Injecting carbon dioxide into deep offshore oil reservoirs requires measuring how two different fluids—liquid oil and dense gas—flow together through a single pipe, but existing meters and models were not designed for the extreme pressures found thousands of metres underwater. Current multiphase flow meters rely on experimental data from conditions far milder than those in ultra-deep water. No global calibration facility can replicate the high-pressure, high-density gas flows typical of carbon capture and storage (CCUS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. This project will test whether sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)—a dense gas that mimics supercritical CO2 at much lower pressures—can serve as a safe, low-cost substitute for building and validating flow models. Researchers at the University of São Paulo and the UK’s National Engineering Laboratory will compare results from an SF6 rig with those from the world’s largest multiphase flow facility. They will also develop a new Coriolis-based meter prototype capable of handling these extreme conditions, using hybrid models that combine physical equations with machine learning. If successful, the work could enable accurate, real-time metering of CO2 injection and oil production in deep-water CCUS projects—a critical step for scaling up carbon storage infrastructure that keeps industrial emissions out of the atmosphere.
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Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is viewed as an integral component of Net Zero strategy, with significant projects ongoing and planned in both Brazil [1] and UK [2]. Offshore storage sites are provided by depleted oil/gas reservoirs; the process of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), which simultaneously injects carbon dioxide (CO2) into the reservoir while maintaining production, is an important energy transition technique. Brazilian deep water reservoirs pose unique challenges, including high pressure and high CO2 content in the produced fluids, which must be separated and reinjected. Accurate metering of fluids, whether extracted from or injected into oil/gas reservoirs, is a long-standing technical challenge, due to the complex composition and behaviour of such fluids [2]. Current multiphase flow metering technologies use two-phase flow mathematical models developed from experimental data unrepresentative of ultra-deep water production conditions. Indeed, there is a lack globally of experimental and calibration facilities that can support and validate the development of flow instrumentation for pure and mixed CO2 streams under EOR and CCUS process conditions [2]. The proposal has three themes: 1. The dense gas sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) may be used in experimental simulation of typical deep water hydrodynamic conditions for oil and CO2 in the supercritical thermodynamic state, but operating at much lower pressures, thereby significantly reducing capital expenditure (capex), operational expenditure (opex) and safety issues. The University of São Paulo (USP) has built an oil/SF6 two-phase experimental facility to simulate high density CO2 flows [3]. It is planned to compare experimental results with those obtained at National Engineering Laboratory (NEL) - the UK's National Flow Laboratory, operating the world's largest multiphase flow facility - in order to evaluate the suitability of SF6 as a low cost experimental substitute. 2. Flow patterns and hydrodynamic transients for oil and dense gas mixtures will be generated experimentally, analysed, and modelled for USP's 2-inch vertical line, focusing on the effect of gas density on flow patterns. Both traditional modelling methods based on physical models and pure AI/data driven methods have associated limitations; the latest hybrid techniques, combining physical with machine learning models, will be applied to develop appropriate models for the flow behaviour typical of deep water conditions [5]. 3. We have previously developed, in partnership with industry, Coriolis multiphase flow metering which has been commercialized for use in industrial applications, including CCUS [5, 6]. We will develop a new prototype to extend the capability of this technology to provide reliable measurements for the experimental conditions generated in the USP rig (theme 1), drawing on the new models developed under theme 2. Meter performance will be evaluated at both USP and NEL. Project outcomes will include: an evaluation of the suitability of SF6 as a low cost proxy for high pressure gas in multiphase experiments; experimental data simulating conditions for deep water injection/production wells; new models of flow behaviour under such conditions; a Coriolis-based multiphase flow meter with extended capability to operate under such conditions.
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