Shell, Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) have opened the world’s largest suite of laboratories to research the storage of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in carbonate rock formations.
The new laboratories form part of the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre (QCCSRC ) at Imperial College London, and are part of a $70 million, 10-year research partnership between Shell, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Science and Technology Park and Imperial.
Commenting on the initiative, Peter Voser, Chief Executive of Shell said, “This initiative builds on the already strong partnership between Shell, Qatar and Imperial. Qatar Petroleum and Shell, together with world class experts like Imperial College and the Qatar Science and Technology Park, are working at the frontier of science and innovation for the energy sector. The research carried out in this new laboratory will deliver real benefits for the oil and gas industry as well as making a valuable contribution to progressing CCS which will be needed to address climate change.”
The laboratories represent a significant step forward in the development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a solution to climate change, by helping to build knowledge that can be used to unlock the vast carbon dioxide storage potential of carbonate reservoirs. Researchers at the laboratory will also analyse how liquids and gases move through carbonate rock to optimise oil and gas production.
The research in the new laboratories will be the first in the world to utilise multi-scale X-Ray CT technology – more commonly used in hospitals to visualise internal structures of the body alongside other state-of-the-art measurement and modelling techniques, to understand the way carbon dioxide interacts with, and flows in, carbonate rock formations. With more than 50 researchers, including PhD students from Qatar, this new venture will create one of the largest university-based CCS research teams in the world.
Professor Geoffrey Maitland, Director of QCCSRC from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial, said, “Thanks to this long-term collaboration between academia and industry, we now have the most advanced laboratories in the world for understanding carbonate rocks and the fluid flows within them. A deeper understanding will enable us to improve processes such as CCS and enhanced oil recovery. These rock formations, which are located all around the world, including the Middle East, could provide us with a valuable repository for storing carbon dioxide, but more work needs to be done to understand how to lock away these greenhouse gas emissions effectively. We look forward to working even more closely with our partners from Qatar and Shell on research to make this CCS vision a practical reality.”
Currently in its fourth year of activity, QCCSRC conducts research in a range of science and engineering disciplines relevant to CCS. This involves experimental, theoretical and modelling activities working in close harmony and includes an unrivalled combination of experimentally validated models for thermo-physical fluid properties, multi-scale porous media flow and reaction experiments linked with pore or core-scale modelling and field scale reservoir simulation.
The programme will operate internationally in both Qatar and the UK over the coming years with the main site ultimately located in Qatar and hosted at QSTP, which will provide state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Dr Tidu Maini, Executive Chairman of Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) said, “QSTP is excited to be able to provide a home in Qatar to a programme that is at the very forefront of scientific discovery in a field that provides one of the most viable means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and effectively responding to global climate change. We are enormously proud that Qatar-based research in this field will become a reality soon, making Qatar a regional leader in new CCS technology.”
Shell is a key partner in developing Qatar’s oil and gas industry. Globally, Shell is working with governments and experts on a political and technical level to facilitate the development and wide-scale deployment of CCS.
It is involved in a number of projects related to CSS worldwide. In September 2012, Shell invested in the Quest project in Alberta, Canada, which is expected to start up in 2015. In June 2011, Shell Canada signed agreements with the Governments of Alberta and Canada to secure Canadian $865 million in funding. In September 2009, Shell invested in the Gorgon LNG project operated by Chevron.
The project will nearly double Australia’s LNG output and will include the development of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project, expected to capture 3 to 4 million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide that will be produced with the natural gas. Shell is also involved in a possible project in the UK to store carbon dioxide from Scottish and Southern Energy’s Peterhead Power Station in the depleted Goldeneye gas reservoir in the North Sea.
