Carbon Transport & Storage

Why does building a carbon transport and storage (CTS) logistics chain feel tougher than solving a murder mystery? After countless talks with ports, utilities, and industrial firms to pitch practical CO₂ shipping and storage, I’ve learned this: what seems like a safe, routine proposal to us—like barges for temporary CO₂ terminals to cut risks and costs—sounds like rocket science to clients. The real challenge? We’re all experts in our own domains, talking past each other with assumptions the other side doesn’t share or even grasp. Sailing restrictions, hinterland transport hiccups, and CO₂ quality quirks don’t help, turning a simple logistics planning session into a trust-building marathon. That’s why I’m drafting this first version of a Wikipedia-style article as a living guide for collaborators, expanding on my notes about commercialising multi-fuel ships, to break down the basic elements (pipelines, ships, hubs, etc.) needed to link industrial emitters to secure storage in the CCS value chain.

Carbon transport and storage (CTS) is a critical link in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain, a subset of the broader carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) industry. CTS focuses on the infrastructure and logistics required to move captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions—often in a liquefied state—from industrial sources to secure storage sites or utilisation facilities, preventing their release into the atmosphere. This infrastructure is essential for scaling up decarbonisation efforts, especially in hard-to-abate sectors like cement, steel, and chemicals, where directly reducing emissions remains challenging if not impossible for the time being.

Terminology

• Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) encompasses the full carbon management process, from capturing CO₂ at emission sources to its compression, transport (via pipelines, ships, rail, or trucks), and either utilisation in products like fuels and materials or permanent storage in geological formations.
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) targets CO₂ capture from industrial or power facilities, followed by transport and long-term underground sequestration.
• Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) uses captured CO₂ as a resource—e.g., in manufacturing chemicals or fuels—adding a circular economy dimension.
• Carbon Transport and Storage (CTS) focuses on the infrastructure and logistics needed to deliver captured CO₂ to storage or utilisation hubs.

Maturity of the industry

In 2022, human activity released over 40 billion tons of CO₂ from fossil fuels—enough to cover Alaska, Texas, and California under eight meters of gas. CTS provides the backbone for managing this unimaginable volume, enabling large-scale decarbonisation. Despite a chicken-and-egg dilemma—emitters awaiting infrastructure, developers awaiting supply—progress is clear. The EU directive on geological storage emerged in 2009, Bellona has advocated CCS since 1986, and billions in private capital, like BlackRock’s U.S. investments and the Northern Lights project (co-funded with Norway), signal growing viability.

Transport infrastructure

Transporting CO₂ requires methods tailored to volume, distance, cost, safety, and environmental impact.

• Pipelines: The most cost-effective for large-scale, long-distance transport, especially onshore. CO₂ is compressed to a supercritical state (above 73.8 bar, 31°C), flowing efficiently over hundreds of kilometers. Repurposed oil and gas pipelines can reduce costs, though new builds face specification, permitting and corrosion challenges (CO₂ reacts with steel in moist conditions).
• Ships: Ideal for offshore or cross-border routes, CO₂ is liquefied at -50°C and 7-15 bar for transport in specialised vessels. Ships excel where pipelines are impractical, but they require dedicated port infrastructure for loading/unloading etc.
• Trucks and trains: Suited for smaller volumes or shorter distances, these methods haul CO₂ in pressurised cylinders (20-50 bar) to intermediate hubs. Flexible but low-capacity (20-40 tonnes per truck), they bridge to pipelines or ships.

Storage infrastructure

CTS employs temporary and permanent storage, each with unique demands. Permanent sites need extensive geological surveys and monitoring, mandated by permits. Offshore storage dominates in Europe, but onshore exploration grew in 2023 in Denmark and beyond.

Intermediate storage

Temporary facilities store liquefied CO₂ in tanks at ports or hubs, smoothing logistics between capture and final transport. These buffers are vital for ship scheduling or pipeline batching, with capacities depending on throughput.

Permanent storage

CO₂ is injected into geological formations at kilometer depths, where it remains trapped by pressure and cap rocks.

