Assessment of Integral Thermo-Hydraulic Models for Pipeline Transportation of Dense-Phase and Supercritical CO2

Abstract

The accurate design and economic evaluation of a high-pressure CO2 pipeline transportation network employed as part of any Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) chain requires the availability of reliable thermo-hydraulic models for predicting the pressure drop and temperature and ultimately the fluid phase in a pipeline. In this study, the performance of a number of integral thermo-hydraulic models is examined on the basis of the comparison of their predictions against those obtained using a validated, more rigorous but computationally demanding numerical one-dimensional steady-state flow model. The study is performed for typical 0.4–1.2 m internal diameter pipelines transporting CO2 over distances of up to 100 km at supercritical pressures ranging from 90 to 170 bar and temperatures from 20 to 60 °C. Buried, insulated, and noninsulated above-ground horizontal pipelines are considered in the analysis. The study concludes that, of the integral models examined, (1) the model based on the nonisothermal com...