In Japan could be saved in three and a half years, 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the sea floor. Seismologists, however, are suspicious.

CO2 dumping on Japan's Northern island of Hokkaido: The greenhouse gas in the sea floor photo: Martin Fritz

TOMAKOMAI taz | From the roof of the control center is pressed, the display can be place in the fight against climate change good overview. A striking blue painted gas pipeline runs in the four football fields large grounds full of machines, pumps, and Tanks with three distinctive slender metal towers in the centre. "In the highest tower of an amine solution washes out the carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases that come with the Pipeline from the refinery there," explains project Manager, Jiro Tanaka of the view point.

He points to three powerful compressors are used to compress the carbon dioxide, then to the Pacific ocean, adjacent to the site. "Back there on the horizon, we store the CO2 deep in the ocean floor," explained the Japanese.

We are located on the outskirts of the industrial zone of the city of Tomakomai on Japan's Northern island of Hokkaido. Many of the 170,000 residents*work in paper and chemical plants, the oil Refinery of Idemitsu Kosan, and in the port. Tomakomai was therefore a logical choice for the first large CCS demonstration plant in Japan – CCS stands for Carbon Capture and Storage.

The 260-million-Euro, state-funded Experiment has reached its target: Since April of 2016, the plant has deposited more than 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide and is stored in the seabed. The amount corresponds to the annual emissions of 75,000 cars in Japan.

The operator of the project is rated as a success: The carbon dioxide had low risk and acceptable cost in the underground sink. "We can now think in much larger dimensions," says President Shoichi Ishii of Japan CCS, an Association of 35 companies from the Japanese Oil and gas companies, including Japan Petroleum Exploration and JXTG Holdings.

Also, the costs of the proceedings from an international point of view. The energy-efficient CO2-capture with the investment of BASF and the Drilling of the injection pipes of the country, expressed the CCS costs compared to the conventional method by one-half. "In the case of a scaling to 1 Million tons per year, our method will cost around 30 dollars per ton," says project Manager Yoshihiro Sawada.

The project has a global significance: the atmosphere heats up less, not more is allowed to create humanity so much CO2. Electricity, heat, chemicals, vehicles, machinery, building materials – these needs have to satisfy the people in the future become climate-neutral. During the Transition to a carbon-free world, it could be useful, carbon dioxide from dirty industrial processes to capture immediately and make use of it, either chemically or to store in the soil. The International energy Agency estimates, use of CCS facilities emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050 would be 14 percent lower.

But the residents of Tomakomai, the project is eyed with skepticism. Many citizens feared that the injections in the underground could trigger earthquakes. The fishermen's Association warned of rising CO2, which kills the marine fauna. The Fears are understandable: The extreme compression forces the carbon dioxide into a "supercritical" state: It turns red, it is dense like a liquid, but remains viscous, such as a Gas and is lighter than water. The injection is done two at a shallow angle drilled pipes in a layer of Sandstone at 1,200 meters and a volcanic layer in 2,700 meters depth.

On your last Kilometer, these pipes are perforated, so that the supercritical CO2 is emitted from the holes and over a large area in the pores of the Rock penetrates. "The injected Gas forms a huge flat disk directly to the next impermeable layer of Rock," describes Manager Sawada storage. Also tectonic tensions arise, however, because the carbon dioxide displaces the underground stored salt water. The seismologist Akira Ishii, Professor Emeritus at Nagoya University, warns: "It will be a tragedy if the storage in Tomakomai goes on," said Ishii.

The expert was the result of the violent earthquake of February 2019 to the CO2 injections. But the operator explained it as a result of an earlier, more powerful earthquake in September 2018. Its epicentre was only 30 kilometres from the CO2-Saving station. In Tomakomai books from the shelves fell, in the walls developed cracks. However, the numerous sensors on the sea floor and coast, beat an Alarm – all the carbon dioxide remained in its place in the sea floor. For at least two years of underground safety is observed by way of consuming.

Now, Japan is faced with the difficult decision, the first country in the fight against the carbon dioxide the way to the CCS-storage path. For the policy that would be tempting: Then Japan could avoid to stand because of its large industrial capacity, and many coal-fired power plants on the climate, pillory. The next project is a biomass power plant with CO2 capture is currently being built, the operation is planned to begin in 2023. "We need a consistent business model," calls for the Meti-top officials Yukihiro Kawaguchi. The key is the reduction of the cost.

The potential is certainly there: The potential for CO2 storage in Japan is estimated at 146 billion metric tons, 100 times more than the annual emissions. Alone the ground in front of Tomokomai could absorb 300 million tonnes, a thousand times as much as in the case of the pilot project.