• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.133-160
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• 2018

$CO_2$ storage is a very important technology for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and has been considered as almost the only viable and effective option for immediate large-scale $CO_2$ sequestration. Small-scale demonstration project for offshore $CO_2$ storage in the Pohang Basin is the transitional stage R&D program for technological preparation of large-scale $CO_2$ storage project in Korea. Through the extensive exploration research for prospective $CO_2$ storage sites, the offshore strata in the Pohang Basin was recommended for the storage formation of the small-scale demonstration project. The Pohang Offshore Storage Project launched at 2013, and has accomplished the technical demonstration and technological independence in a wide range of $CO_2$ storage technology, such as geophysical exploration, storage site characterization, storage design, offshore platform construction, injection-well drilling and completion, deployment of injection facility, operation of $CO_2$ injection, and $CO_2$ monitoring. The project successfully carried out $CO_2$ test injection in early 2017, and achieved its final goal for technical development and demonstration of $CO_2$ storage in Korea. The realization of $CO_2$ injection in this project is the measurable result and has been recorded as the first success in Korea. The Pohang Offshore Storage Project has a future plan for the continuous operation of $CO_2$ injection and completion of $CO_2$ monitoring system. The project has provided in-house technical and practical expertises, which will be a solid foundation for the commercial-scale $CO_2$ storage business in Korea. Additionally, the project will help to secure national technical competitiveness in growing international technology market for $CO_2$ storage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2015

To mitigate the greenhouse gas emission, many carbon capture and storage projects are underway all over the world. In Korea, many studies focus on the storage of $CO_2$ in the offshore sediment. Assurance of safety is one of the most important issues in the geological storage of $CO_2$. Especially, the assessment of possibility of leakage and amount of leaked $CO_2$ is very crucial to analyze the safety of marine geological storage of $CO_2$. In this study, the leakage of injected $CO_2$ through fault was numerically studied. TOUGH2-MP ECO2N was used to simulate the subsurface behavior of injected $CO_2$. The storage site was 150 m thick saline aquifer located 825 m under the continental shelf. It was assumed that $CO_2$ leak was happened through the fault located 1,000 m away from the injection well. The injected $CO_2$ could migrate through the aquifer by both pressure difference driven by injection and buoyancy force. The enough pressure differences made it possible the $CO_2$ to migrate to the bottom of the fault. The $CO_2$ could be leaked to seabed through the fault due to the buoyancy force. Prior to leakage of the injected $CO_2$, the formation water leaked to seabed. When $CO_2$ reached the seabed, leakage of formation water stopped but the same amount of sea water starts to flow into the underground as the amount of leaked $CO_2$. To analyze the effect of injection rate on the leakage behavior, the injection rate of $CO_2$ was varied as 0.5, 0.75, and $1MtCO_2/year$. The starting times of leakage at 1, 0.75 and $0.5MtCO_2/year$ injection rates are 11.3, 15.6 and 23.2 years after the injection, respectively. The leakage of $CO_2$ to the seabed continued for a period time after the end of $CO_2$ injection. The ratios of total leaked $CO_2$ to total injected $CO_2$ at 1, 0.75 and $0.5MtCO_2/year$ injection rates are 19.5%, 11.5% and 2.8%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.18-29
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• 2010

Offshore subsurface storage of $CO_2$ is regarded as one of the most promising options to response severe climate change. Marine geological storage of $CO_2$ is to capture $CO_2$ from major point sources, to transport to the storage sites and to store $CO_2$ into the offshore subsurface geological structure such as the depleted gas reservoir and deep sea saline aquifer. Since 2005, we have developed relevant technologies for marine geological storage of $CO_2$. Those technologies include possible storage site surveys and basic designs for $CO_2$ transport and storage processes. To design a reliable $CO_2$ marine geological storage system, we devised a hypothetical scenario and used a numerical simulation tool to study its detailed processes. The process of transport $CO_2$ from the onshore capture sites to the offshore storage sites can be simulated with a thermodynamic equation of state. Before going to main calculation of process design, we compared and analyzed the relevant equation of states. To evaluate the predictive accuracies of the examined equation of states, we compare the results of numerical calculations with experimental reference data. Up to now, process design for this $CO_2$ marine geological storage has been carried out mainly on pure $CO_2$. Unfortunately the captured $CO_2$ mixture contains many impurities such as $N_2$, $O_2$, Ar, $H_{2}O$, $SO_{\chi}$, $H_{2}S$. A small amount of impurities can change the thermodynamic properties and then significantly affect the compression, purification and transport processes. This paper analyzes the major design parameters that are useful for constructing onshore and offshore $CO_2$ transport systems. On the basis of a parametric study of the hypothetical scenario, we suggest relevant variation ranges for the design parameters, particularly the flow rate, diameter, temperature, and pressure.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.123-128
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• 2013

Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the key players in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction portfolio for mitigating climate change. CCS makes it possible not only to reduce a huge amount of carbon dioxide directly from coal power plant but also to maintain the carbon concentrated-energy infrastructure. The objective of the present paper is to review and introduce R&D progress and large scale demonstration plan focused on marine geological storage in Republic of Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.10-18
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• 2021

CO₂ storage technology in an aquifer is one of the most effective way to decrease global warming due to a high storage capacity and economics. A demonstration-scale offshore CO₂ storage project was performed in a geological deep aquifer in the Pohang Basin, Korea for a technological development of large-scale CO₂ storage. A challenging issue in the early design stage of the project was to establish the proper injectivity during CO₂ injection. To solve this issue, injection conditions were calculated by calculating injection rate, pressure, temperature, CO₂ phase change, and thermodynamic properties. For this study, we simulated and numerically analyzed CO₂ phase change from gas to supercritical phase and flow behavior in transport piping and injection tubing using OLGA program. Our results provide the injectivity conditions of CO₂ injection system combined with a bottomhole pressure of an aquifer.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.161-174
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• 2018

$CO_2$ storage site for small-scale demonstration has been investigated in Yeongil Bay, Pohang, SE Korea, using seismic survey and exploration well data. We found a potential storage formation consisting mainly of conglomerate and sandstone. The storage formation unconformably overlies volcanic basement rocks that are located in a depth from 650 to 950 m (below sea level). The depth of the storage formation is suitable for injecting supercritical $CO_2$ in the Pohang Basin. The average thickness of the storage formation is about 123 m, which possibly provides sufficient capacity at the level of small-scale storage demonstration. The overlying fine-grained deposits consist mainly of marine hemipelagic muds and interlayered turbidite sands. The overlying formation is considered as a good seal rock that is over 600 m thick and widely distributed in the onshore and offshore portions of the basin. NNE-trending faults found in the study area likely formed at basement level, probably not continue to seafloor. Such faults are interpreted as syndepositional faults involved to the basin initiation. This study reveals that the offshore area of the Pohang Basin contains deep geological formations suitable for small-scale $CO_2$ storage demonstration.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.193-206
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• 2018

In this study, as part of the "Small-scale $CO_2$ Injection-Demonstration Project in Offshore Pohang Basin", we performed drilling and completion of a $CO_2$ injection well from the offshore platform installed in the Yeongil Bay, Pohang city, Gyeongsang buk-do. The drilling of injection well was carried out from an offshore platform installing on the sediment formations of the Pohang Basin. Drilling diameters were reduced by stages, depending on the formation pressure and groundwater pressure along a depth and the casing installation and cement grouting in drilled hole were performed at each stage. The injection well was drilled to a final depth of 816.5 m with a hole diameter of 4 7/8 inches (${\Phi}124mm$) and the perforated casing for an injection section was installed in a depth of 746.5~816.5 m. Injection tubing, packer, and christmas tree were installed for the completion of an injection well for $CO_2$. The validation project of the $CO_2$ injection was accomplished successfully by drilling the injection well and installing the injection facilities, and through the suitable $CO_2$ injection process. The current injection facility is a facility for small-scale injection demonstration of 100 tons. In the case of large-scale demonstration facility test of a capacity of 10,000 tons, research is underway through the upgrading of the injection facilities.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.217-246
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• 2018

