Consequence Analysis of the Satartia Carbon Dioxide Release

The Satartia, MS, CO₂ pipeline rupture shows how topography can turn an already hazardous release into a community-wide crisis. Future pipeline projects must account for terrain to avoid underestimating exposure risk.

Decarbonizing the U.S. industrial economy will require gigaton-scale carbon capture and storage efforts. This will include the formation of geological storage hubs with numerous industrial sources transporting carbon dioxide (CO₂) to dedicated storage sites. Although transport of liquefied CO₂ by truck or railcar is feasible, pipeline transport is usually the safest and most economical option.

Currently, approximately 5,000 miles of CO₂ pipelines are in operation in the U.S. Additional pipeline systems are in the planning stage to service geological injection sites undergoing permitting and design. However, pipeline construction plans have been met with public opposition. Some climate activists have argued that CO₂ pipelines pose unacceptable risks to the public. An example of this risk frequently cited is the CO₂ pipeline failure that occurred on Feb. 22, 2020, in Satartia, MS. The Satartia event resulted in the release of over 1.3 million gallons of CO₂, which sent 45 people to the hospital and required the evacuation of about 200 residents. This release was unusual due to the unfortunate location of the pipeline failure, which resulted in downward dispersion of the dense vapor. The steep terrain channeled the dense vapor directly into the community and local roadways owing to the topography surrounding the release.

The consequence evaluation presented in this article shows that the topography of the release site played a major role in the dense cloud dispersion behavior and was a major causal factor in the exposure risk. Integral models of dense gas dispersion on flat terrain significantly underestimate the exposure risk.

The article makes two key recommendations: consider the topography associated with CO₂ pipeline routing, especially in locations at an elevation above a community; and, if possible, avoid locating a CO₂ pipeline in terrain where ground movement hazards are likely...