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Can the Earth be Saved by Turning CO2 to Stone?

By Lea Terhune for ShareAmerica

July 7, 2016

A team of research scientists is developing a new way to capture and store carbon dioxide. Turn it into stone.

Researchers on the CarbFix project began testing that idea in Iceland in 2014. They injected atmospheric CO2 deep into volcanic basalt rock formations. The results surprised and encouraged the scientists. Within two years, they had transformed almost 250 tons of CO2 into carbonate crystals.

Jeurg Matter, of the University of Southampton, U.K., was the lead author for the project report. He was impressed by the results. “Our results show that between 95 and 98 percent of the injected CO2 was mineralized” — and “amazingly fast,” he said.

A geothermal power plant in Iceland / Credit: "Untitled Image" by wikiimages via Pixabay under Pixabay license.

The project ran at a geothermal power station in Hengill, Iceland. This large power plant supplied the CO2 emissions for the pilot project. The experiment ended, but the power plant continues the work.

Martin Stute of Columbia University is a member of the research team. He says that the power plant plans to inject 10,000 tons of CO2 this summer. The eventual goal is to capture the power station’s total CO2 emissions of 40,000 tons in stone.

“So far they haven’t encountered any trouble,” Stute said, “so that is a good sign."

This project could be an important breakthrough. Carbon dioxide from human activity is a chief accelerant of climate change. Tons of it spew daily from coal, oil, and natural gas refineries and from motor vehicle exhaust pipes.

"There is no shortage of places where you can put CO2," Stute said.

He cited one example in the country of Oman. “That one rock formation in Oman could take all human CO2 emissions for hundreds of years.”

Rock formations in Oman / Credit: "Untitled Image" by Makalu via Pixabay under Pixabay license

Basalt rock formations occur throughout the world, even under the ocean floor. Brazil, India, South Africa, and the United States all have huge expanses of basalt.

That suggests another futuristic strategy. Rather than capturing CO2 from power plants alone, we could remove the gas from the air anywhere. “There are lots of promising laboratory and field results,” Stute said.

CO2 can be captured anywhere because it’s in the air in similar concentrations worldwide. If captured near volcanic rock and water, the CO2 could be injected and mineralized on the spot.

Getting the price down

In areas where basalt and water resources are plentiful, it is relatively cheap to capture CO2 from the air. It costs between $20 to $30 per ton. Capturing and transporting carbon can cost five times as much. It can even cost more, depending on how far you need to move the carbon.

Another cost factor is how the carbon dioxide is generated. The gases emitted at the Iceland geothermal plant were mostly CO2 and hydrogen sulfide. Fossil fuel plants produce more gases that must be separated from the CO2.

Do it now

CarbFix project scientists are in agreement. Carbon capture and storage could help bridge the gap until efficient renewable energy technologies are more widely adopted.

But they say renewables alone won’t be enough. We need to do more to offset the negative effects of greenhouse gas emissions. “We cannot get rid of fossil fuel that rapidly,” Stute said. Now is the time to employ every means available.

It comes down to economics, he added: “There has to be incentive to do something about CO2 emissions. … If the incentive is there it can be done. We need to take it seriously.”

The CarbFix project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Union. It includes scientists from Australia, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, and the U.S.

Source: © 2021 by FHI 360. "Intermediate Reading Practice: Can the Earth be Saved by Turning CO2 into Stone?" for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360. This work is an adaptation of "Can the Earth be Saved by Turning CO2 into Stone?", by Lea Terhune / ShareAmerica licensed under Public Domain / U.S. Government Works . Adapted content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/