CO₂ Capture Project - FAQs - About CCS: Transport

How far can you transport CO₂? How can this be made safe? What is the experience of doing this?

CO₂ can be transported by pipelines (both overland and offshore) or by ship in a liquid form. It is also currently transported in smaller quantities on tanker trucks, particularly for use in the food and beverage industry. In terms of pipeline transportation, at present, the two longest CO₂ pipelines are Cortez (808km long) and Sheep Mountain (660km long) both of which are in the United States but more than 3,000km of CO₂ pipelines are already in operation across the world, mainly in the US with more than 30 million tonnes of CO₂ transported by pipeline per year. Industrial experience since the 1970s has shown that CO₂ transport by pipeline is both safe and effective.

How does CO₂ transportation work and isn’t this dangerous for communities in the vicinity of the pipeline?

After capture CO₂ needs to be transported to the chosen storage site. CO₂ is largely inert and easily handled and it is already transported in high pressure pipelines.

The optimal transport system will vary according to individual CCS projects, according to the level of CO₂ volume; distance between source and storage location; geography and geology of the route taken; and costs.