Temperature Control System for Supercritical Flow of Brine and CO2

Abstract

The Magnetic Resonance (MR) Lab in the College of Engineering would like to study the transport properties of supercritical CO2 using MR techniques. In order to achieve this it was necessary to design a system to ensure supercritical temperature and pressure of the CO2 throughout a flow loop that was compatible with the MR spectrometer magnet. A water jacket system was designed that housed high pressure PEEK tubing (diameter = 0.125”) inside larger diameter tubing (diameter = 0.75”). The CO2 flows through the smaller diameter tubing and hot water flows through the larger diameter tubing to create a water jacket. This design allowed the CO2 to be held above 31.1oC and ensures the CO2 is maintained in a supercritical state for the entire flow system. MR measurements have been made of CO2 and brine flowing. Below the supercritical temperature, two phase flow is evident. Above the supercritical temperature the CO2 is completely dissolved in the brine and a single phase flow is observed.