• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.286-296
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• 2016

Offshore CCS technology is to transport and inject $CO_2$ which is captured from the power plant into the saline aquifer or depleted oil-gas fields. The more accumulated injected $CO_2$, the higher reservoir pressure increases. The increment of reservoir pressure make a dramatic change of the operating conditions of transport and injection systems. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully analyze the effect of operating condition variations over the injection period in early design phase. The objective of this study is to simulate and analyze the $CO_2$ behavior in the transport and injection systems over the injection period. The storage reservoir is assumed to be gas field in the East Sea continental shelf. The whole systems were consisted of subsea pipeline, riser, topside and wellbore. Modeling and numerical analysis were carried out using OLGA 2014.1. During the 10 years injection period, the change of temperature, pressure and phase of $CO_2$ in subsea pipelines, riser, topside and wellbore were carefully analyzed. Finally, some design guidelines about compressor at inlet of subsea pipeline, heat exchanger on topside and wellhead control were proposed.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2010

$CO_2$ leakage from a geological formation utilized for $CO_2$ storage could result in failure of the facility and threaten the environment, as well as human safety and health. A reactive transport model of a $CO_2-H_2O$-cement reaction was constructed to understand chemical changes in the case of $CO_2$ leakage through a cement crack in an injection well, which is the most probable leakage pathway during geological storage. The model results showed the dissolution of portlandite and CSH (calcium silicate hydrate) within the cement paste, and the precipitation of secondary CSH and calcite as the $CO_2$ plume migrated along the crack. Calcite occupied most of the crack after 3 year of reaction, which could be maintained until 30 years after crack development. The present results could be applied in the development of technology to prevent $CO_2$ leakage and to enhance the integrity of wells constructed for $CO_2$ geological storage.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.9-17
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• 2022

This paper is the continuation of our previous paper, which we refer to as numerical analysis of phase behavior and flow properties in an injection tubing during gas phase CO₂ injection. Our study in this paper show the results during supercritcal CO₂ injection under the same project. Geological CO₂ storage technology is one of the most effective method to decrease climate change due to high injectivity and storage capacity and economics. A demonstration-scale CO₂ storage project was performed in a deep aquifer in the Pohang basin, Korea for a technological development in a large-scale CO₂ storage project. A problem to consider in the early stage design of the project was to analyze CO₂ phase change and flow characteristics during CO₂ injection. To solve this problem, injection conditions were decided by calculating injection rate, pressure, temperature, and thermodynamic properties. For this research, we simulated and numerically analyzed CO₂ phase change from liquid to supercritical phase and flow characteristics in injection tubing using OLGA program. Our results provide discharge pressure and temperature conditions of CO₂ injection combined with a pressure of an aquifer.

• 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.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2006

In this study, the resolution capabilities of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) in the monitoring of $CO_2$ injection are investigated. The pole-pole and bipole-bipole electrode configuration types are used between two uncased boreholes straddling the $CO_2$ plume. Forward responses for an initial pre-injection model and three models for subsequent stages of $CO_2$ injection are calculated for the two different electrode configuration types, noise is added and the theoretical data are inverted with both L1- and L2-norm optimisation. The results show that $CO_2$ volumes over a certain threshold can be detected with confidence. The L1-norm proved superior to the L2-norm in most instances. Normalisation of the inverted models with the pre-injection inverse model gives good images of the regions of changing resistivity, and an integrated measure of the total change in resistivity proves to be a valid measure of the total injected volume.

• 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.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.10-17
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• 2006

Laboratory-scale two-dimensional aquifer physical model studies were conducted to assess the effect of air injection rate and air injection pattern on the removal of disel contaminated soil and groundwater by air/bio-sparging. The experimental results were represented that the optimal conditions in this experiment were as air injection rate of 1,000 ml/min and pulsed air injection pattern(15 min on/off). The results of the TPH reduction, DO consumption and $CO_2$ production indicate the effective biodegradation evidence of diesel. Based on our results, The minimal $O_2$ supply and pulsed air injection pattern could effectively enhance the diesel removal and the pulsing air injection had effect on oxygenation in this system. Thus, the cost of operating air/bio-sparging system will be reduced if optimal air injection rate and pulsed air injection pattern are applied to remediate contaminants.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2006

Japan's first pilot-scale $CO_2$ sequestration experiment has been conducted in Nagaoka, where 10400 t of $CO_2$ have been injected in an onshore aquifer at a depth of about 1100 m. Among various measurements conducted at the site for monitoring the injected $CO_2$, we conducted time-lapse crosswell seismic tomography between two observation wells to determine the distribution of $CO_2$ in the aquifer by the change of P-wave velocities. This paper reports the results of the crosswell seismic tomography conducted at the site. The crosswell seismic tomography measurements were carried out three times; once before the injection as a baseline survey, and twice during the injection as monitoring surveys. The velocity tomograms resulting from the monitoring surveys were compared to the baseline survey tomogram, and velocity difference tomograms were generated. The velocity difference tomograms showed that velocity had decreased in a part of the aquifer around the injection well, where the injected $CO_2$ was supposed to be distributed. We also found that the area in which velocity had decreased was expanding in the formation up-dip direction, as increasing amounts of $CO_2$ were injected. The maximum velocity reductions observed were 3.0% after 3200 t of $CO_2$ had been injected, and 3.5% after injection of 6200 t of $CO_2$. Although seismic tomography could map the area of velocity decrease due to $CO_2$ injection, we observed some contradictions with the results of time-lapse sonic logging, and with the geological condition of the cap rock. To investigate these contradictions, we conducted numerical experiments simulating the test site. As a result, we found that part of the velocity distribution displayed in the tomograms was affected by artefacts or ghosts caused by the source-receiver geometry for the crosswell tomography in this particular site. The maximum velocity decrease obtained by tomography (3.5%) was much smaller than that observed by sonic logging (more than 20%). The numerical experiment results showed that only 5.5% velocity reduction might be observed, although the model was given a 20% velocity reduction zone. Judging from this result, the actual velocity reduction can be more than 3.5%, the value we obtained from the field data reconstruction. Further studies are needed to obtain more accurate velocity values that are comparable to those obtained by sonic logging.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2018

It is imperative to inject carbon dioxide($CO_2$) into an aquifer for alleviating the emission of $CO_2$. However, faults in the aquifer can be reactivated due to pressure increasement. Analyses of pressure change of the aquifer is necessary to prevent the fault reactivation. In this research, we assess the stability of an aquifer in Pohang Yeongil bay by investigating the pressure variation of faults EF1 and EF2. Two scenarios, which repeat $CO_2$ injection and suspension during two years, are simulated. Each scenario includes cases of injection rates of 20, 40, and 100 tons/day. In addition, we analyze planned and predicted injection rates for each case. In case of 20 tons/day, the maximum pressure of faults is 65% of the reactivation pressure. Even if daily injection rates are increased to 40 and 100 tons/day, the maximum pressures are 71% and 80% of the reactivation pressures, respectively. For 20 and 40 tons/day cases, planned injection rates almost accord with predicted injection rates during whole simulation period. On the other hand, predicted injection rates are smaller than planned injection rates for the 100 tons/day case due to bottom-hole pressure limit of the injection well.