CO2PipeHaz - Carbon Capture and Storage hazards

Large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an essential part of reducing the impact of global warming, by making significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, in particular of carbon dioxide, CO₂, released when fossil fuels are burnt.

With this relatively recent technology, inevitably, come certain risks, the biggest of which is an accidental release from pressurised CO₂ pipelines, which form an integral part of the CCS chain by transporting of captured CO₂ for subsequent sequestration. A coal-fired power station consuming 8,000 te/day of coal (~1GW power generation), will produce 30,000 te/day of CO₂ to be captured and transported via pressurised pipelines. A very large release of CO₂ has the potential to produce harmful effects over a significant area, and to significantly affect large numbers of people.

The European CO2PipeHaz project addressed knowledge gaps in the hazard and risk assessment of CO₂ pipelines for CCS. It made significant contributions in the areas of physical properties modelling, consequence modelling for accidental releases, and development of decision support tools. The Good Practice Guidelines, authored by HSL, summarise this work and provide a road map for how the new knowledge from CO2PipeHaz fits with existing guidance.

Download the Good Practice Guidelines. (PDF, 266kB)