RCCS_CF (UK4.3)

The RCCS coreflood rig allows high temperature (up to 150°C) and high pressure (up to 10,000psi) core flood experiments even for corrosive fluids like carbonated high salinity brines. The produced fluid levels are monitored automatically at reservoir conditions via a coupled acoustic separator. Accurate pressure drop measurement during single and multiphase flow tests by Quartzdyne pressure sensors helps measure accurate absolute and relative permeability measurements. The user friendly GUI of the automatic data acquisition helps monitor and record inlet and outlet core temperature and pressure. The outputs highlight important information about CO2 sequestration (e.g. trapping capacity, injectivity of specific rock types), relative permeability (two phase), water flooding (recovery factor and sweep efficiency), enhanced oil recovery (ultimate recovery). The rig is equipped with pulseless syringe pumps covering flow rate range of 100 to 0.001 ml/min. This equipment is newly installed, and is now commissioned and validated.

The Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) at Heriot-Watt University, is an interdisciplinary world-leading engineering centre, inspiring and delivering innovation for the wider deployment of technologies needed to meet necessary carbon targets. The RCCS occupy over 350 m2, across ten separate and interlinked laboratories, with dedicated high-end analytical research instruments and many bespoke in-house designed systems and rigs for advanced research and process development dedicated to research into Carbon Capture, Storage, Transport and Utilisation, in addition to facilitating several projects in the fields of Low Carbon System and Negative Emission Technologies. Along with facilitating our core research activities, the RCCS welcomes Academic and Industrial collaborators, and offers external contract analysis services.

Core Flood Rig consists of a pressure control cart, an oven assembly and an electronics rack. The pressure control cart consists of three VPAs (which control the upstream flow, back pressure regulation and confining pressure), the external reactor assembly (which allows for mixing fluids under pressure and allows for refill of the in-oven accumulators), and the control panel (manually controls the reactor pressure). The oven assembly hosts the test components in a precisely controlled temperature environment, and includes the core holder (1,1.5 or 2” diameters, up to 12” long, hydrostatic type with 4 pressure taps), accumulator vessels (pumps fluids through core and separates corrosive test fluids from upstream pumping system), acoustic separator (ultrasonic analysis, dual cylinder design allows for measurement of the volume of fluids being discharged from the core), back pressure regulator (dome-loaded, flexible-diaphragm design), and an array of computer controlled valves. The electronics rack hosts the system electronics including the acquisition PC, uninterruptible power supply, the transducer and pneumatic interface control circuits, and the acoustic separator’s ultrasonic signalling and detection electronics.