SINTEF ER
Kolbjørn Hejes vei 1A, Trondheim, Norway
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TRANSPORT

DEPRESS (NO2.5)

Depressurization facility
The ECCSEL tube. The CO2 is vented through the stack in the background. The container at the left contains support equipment.
The depressurization vessel (before full insulation).

In order to design, optimize and operate CO2-transportation and injection systems in a safe and efficient way, engineers will need to quantify processes and phenomena that may not be readily covered by existing engineering tools. One of those processes is the depressurization of pipes or vessels, which is relevant to several safety and operational aspects, involving running-ductile fracture, transient flow and temperature variation, as pointed out in the following. Data and models for pipe depressurization are also employed to describe the upstream boundary condition for safety studies of the release and dispersion of CO2 in the terrain. The facility consists of two parts: 1. A pipe of length 62 m and inner diameter 41 mm, depressurized using a rupture disk, full bore or through an orifice. 2. A cylindrical vessel of volume 58 L and inner diameter 273 mm, depressurized through a valve. The two parts share a common infrastructure including gas supply, compressors, cooling system, vacuum pump and gas chromatography. At the moment, pure CO2 or mixtures of non-flammable gases can be employed. The maximum operating pressure is 200 bar for the pipe and 150 bar for the tank, and the initial temperature can be controlled between 5 and 40 °°C for both.

State of the Art, uniqueness & specific advantages

The depressurization pipe is densely instrumented with fast pressure and temperature sensors and the inside has been honed to reduce the influence of friction. The length of the tube allows for relatively long-duration experiments, allowing the study of both pressure and temperature effects in one experiment. 16 fast-response pressure transducers are flush mounted to the internal surface of the pipe with dense distribution close to the rupture disk. They are logged at a frequency up to 100 kHz. 23 Type E thermocouples are installed for the measurement of the fluid temperature, among which 11 are placed at axial positions together with pressure sensors on opposite sides of the pipe. The remaining 12 thermocouples are installed at the top, bottom and side of the pipe at four locations in order to capture any stratification of the flow. They are logged at a frequency up to 1 kHz. The tank is instrumented with 2 pressure sensors logged at 30 Hz and 25 type T thermocouples logged at 90 Hz. The mass flow can be measured through the use of scales. We are not aware of a similar installation currently in operation.

Scientific Environment

Located in the thermal laboratories of NTNU/SINTEF with its available infrastructures and services and directly adjacent to the offices of leading scientists in the field of SINTEF and NTNU. Further advanced facilities for flow experiments are planned adjacent to this facility.

Operating by

SINTEF Energy Research

SINTEF Energy Research
Norway
TRANSPORT technologies:
Security/troubleshooting, Flow Characterisation, Shipping of CO2
Research Fields:
Fluid dynamics, Modelling, Physical processes, Engineering, Thermodynamics
Facility's fact sheet

Location & Contacts

Location
Kolbjørn Hejes vei 1A, Trondheim, Norway
Contacts
Svend Tollak Munkejord
RICC Contacts - Secondary contact
Yessica Arellano
Website
https://www.sintef.no/energy/

Facility Availability

Month
Unit of access (UA)
Month
Availability per year (in UA)
6 months
Duration of a typical access (average) and number of external users expected for that access
Minimum 1 month

Quality Control / Quality Assurance (QA)

Activities / tests / data are
Controlled: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001
Institution QA Webpages
http://www.sintef.no/en/a-certified-institute 

Operational or other constraints

Specific risks:
Adherence to the operational manual is important in order to reduce risks, but one qualified operator from SINTEF ER will anyhow have to participate. A risk assessment will have to be performed ahead of the introduction of certain gases.
Legal issues
Access to SINTEF ER lab will require acceptance of safety and security policies and training.

CCUS Projects

EU-Funded CCUS Projects
H2020
nd
ECCSEL INFRADEV-3
ERA-Net Cofund ACT project
31 August 2017–31 August 2020 http://www.elegancy.no
ELEGANCY
Other CCUS Projects
KSP project
2023
CO2FFER

Selected Publications

Energy, vol. 211, article 118560, November (2020)
Depressurization of CO2 in a pipe: High-resolution pressure and temperature data and comparison with model predictions
Munkejord, S. T., Austegard, A., Deng, H., Hammer, M., Stang, H. G. J., Løvseth, S. W.
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Volume 109, 103361, ISSN 1750-5836, (2021)
Depressurization of CO2-N2 and CO2-He in a pipe: Experiments and modelling of pressure and temperature dynamics
Svend Tollak Munkejord, Han Deng, Anders Austegard, Morten Hammer, Ailo Aasen, Hans L.Skarsvåg
International Journal of Multiphase Flow, Volume 156, 104201, ISSN 0301-9322 (2022)
Experiments and modelling of choked flow of CO2 in orifices and nozzles
Morten Hammer, Han Deng, Anders Austegard, Alexandra Metallinou Log, Svend Tollak Munkejord,