During the selection and characterization of target formations in the Small-scale Offshore $CO_2$ Storage Demonstration Project in the Pohang Basin, we have carefully investigated the possibility of induced earthquakes and leakage of $CO_2$ during the injection, and have designed the storage processes to minimize these effects. However, people in Pohang city have a great concern on $CO_2$-injection-intrigued seismicity, since they have greatly suffered from the 5.4 magnitude earthquake on Nov. 15, 2017. The research team of the project performed an extensive self-investigation on the safety issues, especially on the possible $CO_2$ leakage from the target formation and induced earthquakes. The target formation is 10 km apart from the epicenter of the Pohang earthquake and the depth is also quite shallow, only 750 to 800 m from the sea bottom. The project performed a pilot injection in the target formation from Jan. 12 to Mar. 12, 2017, which implies that there are no direct correlation of the Pohang earthquake on Nov. 15, 2017. In addition, the $CO_2$ injection of the storage project does not fracture rock formations, instead, the supercritical $CO_2$ fluid replaces formation water in the pore space gradually. The self-investigation results show that there is almost no chance for the injection to induce significant earthquakes unless injection lasts for a very long time to build a very high pore pressure, which can be easily monitored. The amount of injected $CO_2$ in the project was around 100 metric-tonne that is irrelevant to the Pohang earthquake. The investigation result on long-term safety also shows that the induced earthquakes or the reactivation of existing faults can be prevented successfully when the injection pressure is controlled not to demage cap-rock formation nor exceed Coulomb stresses of existing faults. The project has been performing extensive studies on critical stress for fracturing neighboring formations, reactivation stress of existing faults, well-completion processes to minimize possible leakage, transport/leakage monitoring of injected $CO_2$, and operation procedures for ensuring the storage safety. These extensive studies showed that there will be little chance in $CO_2$ leakage that affects human life. In conclusion, the Small-scale Offshore $CO_2$ Storage Demonstration Project in the Pohang Basin would not cause any induced earthquakes nor signifiant $CO_2$ leakage that people can sense. The research team will give every effort to secure the safety of the storage site.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.187-197
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• 2010

Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage(CCS) is regarded as one of the most promising options to response climate change. CCS is a three-stage process consisting of the capture of carbon dioxide($CO_2$), the transport of $CO_2$ to a storage location, and the long term isolation of $CO_2$ from the atmosphere for the purpose of carbon emission mitigation. Up to now, process design for this $CO_2$ marine geological storage has been carried out mainly on pure $CO_2$. Unfortunately the $CO_2$ mixture captured from the power plants and steel making plants contains many impurities such as $N_2$, $O_2$, Ar, $H_2O$, $SO_2$, $H_2S$. A small amount of impurities can change the thermodynamic properties and then significantly affect the compression, purification, transport and injection processes. In order to design a reliable $CO_2$ marine geological storage system, it is necessary to analyze the impact of these impurities on the whole CCS process at initial design stage. The purpose of the present paper is to compare and analyse the relevant physical property models including BWRS, PR, PRBM, RKS and SRK equations of state, and NRTL-RK model which are crucial numerical process simulation tools. To evaluate the predictive accuracy of the equation of the state for $CO_2-SO_2$ mixture, we compared numerical calculation results with reference experimental data. In addition, optimum binary parameter to consider the interaction of $CO_2$ and $SO_2$ molecules was suggested based on the mean absolute percent error. In conclusion, we suggest the most reliable physical property model with optimized binary parameter in designing the $CO_2-SO_2$ mixture marine geological storage process.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2016

To inject huge amount of $CO_2$ for CCS application, high pressure pipeline transport is accompanied. Rapid depressurization of $CO_2$ pipeline is required in case of transient processes such as accident and maintenance. In this study, numerical analysis on the depressurization of high pressure $CO_2$ pipeline was carried out. The prediction capability of the numerical model was evaluated by comparing the benchmark experiments. The numerical models well predicted the liquid-vapor two-phase depressurization. On the other hands, there were some limitations in predicting the temperature behavior during the supercritical, liquid phase and gaseous phase expansions.