Pioneering research and education since 1821
Introducing Heriot-Watt
Heriot-Watt University is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name was taken from Scottish inventor James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith George Heriot. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world’s first mechanics’ institute, and subsequently granted university status by royal charter in 1966. It is one of the oldest higher education institutes in the UK. The university has five campuses across the world: Edinburgh, Scottish Borders, Orkney, Dubai and Malaysia, as well as 53 Approved Learning Partners (ALPs) and educational collaborative partners in 150 countries. Also, one third of our on-campus students studying in Scotland are from outside the UK, making Heriot-Watt one of the most internationally diversified of any UK university.
The Hydrate, Flow Assurance, and Phase Equilibra Research Group
The Hydrate, Flow Assurance and Phase Equilibria Group is a multidisciplinary research group at the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering (IGE) of Heriot-Watt University. The research group was formed in 1986, and currently has more than 12 research staffs and students with a variety of different expertise (chemical and petroleum engineering, chemistry, physics, geology, geophysics). Our main area of expertise is experimental and modelling studies on flow assurance and phase equilibria of various fluids. These research studies are covering a wide range of areas, including thermophysical properties of industrial fluids (e.g., reservoir fluids, candidate fluids for CCS, refrigerants, etc), flow assurance in the oil/gas industry (hydrates, wax, salt, asphaltene precipitation problems), gas hydrates in the natural environment (e.g., geohazards, potential as an energy resource), and positive applications of hydrates (e.g., gas separation, storage and transportation, CO2 sequestration). We work closely with both industrial and government sponsors with the aim of delivering high-quality, novel, applied research solutions for the energy and environmental sciences.
How Heriot-Watt works with CCS
Since 2010, we have extended our research to the CCS field. We perform experimental measurements to obtain thermodynamic properties of CO2 mixtures. Furthermore, employing the measured properties as well as available literature data, we perform modelling studies to develop new models or improve available models to enhance the accuracy of the models in predicting thermodynamic properties of CCS mixtures.
The outcomes of our experimental and modelling studies have been used by various well known major companies dealing with different aspects of CCUS challenges in transportation, storage and processing of the fluid.
Our contribution to ACCSESS
In ACCESS project our research team will use its unique experimental capabilities and modelling expertise to investigate formation and melting of CO2 dry ice, and also to determine safe water specifications for different transport modes. The outcomes of these investigations will provide valuable data and models for use in further research.
The research will open-up new ways of modelling the phase behaviour and thermophysical properties of CO2 rich fluids and provide a large database of high-quality results. These outputs will be highly beneficial to research efforts in carbon capture, heat transfer, heat pumping and energy harvesting.
In addition to the publication of experimental data and model parameters, the project will co-operate with the developers of the process software. The outputs will assist further development of the Heriot-Watt software package, which is a common and widely used tool for the prediction of thermophysical properties. Published research findings are expected to be highly cited.
