[Carbon Storage] Local Geological Storage of CO2 Feasible: NSC

[Carbon Storage] Local Geological Storage of CO2 Feasible: NSC (Chinese Version)

The China Post (2011/06/26) & udn.com (2011/06/25) The Cabinet-level National Science Council (NSC) is actively proceeding with a carbon dioxide storage (CO₂) project in an effort to accomplish the government's goal of reducing annual CO₂ emissions in 2025 to the same level as recorded in 2000, and cutting the emissions in 2050 to only 50 percent of the 2000 level.

At the moment, Taichung Thermal Power Plant, Formosa Plastic Group's naphtha cracking plant in the Mailiao Industrial Zone of Yunlin County and Hsing Ta Thermal Power Plant in Kaohsiung are the three major sources of CO₂ emissions, with their annual emissions reaching 40 million metric tons (mmt), 30 mmt an 15 mmt, respectively, according to Vice Chairman Cheng-hong CHEN of the NSC.

CHEN said that there are quite a few methods for reducing CO₂ emissions, and injecting carbon dioxide, generally in supercritical form, directly into underground geological formations is regarded as the most feasible ways.

He noted that the coastal areas adjacent to the aforementioned three plants are suitable for the geological storage of CO₂ emissions from the plants.

CHEN continued that the geological conditions of Taiwan are quite good, and there are many sandstone and shale formations 1,000 to 3,000 meters underground suitable for carbon sequestration or storage.

Earlier, the NSC's second-in-command visited Australia to tour the CO₂ geological storage operation there, and found that Taiwan also boasts the storage technology. He said that a super computer system can be applied to help locate the most suitable geological storage sites in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Jia-chen KUO, the convener of the NSC's task force on geological storage of CO₂, said how to prevent the stored CO₂ from leaking into the atmosphere is crucial to carrying out the geological storage project, because the leakage would eventually hurt the next generations.

In related news, Shu-kuen HSU, director of the Department of Earth Science at the National Central University and convener of the 2012 project concerning geological storage of CO₂ in Taiwan, said that following joint inspections by scholars and professors from National Cheng Kung University, National Chung Cheng University and National Central University, they have scored some achievements in this regard, finding some coastal areas suitable for the storage operation.

At the moment, HSU said, Taiwan's annual CO₂ emissions amount to 200 mmt, and it has to complete geological storage of 90 mmt per year to meet the government's goal of reducing the CO₂ emissions in 2025 to the same level as recorded in 2000.


Related Historical Message:
[Carbon Capture & Storage] CPC Presents R&D Achievement in Carbon Capture and Storage 2010/08/26


Further Information:
The China Post 2011/06/26
Udn.com 2011/06/25

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Science Council International Cooperation Sci-Tech Newsbrief
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(編輯記錄)