TRANSPORT

In order to realise CCUS, large amounts of CO₂ rich fluids have to be transported from the capture plant to the site of storage. The total volumes to be transported will be similar or larger than for natural gas today.

Large-scale CO₂ transport will be achieved using pipelines at high pressures and ambient temperatures, with the CO₂ in liquid or dense phase. Smaller-scale transport of CO₂ may utilise ships or other forms of bulk transport under lower pressure and temperatures.

The thermodynamics properties of CO₂ are very different from natural gas, which among other things pose new challenges regarding transient phenomena during e.g. start-up, shutdown, depressurization, varying CO₂ supply, or leakages. Further, there will be impurities in the CO₂  to a varying degree during the whole CCUS chain from capture to reservoirs. Currently, there are large knowledge gaps regarding thermodynamic properties with impurities present. Hence, better property data are needed in order to find the optimum level of impurities in CCUS systems. Both with regards to transient behaviour and impurity specifications, the interfaces between capture, conditioning, transport, use, injection, and storage requires particular attention.