• Depleted oil and gas reservoirs: Proven to trap fluids for millennia, these sites have been used since the 1970s in the U.S. for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), marking an early form of CO₂ storage.
• Deep saline aquifers: Often located 1-3 km underground, these formations hold saline water unfit for use, offering gigatonnes of pore space and impermeable cap rocks. Injection requires precise pressure management to avoid fracturing.
• Unmineable coal seams: CO₂ adsorbs onto coal at 50-100 bar, displacing methane for energy recovery. Capacity varies (5-20 kg CO₂/tonne) with depth and permeability.

Industrial clusters and hub development

Industrial clusters aggregate CO₂ from emitters like refineries, steelworks, and cement plants into central hubs, often at harbours, for economies of scale. This cuts per-tonne costs (e.g., $50-100/tonne savings), making CTS viable and bankable. The Porthos project in Rotterdam pipes 2.5 Mt/year to offshore storage, while the UK’s Net Zero Teesside hub targets 4 Mt/year by 2030 with North Sea sequestration.

Hubs share pipelines, liquefaction plants, and terminals, easing capital burdens for smaller emitters. Harbour hubs like Northern Lights handle 5 Mt/year, storing CO₂ temporarily before offshore shipping. This ensures steady supply and revenue, drawing private investment. Cross-border networks like TEN-T boost scalability.

Stimulating infrastructure investment

The growth of carbon transport and storage (CTS) infrastructure relies on tailored regulatory and economic frameworks that address regional needs. In the European Economic Area (EEA), tools like the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) guide investment by pricing emissions, levelling the playing field for cross-border trade, and nudging companies toward low-carbon production.

Europe

At the heart of carbon regulation in the EEA lies the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), a market-driven tool that shapes CTS infrastructure investment.

EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)

Since its launch in 2005, the ETS has grown into the world’s first major carbon market, tackling emissions of CO₂, nitrous oxide (N₂O), and per-fluorocarbons (PFCs) from sectors like power generation, manufacturing, and aluminum production (added in 2020). Spanning the EU, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, this cap-and-trade system sets an annual emissions ceiling for covered industries. That cap is divvied up into EU Allowances (EUAs)—each representing one tonne of CO₂—which companies trade on platforms like the European Energy Exchange (EEX).

Every year, businesses must report their emissions, facing steep fines—starting at €100 per tonne, adjusted for inflation—for any shortfall, though some exemptions exist. Revenue from EUA sales flows into initiatives like the Modernisation Fund, fuelling carbon-neutral tech development. Since 2021, the emissions cap has tightened by 2.2% annually, pushing toward a climate-neutral market by the mid-2030s. Still, the ETS’s future sparks debate, with price swings and speculation by private traders stirring concerns.

EUA prices directly sway CTS adoption. When prices dip below the cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS), companies might just buy allowances instead of building infrastructure. But when prices climb, emissions become a costlier burden, spurring investment in transport and storage solutions to dodge penalties and boosting demand for CTS systems, as noted by the European Commission.

Businesses can trade EUAs on exchanges like EEX or the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). For individuals, options include financial products like the KRBN ETF (two-thirds EUAs), the iPath Series B Carbon ETN (99% EUAs), or CU3RPS trackers.

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

Complementing the ETS, the CBAM slaps fees on carbon-heavy imports, aligning their costs with goods produced under the ETS. By tackling carbon leakage, it requires importers to register, purchase CBAM certificates, and report emissions. This not only bolsters CTS investment but also nudges global supply chains toward lower emissions, per the European Commission.

United States

Across the Atlantic, the U.S. takes a different tack, leaning on direct funding and legislation rather than a cap-and-trade model to propel CTS, with the Department of Energy (DOE) leading the charge.

• Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act pumps $8.2 billion into CCS, including transport networks like pipelines and ships, as detailed by the Congressional Budget Office and Energy News.
• DOE Funding Programs: Through the CIFIA program, the DOE dishes out $500 million for CO₂ transport projects. Meanwhile, $45.6 million backs nine efforts to refine capture and storage tech, according to the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
• Future Growth Grants: The CIFIA initiative also seeds early-stage transport networks with grants, setting the stage for broader capture and storage growth, as outlined by the DOE.