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Which seems to me to be the first easy retort to this ... as there are geoengineering solutions which are all about taking limestone, baking it using "stranded" energy to slaked lime, then dumping it into the ocean. See Cquestrate.com. Fixing acidification is the mechanism for those geotech solutions - how can they not help with it? Very strange.

I prefer the idea of lime in the ocean over iron any day.

http://www.cquestrate.com/

Thank you for the additional link, very interesting stuff, if a bit perplexing how to pull it off, or what the impact on ocean chemistry might be. Going back through the materials for my previous reply got me curious again, and I did some more digging, and went through to the calcium bicarbonate article on Wikipedia; this Cquestrate site is clearly working from the same idea, that calcium oxide in solution will actually become calcium bicarbonate instead of just calcium carbonate (limestone), ionically attracting an additional carbonate and thereby sucking up more carbon dioxide than is possible outside of solution.

CaO(calcium oxide) + 2(H20) >> Ca(OH)2(calcium hydroxide) + H2O
Ca(OH)2 + H2O + 2(CO2) >> Ca(HCO3)2(calcium bicarbonate) + H2O

Oh yeah, *aqueous*. (slaps forehead)

So provided that solar furnaces or some similar solar approach is used to calcinate the limestone, the missing piece of the logistics puzzle is finding a carbon-neutral means of distributing the lime in the oceans. Perhaps as solar power technology improves, either fuel-cell or electric vehicles and equipment could be used for extraction and transportation.

Cheers,

I apologize, if you clicked through to the site mentioned here, you'll see what they have in mind.

Please go through it. If you think they're missing something, let them know. That's what they want.

Yes, calcination releases CO2, but no, it absorbs 2 CO2 when dropped in the ocean. You already know the calcination process, which produces one molecule of CO2 along with a molecule of CaO. When added to water, CaO + H2O --> Ca(OH)2. Then, reacting with CO2 dissolved in the seawater, you get Ca(OH)2 + 2CO2 --> Ca(HCO3)2, Calcium Bicarb.

Sorry, I was in a pissy mood when I replied last time. Please, go to their site. They've really thought this through and it's a good idea. With the right help, it could actually happen.

Sweet Jesus you're right. This is easily the most depressing thing I've seen all day.

It's an astroturf campaign aimed at free software/anti-patent advocates, brought to you by the allegedly reformed "energy sector". From the style, I'm thinking it may have been built by people like these guys, or a similar outfit, that do stuff like this.

Even if you're a climate-change flat-earther, you all have to realize that you're being manipulated. "Developing An Open Source Solution to Climate Change"? What does that even mean?

And have any of you read the comments? The already totally-populated tag cloud? The keyword metadata?

This is a PR campaign, what these fine human beings in marketing call "online strategies". I wouldn't be surprised if some of the ACs on this discussion aren't part of this "campaign" (You all suck, btw. Trolling for the lulz is fine, but trolling for a paycheck is just fucked).

Reducing net carbon emissions by not putting millions of tons of it into the atmosphere is apparently way too difficult. Much easier to change the chemistry of earth's oceans (wtf?!).

It's nonsense, as anyone with sophomore chemistry and the ability to google up the quantities of CO2 we're talking about could tell you.

That's why we ask people with more than a sophomore chemistry level.

You are kidding... right? But look at that moderation! WOW! What really blows my mind is that all the climate change cultists that read here haven't even bothered to give the article a critical look and instead are content to make jokes about fruit flavoring. The article claims:

The process of making lime generates CO2, but adding the lime to seawater absorbs almost twice as much CO2. The overall process is therefore 'carbon negative'.

Gee, do tell guys. How does reversing CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2 magically use up twice as much CO2 as it releases? No chemical formula, no citation. Nothing. Jack squat. Hmmm, a little digging produces this.

So... CaO + H2O + 2CO2 -> Ca + 2HCO3...

Wait a second!? Doesn't 2H2O + 2CO2 -> 2H + 2HCO3...

So they're really just substituting Ca(2+) for 2H(+) and this is just more cultist sleight of hand. "We can drop CaO in the water and be SAVED! It'll absorb twice as much CO2 as it releases! HEAL mother Earth and REJOICE!! Send your support for our computer modeling efforts in the form of a check to..."

Besides, making lime takes LOTS of energy. Where is this pile of miracle lime going to come from??

locating it in regions that have a combination of low-cost 'stranded' energy considered too remote to be economically viable to exploit — like flared natural gas or solar energy in deserts — and that are rich in limestone, making it feasible for calcination to take place on site.

Great, the cultists are going to stripmine the F'in desert and haul it all the way to the oceans. I'm sure that process will be "carbon neutral." I'll bet it's really inexpensive and gentle on the desert ecosystem at the same time. <sarcasm />

"First, you heat limestone to a very high temperature, until it breaks down into lime and carbon dioxide."
"Then you put the lime into the sea, where it reacts with carbon dioxide dissolved in the seawater."
"This has the effect of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It also helps to prevent ocean acidification, another problem caused by the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
If done on a large enough scale it would be possible to reduce carbon dioxide levels back to what they were before the Industrial Revolution.
The first step of the process - breaking down limestone into lime and carbon dioxide - seems counterintuitive as it uses a lot of energy and actually produces carbon dioxide. But this carbon dioxide can either be safely stored away or used to help grow crops in very dry areas." http://www.cquestrate.com/the-idea

Nope... Me thinks NOT. Remembrances of my chemistry classes tell me this is not practical...
Anyone ever look into HOW MUCH energy is required to strip the CO2 (and water hydrates) from raw Limetone to produce Lime? ALOT!

FYI: "Quicklime, or burnt lime, is calcium oxide (CaO) produced by decarbonisation of limestone (CaCO3). Slaked lime are produced by reacting, or "slaking", quicklime with water and consist mainly of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2). Slaked lime includes hydrated lime (dry calcium hydroxide powder), milk of lime and lime putty (dispersions of calcium hydroxide particles in water). The term lime includes quicklime and slaked lime and is synonymous with the term lime products. Lime is, however, sometimes used incorrectly to describe limestone products which is a frequent cause of confusion."
"The lime industry is a highly energy-intensive industry with energy accounting for up to 50% of total production costs. Kilns are fired with solid, liquid or gaseous fuels. The use of natural gas has grown substantially over the last few years."
"The main releases from lime production are atmospheric releases from the kiln. These result from the particular chemical composition of the raw materials and fuels used. However, significant releases of particulates can occur from any part of the process, notably the hydrator. Potentially significant emissions from lime plants include carbon oxides (CO, CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and dust." http://aida.ineris.fr/bref/bref_ciment/site/pages/anglais/bref_chaux_2_1.htm

Unless this is done with Nuclear Power (or solar/hydroelectric/wind/tidalelectric), this is a net CO2 loser. Anything else will pretty much fail if the Goal is to cause CO2 reduction.
Try to imaging the transportation of VAST Quantities of Lime around the oceans without the burning of fossil fuels... nope..
This smells of a big grab for venture capital/government grant money, nothing more...

Besides, the tree-huggers will cry foul about how we are wasting billions on turning the Oceans into cement... save the 'Spotted-Owl Crabs' and such...
I have some ocean-front property in Arizona for sale too, let me od get the deed, I keep it in the back seat of my Fiero... Also, I'll go fill out that personal check on the dash of myu car to cover our extensive bar tab... Be right back...

This is why we RTFA:

There are potentially huge environmental benefits from addressing climate change and adding calcium hydroxide to seawater will also mitigate the effects of ocean acidification, so it should have a positive impact on the marine environment.

Lime is an alkalide.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_oxide
Also here: http://www.cquestrate.com/