A scalable infrastructure model for carbon capture and storage: SimCCS

Abstract

In the carbon capture and storage (CCS) process, CO2 sources and geologic reservoirs may be spatially dispersed and need to be connected through a CO2 pipeline network. The full potential of CCS to mitigate CO2 will only be realized through comprehensive planning of CCS infrastructure. We introduce a scalable infrastructure model for CCS (simCCS), the first model to generate an integrated, cost-minimizing CCS system. SimCCS determines where and how much CO2 to capture and store, and where to build and connect pipelines of different sizes, by minimizing the total cost of sequestering a given amount of CO2. SimCCS can aggregate CO2 flows between several sources and reservoirs into trunk pipelines�the costs and routing of which incorporate several social and physical factors�that take advantage of economies of scale. SimCCS' deployment of a realistic, capacitated pipeline network is a major advancement for planning CCS infrastructure. We demonstrate simCCS using a set of 37 CO2 sources and 14 reservoirs for the state of California. The results highlight the importance of systematic planning for CCS infrastructure by examining the sensitivity of CCS infrastructure, as optimized by simCCS, to varying CO2 targets. We finish by identifying future research areas for CCS infrastructure.