Accoat Contributes to European Cocate CO2 Transportation Project
29 January 2010
The European scientific research project Cocate was signed in December 2009 and starts this month. The objective is to collect CO2 from areas in which it is generated and transport it to, for example, redundant oilfields deep underground: in layman's terms, reducing CO2 emissions by storing the gas instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. This means that Cocate tackles the problems of rolling out a shared transportation infrastructure in Europe.
The project is led by Institut Francais du Pétrole (IFP), who have brought together brings together nine research and industrial partners: IFP themselves, Accoat, Le Havre Region Development Agency (France), Geogreen (France), SINTEF Energy Research (Norway), DNV (Norway), TNO (Netherlands), Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) and SANERI (South Africa).
Cocate is a three-year project with a budget of €4.5m, and nearly €3m is contributed by the European Commission.
Accoat's part in the research
Accoat comes into the equation in the transport phase of the process because further research is required in this area. The company's first task will be to map the mechanisms and circumstances under which CO2 corrodes pipes and the risks that would arise from such corrosion.
Accoat's role thus encompasses safety optimisation and corrosion prevention: a role which entails significant responsibility, given the fact that internal pipe surface treatments are crucial to protecting pipeline from CO2 corrosion and thus providing secure CO2 transport for the benefits of all Europeans.
