Conceptual design of an integrated solid CO2 penetrator marine disposal system

Abstract A disposal technique for carbon dioxide, consisting of burying solid CO2 penetrators into the deep seabed has been proposed. The expected weight of these penetrators can be as large as 1000 tons with lengths between 20 to 40m and diameters of 4–5m. In order to produce and dispose of such large penetrators, an engineering approach has to be developed to investigate the feasibility of the process from the sources (industrial and thermal electrical production sites) to the sink (deep marine geological formation). A 5 Mt/year CO2 disposal capacity, has been selected for the study. This corresponds to a 500 MW(e) coal fired power plant assumed to be in the vicinity of a coastal port. The selected penetrators are 540 tons weight, approximately 30m high and 4m diameter. Two concepts have been investigated. The first consists in producing penetrators at a land based factory and then shipping them to a disposal site in specially designed ships having the capacity of carrying 148 penetrators. The second assumes that liquid CO2 can be collected from a port facility, transported by a liquid CO2 container ship to a mobile marine penetrator production and launching platform. The cost of these solutions have not been evaluated in the present work.