CO2 Transport Network Research Articles

Storage Capacity Evaluation for Development of CO2 Infrastructure in the West Mediterranean

“Integrated infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage in the West Mediterranean”, known by the acronym COMET is an FP7 project, funded by the European Commssion. COMET Work Package 3 aims to identify and to evaluate geological structures and formations that have a potential to host CO2 captured from industrial plants. Although these structures can be just defined through their location, geometry and capacity, there are many other factors that will have an influence in the behaviour of the storage, such as injectivity, salinity, sealing rocks, etc. Many of these factors are studied within COMET and their values are included in generated databases.Moreover, COMET Project also aims to evaluate different scenarios of CO2 sources and sinks in the West Mediterranean region, in order to propose most effective settings for CO2 transport and storage networks. The goal of COMET is to use all available geological parameters in order to obtain a qualitative qualification of the storage sites. This qualification will be useful for network modellers who will use it as a tool to decide where most effective solutions can be found for linking CO2 sources and sinks. Moreover, once storage sites are identified, evaluated and ranked, a quantification of the potential storage costs has been carried out. These costs are used as a first approach to much more detailed models that are under development in other Work Packages.

An Integrated Approach for Risk Assessment of CO2 Infrastructure in the COCATE Project

An innovative risk analysis model has been developed in order to quantify and analyse safety risks related to loss-of- containment scenarios in the pipeline transport of CO2. The risk model integrates the identified failure modes, consequence estimates and emergency response, producing consistent risk profiles based on complete outcome spaces and for different system design choices. The method involves integration in a Bayesian Belief Network (BN) of analytical equations for gas dispersion combined with statistics and expert estimates of particularly uncertain variables. Future failure initiators, scenarios and impacts are captured in a graphical structure which represents and calculates the effects of common causes. The test case for the integrated risk model will be a large CO2 capture and transport network at the Le Havre industrial zone with export to Rotterdam. The primary relative advantages of the BN risk model approach are discussed.

Steady-state design of CO2 pipeline networks for minimal cost per tonne of CO2 avoided

Transporting captured carbon dioxide (CO2) to injection sites can be a significant component of the costs of CCS. This cost can make the difference between an economically viable and an unviable CCS project. Therefore, optimising transport costs is important in minimising overall costs. Although the timing of the deployment of CCS network components is a highly relevant aspect of network design, it also increases the complexity of the design problem significantly. As a first approximation, this paper describes a procedure for obtaining near-optimal CO2 pipeline networks with minimal cost per tonne of CO2 avoided, under the simplifying assumption of fixed steady state flow. The effect of a staged deployment of CCS over time is therefore not considered for this analysis.The procedure presented in this paper is a high-level decision tool that can help determine which characteristics of a CO2 transport network are most important from the point of view of reducing the cost of avoiding CO2. The design procedure allows the specification of multiple emission sources, capture plants and injection locations, and does not assume a predefined fluid velocity inside the pipelines, but uses a genetic algorithm for minimising the cost of the network per tonne of CO2 avoided. The total cost of the CCS network includes the costs of building, operating and decommissioning the capture plants, pipeline network and injection sites.As a case study, the procedure is used to design a CCS network for a set of emission sources in the south-eastern Queensland region in Australia. Different emission sources and injection locations are considered. All emission sources are assumed to commence deployment of CCS concurrently and all pipelines and injection facilities are assumed to begin operating at the same time. The pipeline network obtained from applying this procedure is compared to existing pipeline routes.The near-optimal network transports all of the captured CO2 in a branching network and stores the CO2 close to the emission sources. It was found that the near-optimal network design for this case is largely insensitive to variations of the modelling parameters within typical ranges.

