Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
44th Annual IPLOCA Convention, Venice
27 September - 1 October 2010
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
How does Nacap decrease the emission of carbon dioxide
while bringing energy to its destination?
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Definition
“The Carbon Footprint is a measure of
the exclusive amount of carbon dioxide
emission that is directly and indirectly
caused by an activity”
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Why?
Carbon footprint is estimated in order to find out the environmental impact of
executing pipeline projects.
The outcome is useful both for Nacap, in order to offset the emissions and
reduce energy consumption (costs), as well as for clients who may wish to
consider the results in their decision making process.
Except for some research on CO2 emission for the production of certain types
of steel and plastic used in the pipeline industry, no in-depth research has been
executed for CO2 emissions of pipeline construction in the past.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
How is it calculated?
This research is based on five different pipeline diameters:
16, 20, 24, 36 and 48 inch diameter.
This approach is chosen in order to show the difference in emissions per
diameter and to establish a trend line for understanding the emission behavior
towards pipeline projects of different diameters.
The specific diameters were chosen because of their common occurrence in
projects.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Steel pipe production emission
The production process of the pipes is by far the largest emitter of
carbon dioxide in the carbon footprint of pipeline projects. It requires
significant energy to convert raw material into steel pipes.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Transportation emission
The transportation of various diameter line pipes over 1,000 kilometers
is given in kilograms CO2 whereby 1,000 km are taken as an average.
This component only concentrates on the heavy transportation of
pipeline projects. The transportation of personnel and business flights
is included in the overhead.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Equipment fuel usage emission
The equipment used during pipeline construction is an important
contributor of the total emission during a pipeline project.
The equipment is grouped into five separate equipment sections:
the earth moving equipment, heavy lifting equipment, typical pipeline
equipment, transportation equipment and others (compressors, pumps
etc.).
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Welding, coating and miscellaneous
The group “others” consists of consumables or small equipment which
are consumed, destroyed, wasted and or spent during the
production/execution period of a pipeline project. Nacap focuses on
the welding consumables and coating material used during pipeline
construction.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Construction
Facilities and overhead
The emission caused by overhead consists out of business flights,
transportation of personnel working in 8 different regional offices
and on construction sites as well as the emission caused by the
facilities.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Overview
1400
tons CO2 per km pipeline
1200
1000
Overhead
800
Coating & welding
Equipment fuel usage
Transport (1000 km)
600
Steel production & pipe rolling
400
200
0
16
20
24
36
48
Pipe diameter (inch)
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Steel pipe production
CO2 emission (ton/km pipe)
Thickness
(mm)
Weight
(ton/km
pipe)
Blast furnace
Continuous
casting
Rolling &
pipe
production
Total
16
7.95
77.9
120.7
1.1
11.9
133.7
20
9.82
120.3
186.4
1.7
18.4
206.4
24
10.25
150.6
233.5
2.1
23.0
258.6
36
14.35
316.3
490.3
4.4
48.3
543.0
48
19.30
567.2
879.2
7.9
86.7
973.7
Diameter
(inch)
CO2 emission for steel pipe production
The carbon steel for pipes used in the pipeline industry is produced in blast
furnaces. This process consumes a huge amount of energy.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Steel pipe production
One of the major components in the amount of CO2 emission throughout
the process is the production of steel pipes, a process pipeline construction
contractors cannot influence.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
How does Nacap contribute
to the reduction of
CO2 emission?
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Contribution by Nacap
The areas in which Nacap has influence on reduction of CO2 emission are:
-
Selection and use of heavy equipment;
Transportation of the pipes;
Welding and coating process; and
Transportation of equipment and personal (overhead).
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Transportation
•
•
•
•
The transportation activity is divided into two different parts; equipment and pipes.
The calculation of transportation emission is based on an average of 100 grams of
CO2 per ton/km for the combination of boat, rail and road transportation.
The weight of pipes to be transported depends on the pipe thickness.
The weight of equipment per km pipe was calculated by dividing a ‘typical’ spread for
a certain diameter by a ‘typical’ project length.
Weight (ton/km pipe)
Diameter
(inch)
16
20
24
36
48
CO2 Emission (ton/km pipe)
Pipes
Equipment
Pipe transport
Equipment
transport
77.9
120.3
150.6
316.3
567.2
16.8
32.0
58.7
139.2
234.7
7.79
12.03
15.06
31.63
56.72
2.07
3.94
7.22
17.12
28.86
Total
9.85
15.96
22.28
48.75
85.59
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Transportation
The previous table shows the difference between the transportation of equipment and the
transportation of pipes. Equipment is in most cases comparable in weight to a truckload full
of pipes, but equipment is used over a much longer stretch.
The table shows an almost linear growth of the transportation activities.
