Selected R&D Projects

Below is a selection of research and development projects LedaFlow Technologies DA is contributing to.

Please contact us if you want more information or to share ideas for the improvement of LedaFlow and multiphase flow modelling.

“CO2Flow”

Partners

LedaFlow Technologies, SINTEF, Kongsberg Digital, ConocoPhillips, TotalEnergies, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Wintershall Dea, Petrobras

Objective

Make LedaFlow a robust and accurate tool for simulating CO2-rich systems (with and without impurities).

Project period

2022-2024

Program

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a key technology that is needed to fulfill the net zero greenhouse gases (GHG) emission targets by 2050.
Flow assurance is essential for designing and operating CCS systems. Accurate simulations will enable reduced design margins and decreased investment costs of CO2 transport and injection systems while maintaining operational safety. Precise predictions are also essential for energy and cost-efficient operations and will help minimize risk through simulations of various operational scenarios.

The ambition of the CO2Flow project is to enhance the LedaFlow capabilities for CO2 modelling.

Scope of work

  • Develop better closure laws for CO2-rich flows.
  • Advance the kinetic models to better predict phase transition in CO2-rich flows.
  • Improve the LedaFlow steady state simulator to simulate complex CO2 injection networks.
  • Improving numerical stability for transient CO2-rich flows.
  • Enabling accurate prediction of CO2 dry ice particles.

The project builds on results from the CO2FACT project (see below) and the DeFACTO project.

 

“ChemFlow”

Partners

LedaFlow Technologies, SINTEF, Kongsberg Digital, ConocoPhillips, TotalEnergies, AkerBP, Clariant Oil Services

Objective

To provide guidelines for the characterization of complex fluid systems with chemicals and surfactants, and develop new LedaFlow models that will enable accurate simulation of tiebacks transporting fluids with complex chemistry.

Project period

2020-2025

Oil and gas production systems often require the injection of chemicals into the flow to prevent flow assurance complications such as corrosion or formation of scale, wax or hydrates. The presence of chemicals and surfactants can change the flow behaviour drastically, potentially causing severe problems such as flow instabilities, poor separation, foaming, and thus production loss. Multiphase flow predictions that account for effects arising from surface active components would allow more targeted use of chemicals and avoid flow assurance problems. However current multiphase flow models don’t take into account the effect of chemicals properly.

The ambition of the ChemFlow project is to overcome the current limitations of multiphase flow models when it comes to accurately model complex fluid systems with chemicals and surfactants.

Scope of work

  • Conduct multiphase flow experiments with fluids including selected chemicals;
  • Develop characterization methods for fluid systems with chemicals;
  • Develop and validate new models for LedaFlow.

The project builds on results from the Accurate IPN project (see below) but takes a leap beyond predicting “clean” fluid systems, where the effect from chemicals and surfactants are not taken into account.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway

“CO2 Flow Assurance for Cost-effective Transport (CO2 FACT)”

Partners

Equinor, TotalEnergies, Gassco, LedaFlow Technologies, Schlumberger

Objective

LTDA contributes to the CO2 FACT project, with the goal of delivering to the market a LedaFlow software suite capable of performing typical flow assurance simulations required for CO2 pipelines and wells design and operations.

Project period

2019 – 2022

Publication(s)

Z. Yang, A. Fahmi and M. Drescher (Equinor), L. Teberikler and C. Merat (Toral E&P Norge), S. Solvang and O. J. Rinde (GASSCO), J. G. Norstrøm and W. Dijkhuizen (LTDA), T. Haugset and A. Brigadeau (Schlumberger), M. Langsholt and L. Liu (IFE), “Improved Understanding of Flow Assurance for CO2 Transport and Injection”, GHGT 2021

The success of full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects relies on all parts of the system being designed properly. Design of the pipeline transporting CO2 is one of the most important part. Transport of pure CO2 normally takes place in one homogenous phase and the physics is relatively well understood and modelled. In industrial applications however, CO2 is often mixed with small amounts of other substances and present in multiple phases.

The ambition of the CO2 FACT project is to overcome the current limitations of multiphase flow models when it comes to accurately model the complex thermal-hydraulic phenomena that might occur during transport of CO2 with impurities.