Optimised deployment of a European CO2 transport network

If CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is to become a viable option for low-carbon power generation, its deployment will require the construction of dedicated CO2 transport infrastructure. This paper describes the InfraCCS model, which can determine the likely extent and cost of the optimal least-cost CO2 transport network at European scale for the period 2015–2050, with 2015 the earliest foreseeable starting date of the CCS projects co-funded by the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR), and 2050 the EU's target date for 80–95% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The computation is made possible by a number of methodological innovations compared to previous research, in particular: the use of k-means clustering to reduce the number of nodes in the network; the application of the Delaunay triangulation algorithm for pipeline pre-selection; and the introduction of a mathematically convenient yet realistic new pipeline costing model. The InfraCCS tool is applied to determine the optimal network corresponding to a CCS scenario that ensures near-complete decarbonisation of the European power sector. It is shown that the size of the CO2 network could range from 11,000 to 17,000km by 2050, requiring 16–36 billion euros investment, with the higher numbers corresponding to the case when onshore aquifers are excluded as potential CO2 storage sites. Since the model shows that by 2030 more than half of the EU Member States could be involved in cross-border CO2 transport, international coordination seems crucial for the development of an optimised trans-European CO2 transport network.

Carbon capture and storage: A possible bridge to a future hydrogen infrastructure for Germany?

For a conceivable fossil-fuelled electricity production strategy with CO2 capture, the location of available storage options could play a key role for plant siting, as additional CO2 transport infrastructure might be required in some configurations. The possible spatial separation of electricity generation and centralised fossil hydrogen production with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) allows an additional degree of freedom in the system in enabling the transport of hydrogen instead of electricity.This paper analyses energy conversion and transport tasks associated with the plant locations offered by this enhanced scheme. By considering various scenarios for Germany, we describe different gasification/reforming options with CO2 capture and estimate their cost, including required new infrastructures.The results point out that moderate additional costs could allow the implementation of a first level hydrogen transport infrastructure instead of building a CO2 transportation network. This could be a smooth way to finance and facilitate the transition to a future larger hydrogen-based energy system. On the long term, this infrastructure would be in place for the transport of non-fossil hydrogen.

Prospects for CO2 capture in European industry

PurposeThe aim of this study is to assess the role of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technologies in the reduction of CO2 emissions from European industries.Design/methodology/approachA database covering all industrial installations included in the EU ETS has been created. Potential capture sources have been identified and the potential for CO2 capture has been estimated based on branch‐ and plant‐specific conditions. Emphasis is placed here on three branches of industry with promising prospects for CCS: mineral oil refineries, iron and steel, and cement manufacturers.FindingsA relatively small number (∼270) of large installations (>500,000 tCO2/year) dominates emissions from the three branches investigated in this study. Together these installations emit 432 MtCO2/year, 8 percent of EU's total greenhouse gas emissions. If the full potential of emerging CO2 capture technologies was realized, some 270‐330 MtCO2 emissions could be avoided annually. Further, several regions have been singled out as particularly suitable to facilitate integrated CO2 transport networks. The most promising prospects for an early deployment of CCS are found in the regions bordering the North Sea.Research limitations/implicationsReplacement/retrofitting of the existing plant stock will involve large investments and deployment will take time. It is thus important to consider how the current industry structure influences the potential to reduce CO2 in the short‐ medium and long term. It is concluded that the age structure of the existing industry plant stock and its implications for the timing and deployment rate of CO2 capture and other mitigation measures are important and should therefore be further investigated.Practical implicationsCCS has been recognized as a key option for reducing CO2 emissions within the EU. This assessment shows that considerable emission reductions could be achieved by targeting large point sources in some of the most emission‐intensive industries. Yet, a number of challenges need to be resolved in all parts of the CCS chain. Efforts need to be intensified from all stakeholders to gain more experience with the technological, economical and social aspects of CCS.Originality/valueThis study provides a first estimate of the potential role for CO2 capture technologies in lowering CO2 emissions from European heavy industry. By considering wider system aspects as well as plant‐specific conditions the assessment made in this study gives a realistic overview of the prospects and practical limitations of CCS in EU industry.