Why is this research needed?

In 2017, the UK government announced its new approach to carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in the Clean Growth Strategy, and set out actions deploy CCUS at scale by 2030. In order to be future ready, deep technical understanding of the CCUS supply chain is required along with confidence in its economic viability. Ship-based transport of CO₂ is a better option when distances exceed 350 km compared to an offshore pipeline, it also offers opportunities for integrating smaller emitters, and developing a potential cluster and hub network. During this shipping transport to the storage site, a significant amount of cold energy has to be expended to either precool the shipping container or dumping the cold energy to sea water during sequestration.

What is this research investigating?

This research aims to perform technical feasibility and economic viability of a novel cold storage concept to recover some of the energy cost on liquefying CO₂ for shipping transportation. Although cold storage concept introduced a benefit for energy management in the chain, it was limited to specific scenarios involving the presence of a gas production site and an oxy-fuel capture process. Developing solutions of implementation for cold energy utilisation and electric power generation prior to the injection point could enhance economic feasibility of the chain by recovering liquefaction cost of captured carbon dioxide.

What does the research hope to achieve?

The objectives of this research are:

• Develop a global model for the both cold storage and power generation using cold energy discharge during
  sequestration. Ascertain and optimise the ship on-board space requirements for these components in particularly for CO₂
  carriers.
• Investigate these component behaviours by variations due to geographical and seasonal variations.
• Conduct impact assessment of this technology installation on ships and its technical and cost implications.