National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology （AIST）

Although recent greater adoption of renewable energy and fuel conversion have improved carbon intensity in power generation, they will still deeply depend on fossil fuel. In this circumstance, the carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) still plays an important role as one of the key technologies for mitigation countermeasures against global warming.

The Geological Carbon Dioxide Storage Technology Research Association, which aims to develop the CO₂ geological storage technology on a commercial scale (1 million ton CO₂/year), was established by six organizations (one foundation, four private companies, and AIST) on April, 2016. As a member of the association, our group is addressing several R&D problems, such as the precise monitoring and modeling of injected CO₂ behaviors, the evaluation and prediction of seal integrity of caprocks and faults, and investigations of CO₂ trapping mechanisms and induced seismicity. Moreover, the development of fundamental simulation and modeling technologies, along with technology developments of risk analysis procedure and data accumulation toward legislation, are also important subjects.
 
Our methodology is characterized by a variety of approaches, such as field tests, laboratory experiments and simulation studies. The following are examples of our challenges.

• In concert with the large-scale CCS demonstration project in Tomakomai area operated by the Japan CCS Co. Ltd., we have tried the gravity monitoring using a superconducting gravimeter since March, 2015. This is positioned as the key technology, that is complementary to high-cost elastic wave exploration.
• Measurement technique of mineral reaction rates based on a surface observation on a nanoscale is also a great advantage of our group. This approach enables measurement of the slow reaction rates of minerals in a short time and with high accuracy.