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told you yesterday (28th) that "carbon capture technology" that only picks carbon dioxide from the gas emitted by factories is important to slow
down global warming. After collecting the carbon, it goes through a separate and permanent sequesteration phase, which is important in many ways.

In Korea, we are also trying to store it under the sea, and an environmental reporter Jang Se-man visited the site.

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After flying 60 kilometers from
Ulsan to the East Sea Sea, a natural gas mining facility appears.

After 18 years of use, the gas was depleted and the East Sea gas field, which was stopped last year, will be converted into a carbon storage facility in the future.

Originally, natural gas drawn from the sea was piped to land, but carbon storage is reversed.

The metal pipe you see over there is a pipe that pumps natural gas from 2.5 kilometers under the sea, but the plan is to inject carbon dioxide into that metal pipe and put it on the seabed to isolate it.

It buries carbon dioxide collected by carbon capture in the empty space in the bedrock from which natural gas escapes.

We plan to invest 1 trillion won through public-private cooperation to store 30 million tons over the next 1 years.



Enlarge the image


[Lee Kyun Kwon/East Sea Gas Field K-CCUS Chief Inspector: Only by reducing carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through capture can carbon neutrality be realized theoretically and practically, so CCUS is a necessary technology.]

Internationally, the cost of capturing subsea mastication per ton of carbon is estimated at the level of $1~$100.

However, last month, the price of carbon credits in Europe exceeded 120 euros, and it is gradually becoming more economical.

Instead of buying credits, companies now have the option of leaving it to a carbon storage company to bury it in the ocean.

[Dr. Yoon Yeo-il/Korea Institute of Energy Technology: (Carbon capture technology) is already ready for commercialization, and I think that a new industry called CCS will probably be created if the storage technology is somewhat complete.]

Currently, the price of domestic carbon credits is only one-fifth that of Europe, but the price is bound to rise due to the tightening of emission regulations, which is expected to further increase attempts to store the seabed in Korea.

(Video Interview: Kang Dong-chul and Kim Se-kyung, Video Editor: Kim Ho-jin, CG: Choi Jae-young and Lee Jae-joon)


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Jang Se-man Environmental reporter

Q. What are the concerns about carbon leakage in the sea?

[Reporter Jang Se-man: If you look at the video for a moment. The liquid you see inside the device on the screen you see now is carbon dioxide produced by applying high pressure. It is injected into the submarine gas field through pipes in such a liquefied state. When it meets and mixes with water inside an empty gas field, carbon settles to the bottom due to the difference in density. Experts explain that it hardens into calcium carbonate crystals over time, so the possibility of leakage is low.]

Q. Do we have enough space to store carbon in the ocean?

[Reporter Jang: Actually, it's not enough. The government's plan is to bury 100 million tons of the seabed every year by 5, and about half of that has to be stored overseas. This is the same situation in other countries, so we are considering waste oil fields in Australia or the Middle East, and we may compete with foreign countries for bidding. So the chairman of the Carbon Neutrality Commission made this prediction, let's listen to it.]

[Kim Sang-hyup/Chairman of the Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee: I think one of the main tasks of foreign diplomats will be to find carbon storage places and negotiate with those countries.]

Q. Undersea carbon storage, the ultimate solution?

[Reporter Jang Seman: In order to achieve carbon neutrality, carbon capture and storage are essential, and 1% of the total reduction will be covered, there are predictions. However, most of the carbon dioxide stored on the seabed is actually captured during the production of natural gas. After all, it is true that it is encouraging the mining of natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. It is true that there are mixed opinions about carbon storage, but interest in related technologies is expected to continue due to the urgency that other alternatives are not suitable.]