Dave Jones, Barry Lomax & Janice Lake visit K-COSEM in South Korea

By Dr. Dave Jones, Geochemist at the British Geological Survey (BGS)


The author(s) would like to acknowledge the financial support of the UK CCS Research Centre (www.ukccsrc.ac.uk) in carrying out this work. The UKCCSRC is funded by the EPSRC as part of the RCUK Energy Programme.

Dave Jones from BGS, Barry Lomax from Nottingham University and Janice Lake from Sheffield University visited South Korea with funding from the UKCCSRC International Research Collaboration Fund. The aim of the visit was to develop links with the K-COSEM (Korea CO₂ Storage Environmental Management) Research Center in South Korea and explore possible collaboration between K-COSEM and the GeoEnergy Test Bed facility being developed jointly by the University of Nottingham and BGS.

We joined a group of other international researchers invited to Korea by K-COSEM – Curt Oldenburg from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Weon Shik Han from University of Wisconsin, both  in the USA; Bernhard Mayer from University of Calgary, Canada and Chris Consoli from GCCSI in Australia.

On our first full day in Seoul we all presented our work at the 6^th International Environment Forum for CCS in Seoul. Janice and Barry talked about possible environmental consequences from a CO₂ pipeline leak whilst I gave an account of some of our near surface monitoring work at Weyburn. The presentations of the other international invitees and Korean researchers covered the status of CO₂ storage worldwide and aspects of leakage risk assessment, monitoring and potential impacts.

The following day we visited the K-COSEM field experimental site at Eumseong, south of Seoul. At the site they are developing two separate facilities, one looking at potential environmental impacts of leakage on plants and microbes and near surface monitoring, the other focussed on groundwater monitoring and impacts. We were given a tour of the sites in very hot and humid conditions and shown the layout of crops (currently maize and beans) that will be subjected to elevated CO₂ concentrations in the soil. This will be done through 5 separate 10 m long leakage zones in a 50 m long horizontal well at 2.5 m depth; a similar configuration to the ZERT site in Montana and Ginninderra in Australia. The groundwater test site is a short distance away with monitoring boreholes already in place and planning underway for a CO₂ injection well. This site will test both geophysical and geochemical monitoring methods and examine potential impacts on drinking water.

The site has ~30m of soil and alluvium sitting on weathered granite with fresh fractured bedrock at a depth of about 65 m. Unusually for such test injection sites the water table is at a depth of around 15 m, so shallow injection will be in the vadose zone. Site characterisation has established the geology of the site, the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of the substrate and the baseline groundwater conditions.

The visit concluded with lunch in a traditional Korean restaurant in the nearby town, where the male overseas visitors, in particular, struggled with sitting on the floor at very low tables! After lunch we were taken to see the greenhouse experiments at Kyung Hee University. Initial short-term studies have investigated the effects of higher soil CO₂ on germination of different plant species (cabbage, corn, beans and wheat) and on soil physical and microbial parameters. Oxygen depletion and pH were found to be more important factors in retarding germination than CO₂ itself. Soil CO₂ concentrations of 10% did not prevent germination. Wheat was the most tolerant species to higher CO₂ and soil microbial parameters were not sensitive to short term exposure. Future experiments were being set up involving blueberries and other shrub species, where established plants will be exposed to different levels of CO₂. As the addition of CO₂ displaces O₂ it can be difficult to unravel the relative impacts of higher CO₂ and O₂ depletion. However, the effect of O₂ depletion alone can be tested by injecting inert N₂ in place of CO₂. 

The next morning we were given tours of the War Memorial of Korea (Korean War Museum) and the Secret Garden within the Changdokkung Palace complex. Having only the sketchiest understanding of the partition of the peninsular into North and South Korea the museum was very informative. We had no idea that so many nations had answered the UN call to support South Korea, including Ethiopia, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines!

That afternoon was devoted to a seminar at Korea University where we all made a further presentation, mainly to students involved with K-COSEM. I spoke about some recent continuous monitoring BGS and University of Rome have carried out at a site of low-level natural CO₂ seepage near the main Rome (Fiumicino) airport. Janice and Barry presented work on the potential impacts of CO₂ pipeline leakage covering temperature effects on UK soils and plant responses to hypothetical insidious leakage of CO₂.

Our final working morning was spent in discussing possible collaboration between K-COSEM and the various overseas institutions represented. This was a key part of our agenda for the visit and we gave short presentations on the GeoEnergy Research Centre, that has been set up by University of Nottingham and BGS, and the Plant Science facilities at Sheffield University. We followed this with discussion of established research links between the UK and South Korea, such as that between EPSRC and the Korean Science Foundation, and other options, such as the range of possible fellowship opportunities open to overseas candidates.

That afternoon I boarded the high speed express train (French TGV technology) to Daejeon where I visited Dr. Insun Song and colleagues at KIGAM (effectively the Korean Geological Survey). After presenting some of our work from Weyburn at a seminar for KIGAM staff I was able to discuss possible avenues for collaboration with Korean counterparts over dinner before whizzing back to Seoul.

Our final Saturday in Seoul before returning back to the UK gave us an opportunity to see a little more of the city, with a visit to the National Museum of Korea. We were also forced to sample some of the finer local beers (well we had to shelter somewhere from the torrential rain)!

 

We would like to thank UKCCSRC for supporting our visit and to give special thanks to Professor Seong-Taek Yun and all his K-COSEM colleagues for making all the arrangements and for their wonderful hospitality.

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