CO 2 absorption was conducted with a solvent screening set-up (SSS) and the CO 2 loading was measured with an ‘Elementar’ total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer. Thereafter, FTIR of the samples was conducted in order to determine the qualitative analysis for tracking the appearance, disappearance and stability of different functional groups (400-1600 cm-1). The solubility experiments were performed based on the conditions of the absorber in the post-combustion capture process (P CO2 = 15kPa and T = 40 o C). Results revealed that amine-based DESs have absorption capacity that is much higher than both 30wt% aqueous amine solutions and conventional DESs. The FTIR broadening of the O–H and N–H stretching of MEA and ChCl individual components, indicates the formation of hydrogen bonds between the two of them in the ChCl-MEA 1:6 before CO2 absorption.

Abstract Manufacturing firms’ ability to innovate and improve their energy efficiency (EE) is a key element in reducing emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and attain international objectives of climate change mitigation. Despite an urgent need for more knowledge drivers for EE in manufacturing firms, there is still little research on the topic. Taking departure in the EE and environmental innovation literature we analyse the role of motivational factors and firm characteristics (education, R&D and cooperation strategies) as drivers for EE. Employing a logit model on a panel data from the Norwegian Community Innovation Survey (CIS) on manufacturing firms for the period 2010–2014, we examine how the drivers impact companies’ investments in EE. Our empirical results show that the level of education and cooperation with competitors as well as universities and research institutions have a positive effect on investments on EE. The size of the company is also positively related to EE. We did however not find support for the hypothesis that R&D are positively related to EE investments.

AbstractIn this paper we report the result of research associated with the testing of a procedures necessary for utilizing natural occurring trace elements, specifically the Rare Earth Elements (REE) as geochemical tracers in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) applications. Trace elements, particularly REE may be well suited to serve as in situ tracers for monitoring geochemical conditions and the migration of CO2-charged waters within CCS storage systems. We have been conducting studies to determine the efficacy of using REE as a tracer and characterization tool in the laboratory, at a CCS analogue site in Soda Springs, Idaho, and at a proposed CCS reservoir at the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming. Results from field and laboratory studies have been encouraging and show that REE may be an effective tracer in CCS systems and overlying aquifers. In recent years, a series of studies using REE as a natural groundwater tracer have been conducted successfully at various locations around the globe. Additionally, REE and other trace elements have been successfully used as in situ tracers to describe the evolution of deep sedimentary Basins. Our goal has been to establish naturally occurring REE as a useful monitoring measuring and verification (MMV) tool in CCS research because formation brine chemistry will be particularly sensitive to changes in local equilibrium caused by the addition of large volumes of CO2. Because brine within CCS target formations will have been in chemical equilibrium with the host rocks for millions of years, the addition of large volumes of CO2 will cause reactions in the formation that will drive changes to the brine chemistry due to the pH change caused by the formation of carbonic acid. This CO2 driven change in formation fluid chemistry will have a major impact on water rock reaction equilibrium in the formation, which will impart a change in the REE fingerprint of the brine that can measured and be used to monitor in situ reservoir conditions. Our research has shown that the REE signature imparted to the formation fluid by the introduction of CO2 to the formation, can be measured and tracked as part of an MMV program. Additionally, this REE fingerprint may serve as an ideal tracer for fluid migration, both within the CCS target formation, and should formation fluids migrate into overlying aquifers. However application of REE and other trace elements to CCS system is complicated by the high salt content of the brines contained within the target formations. In the United States by regulation, in order for a geologic reservoir to be considered suitable for carbon storage, it must contain formation brine with total dissolved solids (TDS) > 10,000ppm, and in most cases formation brines have TDS well in excess of that threshold. The high salinity of these brines creates analytical problems for elemental analysis, including element interference with trace metals in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) (i.e. element mass overlap due to oxide or plasma phenomenon). Additionally, instruments like the ICP-MS that are sensitive enough to measure trace elements down to the parts per trillion level are quickly oversaturated when water TDS exceeds much more than 1,000ppm. Normally this problem is dealt with through dilution of the sample, bringing the water chemistry into the instruments working range. However, dilution is not an option when analyzing these formation brines for trace metals, because trace elements, specifically the REE, which occur in aqueous solutions at the parts per trillion levels. Any dilution of the sample would make REE detection impossible. Therefore, the ability to use trace metals as in situ natural tracers in high TDS brines environments requires the development of methods for pre-concentrating trace elements, while reducing the salinity and associated elemental interference such that the brines can be routinely analyzed by standard ICP-MS methods. As part of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Project the INL-CAES has developed a rapid, easy to use process that pre-concentrates trace metals, including REE, up to 100x while eliminating interfering ions (e.g. Ba, Cl). The process is straightforward, inexpensive, and requires little infrastructure, using only a single chromatography column with inexpensive, reusable, commercially available resins and wash chemicals. The procedure has been tested with synthetic brines (215,000ppm or less TDS) and field water samples (up to 5,000ppm TDS). Testing has produced data of high quality with REE capture efficiency exceeding 95%, while reducing interfering elements by > 99%.