Locking CO2 Away For Good

HobbySpacer writes: "The BBC reports that waste CO2 from methane extraction in the North Sea has been succesfully pumped back into the pourous sandstone beneath the ocean for the past 6 years without any signs of leaking. Carbon sequestration techniques like this are looking increasingly practical. CO2 is being pumped back into depleted oil fields, where it also helps extract remaining oil deposits, and into coalseams. The ocean is the biggest natural bank of CO2 but tests of ocean sequestration in Hawaii and Norway have been blocked by environmentalists who hate this kind of quick fix approach to the CO2 problem. But with developing countries like India and China certain to rely on their large coal reserves, sequestration may be the only realistic approach to reducing their CO2 output. An Economist article discusses currently available steam reformation technology that could allow a coal plant to output power and neatly separated CO2 and hydrogen. The non-polluting hydrogen is then available for cars with fuel cells while the CO2 is stuffed away."

Comments

Mineral carbonation is more permanent

[pfdietz]

This approach is useful, but it always leaves the possibility of leaks, and has limited capacity.

The process of mineral carbonation exothermically reacts CO2 with certain silicate minerals (or materials derived from these minerals) to yield carbonates that are stable on a geological time scale. There are more than enough of the desirable silicates (serpentine, olivine) to react with all the CO2 that will ever be produced by fossil fuel combustion.

somewhat related article...

[foolish]

An interesting article at:

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/energy-tech-02o.h tm l

Seems like another interesting way to sequester CO2. More ideas, more ways of approaching the problem...especially since peanuts are a pretty good soil-poor crop and have all those other uses.

I mean, you're going to have peanut shells anyways...

--foolish

LLNL simulation of CO2 ocean sequestration

[minesweeper]

Last month, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists released a study modeling the effectiveness of direct injection of carbon dioxide into different oceans at different depths. They've proposed injection into the ocean as a way to slow the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Injections were simulated at 800 meters, 1500 meters and 3000 meters for 100 hypothetical years near the Bay of Biscay, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Tokyo, Jakarta and Bombay.

The models showed that injection at 3000 meters is quite effective at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere for several centuries while injections at shallower depths are less effective. (Not too surprising.) In general, injections into the Pacific Ocean (San Francisco and Tokyo) were more effective than injection at the same depth in the Atlantic Ocean (New York City, Rio de Janeiro and the Bay of Biscay).

The full press release is available here.

Dihydrogen Monoxide Warming

[SEWilco]

Well, yes, dihydrogen monoxide vapor does cause well over 90% of the Earth's greenhouse effect. But carbon dioxide has a better public relations staff so it gets more publicity.