Japan Leads Asia in CCS Development

Fig 1. Tomokomai CCS Demonstration Project (Source: ACN Archives)

From 2016 to 2019, Japan implemented its initial comprehensive carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiative. This project, ‘Tomakomai CCS Demonstration Facility', successfully captured and stored carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by a coastal oil refinery located on Hokkaido Island in Japan. The goal is to showcase the feasibility of a comprehensive CCS system, encompassing the entire process from CO2 capture to injection and storage [1]. An annual injection and storage of at least one hundred thousand tons of CO2 is taking place in offshore saline aquifers in the Tomakomai port region. Japan CCS Co., Ltd. (JCCS) has been assigned the responsibility of executing this project by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Japan providing subsidies to cover the operational expenditures. The CCS demonstration project has reached its goal of injecting a cumulative total of 300,000 mt of CO2 on November 22, 2019, ensuring safe operation [2].

Japan has taken a significant stride towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In June 2023,the country announced the selection of its first seven carbon capture and storage projects. These projects aim to store 13 million metric tons of CO2 annually within Japan and in other countries by the year 2030 [3].  Japan aims to establish and operate CCS businesses by 2030, with the objective of augmenting its annual CO2 storage capacity by 6 million to 12 million metric tons.This initiative is part of Japan's long-term CCS roadmap plan [3]. The seven chosen initiatives focus on various sectors including electricity generation, oil refining, steel production, chemical manufacturing, pulp and paper production, and cement production. These projects aim to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial clusters in Hokkaido,Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Setouchi, and Kyushu regions. The overall objective is to store around 6 to 12 million metric tons per annum of CO2 by the year 2030 [4]. The projects, with five of them targeting CO2 storage in Japan and the remaining two in Asia and Oceania, seek to achieve a combined CO2 storage capacity of over 13 million metric tons per annum (Mtpa). JOGMEC aims to reach a CO2 storage capacity of around 120 to 240 million metric tons per annum by 2050 through these projects [4].