The larger the diameter the more equipment is required to lay a pipeline. The weight of the
pipelines with similar thickness is also more or less linear in their emission.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Equipment
CO2 emissions (ton/km pipe)
Earth
moving
equipment
Heavy lifting
equipment
Pipeline
equipment
Transport
equipment
Other
equipment
Total
16
27.8
1.3
3.4
15.9
3.3
49.2
20
24.2
10.5
11.2
3.4
4.3
53.4
24
37.3
5.5
7.4
6.5
27.3
84.0
36
54.1
25.5
14.6
18.0
7.6
119.7
48
68.6
25.8
10.8
24.9
8.5
138.6
Diameter
(inch)
CO2 emissions of different type of equipment
•
•
The equipment used during pipeline construction is an important contributor to the
total emission. The equipment is grouped into five separate equipment sections.
The table illustrates the emission of the equipment. The emission is calculated by
multiplying the equipment fuel usage by the CO2 conversion factor for diesel.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Equipment
CO2 emissions (ton/km pipe)
140
120
100
Other equipment
80
Transport equipment
Pipeline equipment
60
Heavy lifting equipment
40
Earth moving equipment
20
0
16
20
24
36
48
Pipe diameter
CO2 emission for different types of equipment is based on the fuel
consumption on real projects.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Equipment
The previous chart highlights the difference in emissions between a 24” and a 36” pipeline
being higher than emission between 36” and 48”, while their difference in diameter is the
same (12”). The explanation is the usage of heavy lifting material. For instance,
pipeline projects below a 30” diameter use less side-booms in terms of hours and fuel usage.
However the largest emitter group within the equipment section is the earth moving
equipment due to the high fuel consumption required to move large amounts of soil to
lay the pipeline.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Welding & coating
Use of welding consumables & pipe coating
•
•
The use of welding consumables hardly has any impact. The electricity used for the
welding is produced by generators, of which the fuel consumption is taken into
account under ‘equipment’.
The application of pipeline coating has a substantial impact on the total footprint.
To produce one ton of polypropylene and polyethylene, 1.7 tons of CO2 is emitted.
Weight (ton/km)
Dia (inch)
16
20
24
36
48
CO2 emissions (ton/km pipe)
Coating
Electrodes
Coating
Electrodes
Total
4.0
5.0
6.0
9.0
12.0
0.04
0.07
0.09
0.27
0.66
6.8
8.5
10.2
15.3
20.4
0.06
0.12
0.16
0.47
1.13
6.9
8.6
10.4
15.8
21.5
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Overhead
CO2 emission by overhead is based on business flights, personnel
car transportation and facilities.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Overhead
•
•
•
The emission from facilities is based on an average office and extrapolated to the
total number of buildings. The Nacap head office emits an average of 121 tons of
CO2 annually.
The emission from business flights is based on flights for Nacap Head Office and
extrapolated to the total organization. In 2008, Nacap Headquarters booked more
than 600 flights which led to 342 tons of CO2 emissions.
The emission from traveling by road are based on the total number of employees and
the average traveling distance. The table shows that the transportation of personnel
is by far the largest emitter within the overhead activities.
CO2 emissions (ton/km pipe)
Facilities
Flights
Cars
Total
CO2 total (ton)
967
1,368
14,400
17,701
per km pipe
2.4
3.3
35.0
40.7
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Results
1 KM
The amount of CO2 produced by constructing 1 km of 48” pipeline is similar to
the amount of CO2 caused by burning the gas that is stored under 80 bar in
7.3 km of the same pipeline.
Despite the fact that the majority of the emission is caused by the steel pipe
production, the results give the construction industry valuable insights.
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Results
CO2 emissions (ton/km pipe)
Steel
production
& pipe
rolling
Transport
(1000 km)
Equipment
fuel usage
Coating &
welding
Overhead
Total
16
133.7
9.85
49.2
6.9
40.7
240.4
20
206.4
15.96
53.4
8.6
40.7
325.1
24
258.6
22.28
84.0
10.4
40.7
415.9
36
543.0
48.75
119.7
15.8
40.7
768.0
48
973.7
85.59
138.6
21.5
40.7
1,260.1
Diameter
(inch)
Total CO2 emissions for laying a pipeline
The above table shows the total CO2 emission for the construction of 1 km
pipeline of several diameters (based on the assumptions given).
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Pipeline CO2 emission
How to calculate CO2 emission of a pipeline project?
www.nacap.com: Pipeline carbon footprint calculator
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Carbon Footprint of Pipeline Projects
Typical 48” Pipeline Project
How does Nacap decrease the emission of carbon dioxide while bringing
energy to its destination?
- Use of new sidebooms and paywelders compared to old models from the 90's
reducing fuel consumption by up to 40%;
- Efficient transportation and just-in-time delivery of line pipes resulting in reduction
by 10%;
- Use of coating process with Stopaq method and new happy happer reduced energy
consumption by 5%;
- Mostly local staff is hired on projects, reducing travelling by 30%.
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We bring energy to its destination
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