CO2 Transport

Production and Distribution of Electricity and Heat

The transport of CO2 is generally part of the carbon capture, utilisation and storage (or sequestration) technologies. The current ways in which carbon dioxide is transported are by pipeline, by ship and transport by road or rail tanker. Pipeline transport is (and it is expected to be) the most common and cost-effective way to transport large quantities (> 1-5 MtCO2/a) over long distances (> 100-500 km). To date, pipeline transport is predominantly onshore but it can also be offshore. Onshore transport solutions are widely used in commercial applications (TRL 9) while offshore solutions are still little used, mostly implemented in demonstration systems for CO2 injection into marine geological storage. The total transport capacity of all infrastructures, at any level of development, has increased from 64.5 Mtpa in 2017 (37 infrastructures) to 97.5 Mtpa in 2019 (51 infrastructures)[1]. Most of the existing infrastructure is closely linked to the oil sector: major US pipeline systems separate CO2 from raw natural gas and transport it by pipeline to other fields where it is used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). CO2 is transported in a supercritical state, allowing less energy to be expended on re-pumping than in the natural gas sector. The advantage of pipeline transport is that large quantities of carbon dioxide can be transported continuously without the need for intermediate storage. Ship transport is currently practised on a small scale, with vessels transporting small volumes (up to 1500 m3) of food-grade CO2 in a liquid state, using semi-refrigerated vessels [2], the number of which is very limited, on a worldwide scale. In the future, vessels capable of transporting volumes in the range 10,000 40,000 m3 [3], in liquid form (at low or medium pressure and semi-refrigerated), are expected to be used, making use of much of the technical knowledge already developed in the field of LPG/LNG transport by ship. The transport of CO2 by ship requires, in addition to the cargo ship, a number of associated port infrastructures such as a liquefaction plant and possible buffer storage. Unlike pipelines, transport cannot take place continuously, but in batches. This can be critical for very large volume projects. The transport of CO2 by tank wagons (road or rail) is limited to the handling of small quantities of CO2: about 0.1-0.2 MtCO2/year over a kilometre range of 150-300 km for road transport and up to 0.7 MtCO2/year over a kilometre range of 250-500 km for rail transport. This CO2 is used as a technical or process gas in applications such as EOR, the medical industry and the food sector. To date, the food sector has the highest demand for CO2, with a demand of 32.844 ktCO2 in 2019

01-07-2022

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