Why is commercial demonstration of CLP limited to relatively short (less than 100 miles) and relatively small (less than 5 million tons per year) projects?
Actually, longer and larger projects are more economical due to economy of scale for pipelines. However, for a demonstration project which is the first commercial project of its kind, it is not prudent to have the pipeline longer than 100 miles and pipe diameter larger than 10 inches. Otherwise, it would be too costly to modify the system after it is built. Being the first commercial project, there may be unexpected findings which would require system modifications in order for the system to operate smoothly and efficiently. Therefore, the first project (demo project) should be as small as possible and yet be economically feasible. If the project is too small (say less than 10 miles or of diameter smaller than 8 inches), it would be difficult to compete with truck or train economically, and hence cannot be justified on cost, unless it is a government subsidized demonstration project.
