A container: the missing link to cool the earth?

Following some days with global heat records, it's obvious that we should be more than busy turning down the heat. While the long-term solution is to minimize our resource and energy use and switch away from fossil fuels to renewables - this is undisputed. However, the clock is ticking so we need to bring down emitted CO2 levels to the atmosphere rapidly. One of the tools to do that is by capturing and storing CO2 from point emitters, CCS.

When I personally started getting involved in CCS 4-5 years it was like an "enfante terrible". It was basically not a technology that was politically acceptable. Arguments where that it would only delay switching to renewable fuels. It is a fact that renewables cannot be developed and supplied at speed and the scale needed. We would simply miss our targets, and global heat records would continue to be the daily news.

Most realistic IPCC scenarios include large amounts of CO2 being captured and stored (or utilized). In 2050 it is expected that we capture, transport and store 6 giga ton yearly. Compare this to to the 8,8 giga ton coal we dig up and transport today. It calls for not only capture - but also transport at a massive scale.

This is where the container comes in. If there is one thing the container has brought us: it is flexible integrated transport on a massive scale.

Imagine two different scenarios where CO2 is captured from all medium to large CO2 emitters:

Scenario A)

As liquid (or as supercritical liquid) the CO2 is transported in pipelines, to a loading port, loaded to a ship, then transported to a new port, offloaded and then transported by pipeline to the storage site. Some pipelines exist today, mainly in the US, the rest would have to be built. There are 4 (!) ships in the global fleet which can carry CO2 today, they have a capacity between 1.250-1.800 m3. This means up to 2.000 tons of liquid CO2 in a ship, and remember 6 gigaton has to be transported. And remember in our comparison above a bulk carrier carrying coal, easily carries 100 to 200.000 tons of coal.

Scenario B)

After capture, the CO2 is converted to solid form - dry ice, although at about -80 degrees Celsius, it can exist at ambient pressure. It is then stored into a standard shipping container. Estimates say there is about 70 million shipping containers in the world. Accepting a small loss of 0,1-0,2% of CO2 during transport, the container is transported from emitter to storage site on a standard existing container ship or on a standard truck or rail. The CO2 is re-liquified and stored, and the container is sent back to carry the next load.

And if we look at these two scenarios and ask ourselves the simple question: When can we have the capacity available to transport 6 giga tons CO2 yearly? Do we wait for ships to be built (it's is a lot of ships)? Do we wait for pipelines to be laid (there is a lot of farmers and landowners who will have to see their soil being digged up)? While fully accepting that the global very large emitters will be best suited with a direct pipeline to a storage site, then the obvious answer is that we should use the technology and infrastructure already available today and scale CO2 transport very rapidly. In this way we also ensure that we minimize the amount of stranded assets when we one day don't need to transport CO2 anymore.

So let's get started, and use that missing link to get us all cooled down again.

Mikkel Navarro Hansen, CEO Aprendio, 6th of July, 2023