CO2 transport strategy and its cost estimation for the offshore CCS in Korea

Republic of Korea is the ninth largest CO2 emission country in 2009 according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). To mitigate the effect of CO2 on the climate change and global warming, Korea should reduce the anthropogenic CO2 emissions from sources such as power plants and iron works. CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is regarded as one of the most promising carbon reduction options. The demonstration project of CCS is funded by the Korean government to demonstrate the capture, transportation and storage of 1 Mt CO2 per year in Korea by 2020. This study established the CO2 transport strategies from the sources to sinks for the CCS demonstration in Korea. Also the cost estimations were carried out with the CO2 transport strategies. The CO2 transport methods suggested in this study are the pipelines for both onshore and offshore, and a ship-based concept consisting of a pipeline from the source to coastal terminal (including the liquefaction facility on a barge) and a CO2 carrier from the terminal to sink (including the temporary storage near offshore sink). Although the present study is now on-going to optimize the CO2 transport infrastructure for the offshore CCS in Korea, the preliminary results show the CO2 transport cost for the pipeline system is lower than that for the shipping in the present status. The result is meaningful only for the specific source and storage sites studied in this study.