The FAPESP Shell Research Center for Gas Innovation (RGCI) was the winner of the 2019 ANP Technological Innovation Award, in category II – “Result associated with project (s) developed by a Brazilian Company, with or without the participation of an Accredited Institution, in collaboration with Oil Company, in the general thematic area “Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas” ”.
The winning project is the “Gravitational CO2 and CH4 Storage and Separation System in Salt Caves Built in Ultra Deep Water Offshore Environment in Brazil”, sponsored by Shell and FAPESP and developed by RCGI researchers with support from Modecom, Technomar, Argonáutica and Granper.
The project is divided into two phases: the first has as its primary objective to study the development of a technology / procedure for storage / disposal of high CO2 content in open saline caves by the indefinite leaching method (CCS) in the pre-salt region. In a second phase, the extraction procedure will be studied by gravitational separation of carbon dioxide present in large quantities in the natural gas produced in the pre-salt reservoirs.
The development of the first phase of the project will allow CO2 not to be reinjected into the reservoirs, preventing them from being constantly fed back by the contaminant. In the second phase, the gravitational separation will give additional economic value to the system as it will allow the monetization of the separated NG inside the cave. The proposal is to use, whenever possible, all the infrastructure already available in production systems to perform all stages of technology development.
The Award had five categories, in which 147 project results competed from five oil companies, more than 20 other Brazilian technology companies and more than 40 accredited institutions with various laboratory units.