Japan to bury gas emissions - World - smh.com.au

Japan hopes to slash greenhouse gas emissions by pumping carbon dioxide into underground storage reservoirs instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
A proposal to bury 200 million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2020 - cutting the country's emissions by one-sixth - is under study, Masahiro Nishio, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said on Monday.
The underground storage of carbon dioxide underlines the urgency felt by industrialised countries trying to rein in the effects of global warming.
By capturing carbon dioxide from factory emissions and pressurising it into liquid form, scientists can inject it into underground aquifers, gas fields or gaps between rock strata.
Scientists have been studying the process for years, and an experimental project began in Canada last year.
Japan has no commercial underground carbon dioxide storage operations, Mr Nishio said. But the proposal would dwarf similar operations in Norway, Canada and Algeria, each of which pump about a million tonnes a year.
Tackling carbon dioxide is a priority for Japan, the world's second-largest economy. It expels 1.3 billion tonnes a year, making it one of the world's top offenders, despite being a key driver behind the Kyoto Protocol.
Underground storage could begin as early as 2010, but there are still many hurdles to overcome, Mr Nishio said.
Capturing carbon dioxide and injecting it underground is prohibitively expensive, costing up to $US52 ($70) a tonne, Mr Nishio said. The ministry aims to halve that cost by 2020.
Safety concerns must also be addressed to ensure that earthquakes or rock fissures do not allow a sudden release of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says 99 per cent of the carbon dioxide can remain stable for up to 1000 years.
Long-term plans call for capturing emissions from steel mills, power plants and chemical factories. But the beginning stages will target natural gas fields, where large amounts of carbon dioxide are a by-product of gas extraction, Mr Nishio said.
Associated Press