What are the risks of transporting CO2?
The risks of transporting CO2 are low, says Edinburgh universitys Haszeldine. CO2 is not flammable which means theres no chance of a burning explosion as there is with natural gas. There is already an established pipeline network in the United States that ships CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), where CO2 is injected into oil reservoirs to extract more oil. The track record on this network shows about a tenth of the number of accidents compared to the number on natural gas pipelines, says Haszeldine. The main risk with CO2 transportation is that a pipe carrying pressurised CO2 bursts, creating the Joule-Thomson Effect. This means the pressurised CO2 cools and solidifies, causing potential damage to pipes and creating a CO2 snow of ice missiles. The effect is instantaneous, says Haszeldine. CO2 is also an asphyxiate. One case, often quoted to illustrate the potential dangers of CO2, was the leakage at Lake Nyos, Cameroon in 1986. Following a volcanic eruption, large quantities of CO2
