A decarbonized future requires pipelines for CO2? A brief overview on perspectives and challenges
- Despite the use of hydrogen, for example, in various industrial production processes, CO2 emissions are still unavoidable in the medium term. For example, cement, lime and glass production or waste recycling (waste-to-energy plants) will continue to emit CO2 due to the processing involved chemical reactions. Conversely, the chemical industry with its value chains needs CO2 / carbon as a primary raw material for all compounds that fall within the organic chemistry. In this connection, carbon capture utilization (CCU) will play a key role here. In addition to “natural” methods (via reforestation and the dilution of moors), carbon capture storage (CSS) is already playing a major role, for example by injecting it into old natural gas underground caverns. The resulting quantities of CO2 have to be transported on a large scale and similar to hydrogen pipelines, there are concrete plans for CO2 pipeline networks. For this reason, this presentation provides an introduction to the topic andDespite the use of hydrogen, for example, in various industrial production processes, CO2 emissions are still unavoidable in the medium term. For example, cement, lime and glass production or waste recycling (waste-to-energy plants) will continue to emit CO2 due to the processing involved chemical reactions. Conversely, the chemical industry with its value chains needs CO2 / carbon as a primary raw material for all compounds that fall within the organic chemistry. In this connection, carbon capture utilization (CCU) will play a key role here. In addition to “natural” methods (via reforestation and the dilution of moors), carbon capture storage (CSS) is already playing a major role, for example by injecting it into old natural gas underground caverns. The resulting quantities of CO2 have to be transported on a large scale and similar to hydrogen pipelines, there are concrete plans for CO2 pipeline networks. For this reason, this presentation provides an introduction to the topic and briefly outlines the associated challenges. On the one hand, these lie in the qualification (testing and construction) and especially in the operation of the pipelines with regard to strict monitoring of the gas quality (e.g. carbonic acid corrosion) and in the avoidance of critical service conditions (sudden pressure fluctuations), which can lead to localized condensation. Among other things, this can lead to the lowering of the typically welded low-alloyed steel pipes below the ductile brittle transition temperature (DBTT) and thus can have an impact on pipeline integrity.…

