Transporting CO2 in similar conditions as LNG is now starting in Japan
Author:
Oystein Kalleklev
CEO Flex LNG (NYSE/OSE:FLNG) & Avance Gas (OSE:AGAS)
As S&P Global reports, Japan is set to start what will be the world’s first transport of carbon dioxide on a low-temperature and low- pressure liquefied CO2 carrier, similar to how LNG is being transported. The project involves capturing CO2 from exhaust gas emitted from the Maizuru coal-fired power plant, where a 3 mt/hour CO2 liquefaction facility and a 750 mt liquefied CO2 storage tank are being installed. A 1,200 mt liquefied CO2 storage tank, the largest in Japan, has also been installed at the Tomakomai terminal. The CO2 will then be transported over 1,000km in a series of trial voyages on a rather small ship, the 996-gross-ton EXCOOL with a cargo tank capacity of 1,450 cu m. The project plans to eventually transport CO2 at low- temperature and low-pressure levels respectively of minus 50 C and 0.7 MPa (megapascal - pressure at sea level ~0.1MPa) on the EXCOOL, after starting at medium- temperature and medium-pressure levels respectively of minus 20 C and 2.0 MPa. Sounds easy? Well, lowering CO2 temperatures require careful handling, as CO2 becomes dry ice at about minus 56.6 C with 0.52 MPa and changes in its content from mingling with impurities. During trial voyages, the project will also examine sloshing (a common issue with LNG although more in the past) of CO2, as in whether CO2 will become dry ice from sailing in different sea areas due to the difference in wave behaviors. As explained by S&P, Japan sees a need to launch its CCS business by 2030 and increase its CO2 storage volumes by 6 million-12 million mt/year thereafter to achieve 2050 carbon neutrality. Considering Japan’s plan to store 120 million-240 million mt/ year of CO2 at home and overseas by 2050, “this does not mean all of the volume will be transported overseas. However, the pursuit of [storing] 120 million mt [of CO2] would mean half of this would equate roughly [Japan’s] current LNG transport volumes,” the director of CCS policy office at the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) stated.
