The Role of the Brazilian Pre-Salt Technology Center in Qualifying Critical Components of HISEP Technology for Subsea Co2 Separation and Reinjection

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Offers insights into the technology readiness level advancement and challenges of subsea CO2 separation, relevant for CCS researchers.

🏢実務担当者:Provides a model for integrating CCS into existing offshore oil production, useful for energy companies evaluating subsea processing.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need for dedicated testing infrastructure to support CCS deployment, informing policy on innovation support.

This article highlights the main challenges of subsea processing in the Brazilian pre-salt, focusing on increasing the technological readiness level of critical components that will enable the future deployment of subsea high-pressure CO2 separation and reinjection technology (HISEP) at the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias in the Mero field. It also outlines the strategy behind the construction of the Brazilian Pre-salt Technology Center (CTPB) and explains how this facility will help address these challenges. Some pre-salt fields present unique complexities due to their high CO2 content (≥40%) and high gas-to-oil ratio (≥400 Sm3/Sm3), which make gas processing on surface facilities particularly challenging in terms of plant size and weight. Furthermore, the expected increase in GOR over the field's lifetime will place additional constraints on the gas processing plant, ultimately reducing oil production. Another critical factor is the substantial energy demand required to reinject the CO2-rich dense gas stream into the producing reservoirs. In this context, the development of a new technology designed for subsea CO2 separation and reinjection plays a crucial role in enabling efficient debottlenecking of the natural gas processing plant. To complete the final phases of this technology development, the Libra Consortium has contracted a technology supplier to design, construct, and qualify the new subsea high-pressure CO2 separation system. A pilot unit is scheduled for installation at the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias in the Mero field in 2028. Mero is the third-largest pre-salt field and the first to be developed under a Production Sharing Contract awarded to the Libra Consortium in 2013. This technology has the potential to debottleneck existing gas processing plants on FPSOs already in production, enabling accelerated production, increased reservoir recovery factor, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Once qualified, the new system offers an opportunity to reduce the weight and footprint of topside facilities in the next generation of FPSOs, leading to lower capital expenditure (CAPEX), operating expenditure (OPEX), as well as shorter construction schedules. The Pre-salt Technology Center (CTPB) is a unique experimental facility capable of testing real fluids under conditions that closely replicate those found in the Brazilian pre-salt, including high pressure, high flow rates, elevated salinity, and high CO2 concentrations. While it was initially created to meet the qualification requirements for components of the new subsea high-pressure CO2 separation technology, its distinctive capabilities now also support the testing of new processing and fluid-measurement technologies for both subsea and topside applications, including Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS). This article highlights the key challenges associated with production in ultra-deepwater scenarios in the Brazilian pre-salt region, as well as the contribution of the CTPB to the development of this new subsea high-pressure CO2 separation technology. It also showcases the CTPB's experimental infrastructure and its role in qualifying critical components and pioneering new fluid separation and treatment processes for offshore applications.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.4043/36979-msfirst seen 2026-05-06 00:17:40