The CapTransCO? project, a collaboration between DBI, VNG and Total Energies and funded by BMWK, assesses the feasibility of a CO? transport infrastructure for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) in the Central German Chemical Region. The study examines both technical and economic aspects of establishing a CO? pipeline network, connecting industrial emitters with storage sites and potential CO? users. The project models a collection pipeline network connecting emission sites to a large CO? cavern, with plans for a transmission pipeline connecting the cavern to a CO? shipping terminal in the northern German coastal region.

The study presents the different aspects of this infrastructure and our modelling approaches. We also discuss the critical elements of the value chain, such as CO? capture technologies, pipeline transport, and intermediate storage, including the potential use of salt caverns for CO? buffering. The study evaluates the CO? sources and demand within the region, assesses the technical challenges of CO? compression and transportation (permeation), and models different transport scenarios. Key findings on the optimization of CO? transport infrastructure and the thermodynamic behavior of CO? with different impurities are derived.

We emphasize the results of technical simulations of pipeline operation, including cost analyses and sensitivity analyses, which provide a roadmap for the gradual implementation of a CCS/CCU network in central Germany.