KNUST Research Week and Scientific Conference: Empowering Researchers to Achieve Impactful Outcomes

The transportation of captured CO2 represents a critical bottleneck in large-scale Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) deployment, particularly in developing economies. While existing research predominantly focuses on CO2 capture technologies and storage solutions, the transportation value chain, especially pipeline transport optimization, remains underexplored in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study addresses this gap by developing a comprehensive simulation model for supercritical CO2 pipeline transportation tailored to Ghana's oil and gas infrastructure context.

I present a novel simulation framework that integrates thermo physical property modeling with pipeline integrity analysis, specifically accounting for impurities commonly present in captured CO2 streams. Our methodology combines computational fluid dynamics modeling with economic optimization algorithms to determine optimal pipeline design parameters. The model incorporates Ghana-specific environmental conditions, existing pipeline infrastructure, and regulatory constraints to provide realistic transportation scenarios.

Preliminary simulation results demonstrate that maintaining supercritical conditions (>7.38 MPa, >31.1°C) throughout the transport network reduces energy requirements by 23% compared to dense-phase transport while ensuring single-phase flow stability. Economic analysis reveals that optimized pipeline routing can achieve transportation costs of $2.1-3.8 per tonne CO2 over distances of 50-200 km, making CCUS projects economically viable when integrated with enhanced oil recovery operations. The model successfully predicts pressure drop profiles with 94% accuracy when validated against international pipeline data.

This research provides the first comprehensive pipeline simulation framework, offering critical insights for policy makers and industry stakeholders. The findings support Ghana's net-zero commitments under the Paris Agreement while demonstrating how developing nations can leverage existing oil and gas infrastructure for large-scale carbon management. Future work will extend the model to multi-phase transport scenarios and integrate real-time monitoring capabilities for enhanced operational safety.

Keywords: Carbon capture utilization storage, CO2 pipeline transport, supercritical fluid dynamics, Ghana energy infrastructure.