Behaviour of Releases of Carbon Dioxide From Pipelines and Vents

Abstract

A large Research and Development programme has been executed by National Grid to determine the feasibility of transporting carbon dioxide (CO2) by pipeline. Such pipelines would be required to form a transportation system to take the CO2 from its place of capture at an emitter’s site to a place of safe storage within a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) scheme. This programme received financial support from the European Union. As part of this programme, National Grid commissioned a series of experimental studies to investigate the behaviour of releases of CO2 mixtures in the gaseous and the liquid (or dense) phase. This has included simulating accidental releases in the form of punctures or ruptures of a buried pipeline and deliberate releases through different venting arrangements. This work is required, as CO2 has the potential to cause some harm to people if they are exposed to it for long enough at high concentrations. This paper gives an overview of the findings from this work and shows how the data has been used to help develop a number of the more pragmatic, predictive models for outflow and dispersion. This work complements the more theoretical studies carried out using state of the art advanced computational fluid dynamic models, employed by other UK based participants (University College London, University of Leeds, Kingston University and the University of Warwick) in the research programme.

Discharge of CO2 from large‐diameter orifices: Experimental data and data review

“…Below details are given of pressure, temperature, and flow rate measurements. See Allason for further details on the field measurements. These included ambient data (wind speed, wind direction) and measurements of concentrations and temperatures at a range of downwind, crosswind, and vertical distances.…”

“…Setting up the experimental rig and executing the tests involved a number of challenges and some of the lessons learned are detailed in this article. For further details see Allason and Witlox .…”

Suitability and optimisation of analytical indoor shelter model used for infiltration of carbon dioxide for typical dwellings

“…Experimental measurements of CO 2 accumulation within the enclosure were taken as a cloud of drifting CO 2 passed the enclosure following a scaled pipeline rupture experiment that was conducted as part of the National Grid COOLTRANS research programme [11]. The wind was incident on the front face of the enclosure at an angle of approximately 20 degrees from the normal with an average speed of 1.17 m/s.…”

Analytical and computational indoor shelter models for infiltration of carbon dioxide into buildings: Comparison with experimental data

“…The data was gathered during a 1/4 scaled pipeline rupture experiment conducted by DNV GL at their Spadeadam facility as part of the National Grid COOLTRANS research programme [32]. The experimental setup including is described in detail in [4,33] and as such is only relevant parts are summarised here.…”