Cost-effective balance between CO2 vessel and pipeline transport. Part I – Impact of optimally sized vessels and fleets

• Cost savings potential of optimized CO2 vessel transport can reach up to 40%.
• A reliable cost estimation should account for the dimensioning of vessels.
• Vessel transport is advantageous for long distances and small volumes.
• Vessels connect the West Mediterranean region and the North Sea cost-effectively.
• It could be profitable if CO2 is used for Enhanced Oil Recovery.

The application of CO2 capture and storage at industrial scales requires the development of a transport infrastructure which is suitable to transport millions of tons of CO2 per year. Important offshore storage sites could be served by pipelines or vessels. The discrimination between these options is a crucial scientific task for the assessment of the potential of CCS and the design of a CO2 transport infrastructure. In this research the analysis of vessel transport cost is refined by the optimization of vessel size in a fleet scheduling context. A cost model for a point-to-point CO2 transport by vessel that includes liquefaction, intermediate storage, loading, vessel/fleet construction and storage has been derived from a comprehensive literature survey and has been optimized for vessel capacity. The cost savings potential of the optimization can reach up to 40%. A reliable cost estimation should therefore carefully account for the dimensioning of the vessels. The optimized vessel transport option was then compared to pipeline transport connections to offshore storage sites. In a compact graphical presentation it is shown that vessel transport can be advantageous compared to pipeline transport for long distances and small volumes. The breakeven distance of vessel transport becomes up to 40% greater due to optimized vessel size. The cost models were then applied to find the cost effective transport mode for a connection of the West Mediterranean region1 (i.e. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco) to a European CO2 transport infrastructure including the North Sea. Transport of CO2 by vessel turns out to be cost-effective and could be profitable if CO2 is used for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).