Conference session blog: Priority Research Directions for CCUS Storage & shipping combinations

This blog was produced by Kranthi Jonnalagadda

Research frontiers in CO₂ shipping and storage

What happens when you meet a nerd? Some of the energetic passion rubs onto you! That’s what happened to us when we were sitting around the table In the UKCCSRC conference at the University of Sheffield.  We were discussing CO₂ storage and shipping combinations. 

The session was led by a scientist from the industry. While the underlying current throughout the conference was how was to commercialise carbon capture technology and will industry accept carbon capture technology, here at the table were industry stalwarts who had seen it all, and done it all! It couldn’t have been a better setting to learn about current state of CO₂ shipping and storage!

The discussion started with a good briefing about the role of R&D in shipping and storage of CO₂. We were given a good overview of the Norwegian CCS experience which spanned 22 years and achieved 22 Mt of CO₂ storage. The Northern lights project for establishing CCS infrastructure was explained. We were able to catch a glimpse of the enormous work put into the northern lights project consisting of shipping, onshore facilities, pipeline, and injection.

After the initial briefing, the discussion turned to the aspect of material selection of CO₂ shipping. Our attention was drawn to the need  to understand the effect of CO₂ on seals and materials of construction. This is because CO₂ can mix with any water available to form corrosive carbonic acid. This brought up a discussion on impurities in captured CO₂ and thermodynamic models to predict the CO₂ mixture properties. Everyone seems to agree that more research work has to be done to increase confidence in the existing models.  

Finally the discussion concluded the following frontiers of CO₂ shipping and storage:

• Trust building for the design tools in CO₂ facilities
• Understanding geological storage, its integrity and consequence of CO₂ leakage from geological storage sites
• Upfront investment reduction using innovative concepts

Surely the expertise and experience of the Norwegian industry will have a snow ball effect with more industries coming forward to adopt CCS technologies. That’s what CCS community is all about!