Scope of work

  • Perform laboratory experiments to gather data on pure and impure CO2;
  • Benchmark and improve existing models;
  • Validate the performance of the models.

 

LedaFlow already includes a general single component module, which will be validated for pure CO2 using experimental data gathered during the CO2 FACT project. The software will then be further developed to support CO2 with impurities. Finally, the accuracy of the LedaFlow simulations will be assessed using data from new experiments.

“ACCURATE multiphase flow predictions for long tiebacks and subsea developments”

Partners

LedaFlow Technologies, SINTEF, Kongsberg Digital, ConocoPhillips, TOTAL

Objective

Improve the LedaFlow models allowing the industry to reduce safety margins, thanks to an increased prediction accuracy of liquid amounts and pressure drop in oil and gas transport systems.

Project period

2017 – 2020

Publication(s)

J. Kjølaas ; I. E. Smith ; C. Brekken, “Pseudo slug flow in viscous oil systems – experiments and modelling with LedaFlow“, BHR-2018-461.

To reduce costs and minimize the environmental impact associated with the development of new offshore petroleum fields the oil, water and gas are often transported together in the same pipeline. This means that multiphase flow from the reservoir to the processing facilities needs to be accurately modelled. The pipelines are often laid as “tie-backs” from the wellhead to the nearest onshore facility or to existing pipes on the seabed. Therefore, gas, oil and water must be transported over very large distances; in many cases 50-100 km and in some cases considerably longer.

To avoid operational problems related to long-distance multiphase transport, and to maximize profitability, good design decisions must be made based on an accurate prediction of the flow in these long pipes. Today’s multiphase flow models have shortcomings that limit their overall precision.

The ACCURATE project aimed to close the most critical knowledge gaps associated with accurate modelling of multiphase flow.

Achievements

Key issues addressed in the project are:

  • Wall wetting in three-phase gas-dominated flow, where the liquid film covering the wall leads to increased pressure drop
  • Oil-water interaction, especially with regard to the mixing of water droplets in the oil and vice versa.
  • Dynamic flow, where the assumption of fully developed flow is incorrect.
 
After thorough testing and validation, the new models have been included in commercial versions of LedaFlow.
 
The project was funded by the Research Council of Norway

“Cost effective management of hydrates and wax with LedaFlow®”

Partners

TOTAL, SINTEF, LedaFlow Technologies, Kongsberg Digital

Objective

To bring to the industry a fundamentally new framework for simulating the effects of hydrates and wax precipitation and transport in multiphase flows.

Project period

2016-2019

Program

Demo 2000 project 259155

Publication(s)

P. Puente, V. Martinez, V. Richon, J. Morud and N. Zambare, “Wax deposition and hydrate transport dynamic simulations on an oil pipeline – Experiences applying novel models for flow assurance assessment”, ADIPEC 2018.

Low reservoir temperature and high pressures increase the risk of hydrate and wax formation. Today’s concepts for offshore developments in deepwater and arctic regions imply long and costly tie-ins (pipeline and riser insulation, heating systems) and large use of chemicals for hydrate and wax prevention. Moreover, operators need to have complete control over the flow assurance and operational challenges facing such projects in order to ensure a safe and cost efficient production, minimizing the environmental impact related to the use of chemicals.

The hydrate precipitation and the wax deposition are independently well understood, but a comprehensive tool combining this behavior and multiphase flow has been missing for the operators to achieve a good concept selection. Improving this was the purpose of the project “Cost effective management of hydrates and wax with LedaFlow”.

Achievements

  • An experimental campaign was conducted in 2019 to generate data that would improve the understanding and validation of the wax formation model in LedaFlow
  • Two new Non-Newtonian viscosity models were implemented in LedaFlow: the Perderson model implemented for wax (LedaFlow 2.3) and the SoFA model for both hydrates and wax (LedaFlow 2.4).
  • A new hydrate hold-time option was implemented in LedaFlow 2.6: it allows the user to control the delay before hydrate formation occurs.
  • A sand transport model was developed, verified and implemented in LedaFlow 2.6. 
 

The project was funded by the Research Council of Norway