As industries worldwide accelerate decarbonization efforts, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is emerging as a critical pathway to reduce emissions while creating new economic value. While capture technologies continue to advance, the ability to move captured carbon dioxide efficiently and economically is increasingly shaping the pace and scale of CCUS deployment. As CCUS projects move from concept toward execution, success is increasingly defined not only by capture technology, but by whether projects are designed to be bankable, deliverable and resilient to cost, schedule and infrastructure risk.
In World Pipeline’s March 2026 Issue, Algert Prifti, CCUS Solutions Portfolio manager, Black & Veatch, writes on emerging CCUS. He notes that demand for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions is rising across multiple sectors. “Proven CDR and CCS solutions can be deployed across many industry sectors to reduce carbon intensity,” Prifti said.
Industries including power generation, cement production, pulp and paper and ethanol manufacturing are responding to growing demand for low‑carbon energy, fuels and materials. Beyond reducing emissions, these investments are creating opportunities to monetize captured CO₂.
In addition to producing low‑carbon intensity products, operations can generate a secondary revenue stream through financially attractive CO₂ offtake opportunities tied to transportation, utilization and sequestration,” Prifti said.
The viability of these opportunities depends on several factors to critical investment decisions, including the type and location of CO₂ sources, access to transportation infrastructure, readiness for utilization pathways such as CO₂‑enhanced oil recovery and the availability of permanent sequestration through Class VI injection wells. While CO₂ pipelines have supported enhanced oil recovery for decades, expanding pipeline networks remains complex and capital‑intensive.
“Challenges remain in deploying new supercritical CO₂ pipelines,” Prifti said, citing high costs, long‑distance routing, land acquisition requirements and public acceptance concerns. These challenges often translate into extended timelines, higher capital exposure and permitting uncertainty, factors that can delay or derail projects before they reach final investment decision. As a result, many otherwise viable capture projects are effectively stranded due to limited access to pipeline capacity or sequestration sites.
To address these constraints, liquid CO₂ (LCO₂) transport by truck and rail is gaining traction as a practical way to reduce execution risk and enable phased, execution-ready CCUS development. Rather than replacing pipelines, liquid transport enables connectivity across the CO₂ value chain, particularly for dispersed or remote emission sources.
“Liquid CO₂ truck and rail transport solutions are an effective way to connect various CO₂ sources for monetization of centrally and regionally located CO₂ capture infrastructure,” Prifti said.
Liquid CO₂ transport relies on commercially proven technologies for capture, dehydration and liquefaction, along with standardized loading and unloading systems. CO₂ can be captured from both low‑concentration post‑combustion emissions and high‑concentration process streams, such as those produced at ethanol facilities. Once liquefied, CO₂ can be transported by truck or rail to unloading terminals, where it is stored, compressed to a supercritical state and routed for utilization or permanent geological storage. Using commercially proven liquefaction and logistics technologies allows project teams to reduce first‑of‑a‑kind risk while maintaining flexibility as CO₂ networks scale.
This flexibility is particularly valuable for biogenic CO₂ sources. When captured using proven technologies, biogenic CO₂ from pulp and paper and ethanol operations can generate additional revenue through demand in voluntary CDR markets, offering an alternative to traditional sequestration pathways. For many project developers, these pathways support earlier commercialization with lower infrastructure dependency, improving overall project economics and delivery confidence.
Based on recent project experience, Black & Veatch has found that project success depends on balancing storage capacity, throughput, transportation logistics and capital and operating costs. While larger on‑site storage and loadout capacity can streamline operations, these benefits must be weighed against overall project economics.
“Achieving the right balance among these parameters is critical to making a project economically viable,” Prifti said.
By integrating flexible CO₂ transport strategies with existing and new infrastructure, organizations can unlock stranded assets, monetize captured emissions and accelerate deployment of economically viable low‑carbon projects. Ultimately, flexible transport strategies support a broader CCUS delivery mindset — one that prioritizes execution‑ready design, commercial realism and phased scalability. “Leveraging liquid CO₂ logistics maximizes the value of proven infrastructure and supports the next wave of CCUS growth,” Prifti said.
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