The facilities, at NEL in East Kilbride, Scotland, will put in place the infrastructure needed to measure and meter carbon dioxide flow during its transportation through full chain CCS schemes.

One of the primary outcomes of the programme will be high accuracy fiscal metering of CO2 to enable trading under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

As the custodians of the UK’s National Flow Measurement Standards, NEL has extensive expertise and is developing capabilities and infrastructure to incorporate CO2 flow measurement standards.

NEL’s innovative R&D facilities, which are supported by the UK Government’s National Measurement Office, are being developed to address the key metrology issues with CCS schemes. Measurement and monitoring will be a key element of the CCS regulatory framework, as reflected in the European CCS Directive, and will be essential to environmental and safety needs, as well as allowing trading under the EU ETS.

"Accurate measurement will be fundamental in reducing financial exposure in CO2 trading schemes," said Brian Millington, Director of NEL. "To put the importance of accurate flow measurements into perspective, consider the UK’s largest power station, which emits approximately 22 million tonnes of CO2 per annum. Each percentage point of uncertainty in flow measurement could result in a £1.17million exposure in the trading scheme, based on a carbon trading price of £5.34 / tonne. Some market analysts predict this figure to treble in three years."

These facilities will be used to develop and test recommended practices for the CO2 transportation industry, and support national and international standardisation. NEL intends to test and calibrate a variety of flow measurement devices and systems that would be employed in CO2 transportation. The facilities will provide the UK with an independent measurement testing facility that will accelerate the deployment of full scale CCS schemes.

Brief description of the three facilities:

1. Gas Facility: The facility will be used to test and measure the flow of CO2 in a gas state.

2. Static facility: The static CO2 test facility will be used to study the performance of CO2 flow measurement devices that will be used in CO2 services. The temperature and pressure will be controlled in such a way as to allow both gas and liquid CO2 test conditions.

3. Dynamic Facility: The dynamic CO2 facility will be used to test measuring devices and components in flowing CO2 conditions. This facility is expected to help test and calibrate flow devices.

Source: Storage, June  27  2012 (Carbon Capture Journal)

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