Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS)
As part of the Kyoto Agreement, Norway is committed to reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Concepts for the storage of CO2 in the reservoir is an important initiative to do so.
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Globally, we are also in a descending curve with respect to oil and gas. Hydrocarbons in frozen water (natur gass hydrates) constitutes more than twice as much energy than we know today for coal and freely occurring hydrocarbons. Internationally, these deposits are therefore an interesting resource where it is needed intensive research on various levels, from basic research to applied research, to develop efficient technologies for production of these reservoirs. Solutions that combine CO2 storage and simultaneous extraction of natural gas is particularly interesting.
The research group within the thermodynamic modeling has a primary focus processes that are fully or partially controlled by the thermodynamics. The research range from more basic research, where the central tool is the molecular simulations and methods derived from statistical physics, and to the application of thermodynamic calculations in various large multidisciplinary projects such eksmpel CO2 storage in reservoir, production of hydratreservoar and precipitation of salts close to underground sources of heat. Other key areas are the use of molecular simulations to estimate thermodynamic properties, transport properties, phase transitions and phase transition kinetics and the fundamental properties related to interfaces between different phases.
The research is funded in part by industry (approx. 20%), partly by the research council (60%) and the rest from international sources (USA, Japan).