Correlations among the design factors of the CO 2 ocean sequestration system, GLAD

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 30; no. 11; pp. 2308 - 2317
• Main Authors: Niwa, Kentaro, Kosugi, Sanai, Saito, Takayuki, Kajishima, Takeo, Hamaogi, Kenji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2005
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2004.08.027

An ocean sequestration method to dispose of a large amount of CO 2 gas has been developed to mitigate global warming. This system is called the gas lift advanced dissolution (GLAD) system. This system works by dissolving CO 2 gas into seawater at a depth of 200–300. The CO 2-rich seawater is then transported to a depth greater than 1000 m. This system is composed of short riser pipes for gas-lift and CO 2 dissolution, a tank for separating indissoluble gas ingredients from seawater, and long down-comers for transporting CO 2-rich seawater to great depths. For the system to function optimally, the riser pipe needs to be long and wide enough to dissolve CO 2 thoroughly. Also the down-comer has to be long enough to transport the CO 2-rich seawater to great depths and sufficiently large in diameter to enable transportation of large quantities of seawater. The most important aspect for disposal of CO 2 into the ocean is minimizing the environmental impact, especially its influence on marine life. The CO 2 concentration of seawater, therefore, must be limited below a certain value in order to minimize the environmental impact. This paper describes a mathematical model of GLAD's internal flow, which was derived to optimize the system specifications, and the correlations among the design factors of GLAD system derived by using this mathematical model.