Facilities

The high pressure / high temperature CO₂ flow rig at Edinburgh University has been designed and built in-house. It is a unique apparatus that can recreate in-situ reservoir conditions with multi-phase flow of CO₂ /brine through rock to provide complete parameterisation of the coupled thermo - hydro - mechanical and chemical mechanisms for the CO₂ / brine / rock mineral system. The equipment consists of a Hassler-type high pressure cell which holds cylindrical rock samples of 38mm diameter and up to 75mm in length. The pump is designed for high temperature, pressure and supercritical CO₂ and all wetting parts are in 316 stainless steel or PEEK to limit corrosion.The experimental equipment is rated to provide:

• Up to 10000psi (689 MPa) pressure.
• Up to 90°C fluid and rock temperature.
• Supercritical CO₂ and brine fluid flow (both single and multi-phase).
• Sample upstream and downstream pressure along with the differential pressure.
• Scope to add tracers (or other markers).
• Take up and downstream fluid samples for detailed chemical analysis using a suite of analysis techniques including; continuous flow analysis, coulometry, atomic absorption spectrophotometry and C/H/N analysis.
• Obtain rock samples pre and post in-situ CO₂ flow for detailed petrophysical analysis using a suite of analysis techniques including; SEM, XRD, X-Ray C, XRF and the ion microscope.