As part of large scale application of CO2 capture and storage, million tons CO2 per year have to be transported by pipelines and/or vessels from capture to storage sites. In previous studies, costs of, pipeline systems and point-to-point vessel connections have been estimated. In this research, these cost analysis are supplemented by adding a transport system combining vessel and pipeline transport. The cost savings potential of this multimodal CO2 transport system has been analyzed for the West Mediterranean region (i.e. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco) - where vessel transport can play an important role. In detail: A multimodal extended adaption of a pipeline system optimization model has been defined and was then parameterized adapting a nonlinear vessel and pipeline transport cost model. Next, cost savings due to vessel transport were quantified for the West Mediterranean region. When CO2 emissions are stored in the region itself, cost could be lowered by up to 20% on routes with low transport volumes and in a complementary way by a redirection of flows at the expense of longer transport distances to prevent costly offshore storage. In case of a European CO2 transport infrastructure including North Sea storage, transport of CO2 by vessel could be profitable if CO2 is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). However, North Sea neighboring countries can be expected to crowd out Iberian CO2 of the market for EOR storage volumes.@en

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 The term “West Mediterranean” is used for the description of the region including Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Even though Portugal does not border the Mediterranean Sea, it is usually included in Mediterranean organizations. (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).@en