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Storing Liquid CO2 in the Oceans?

Roland Piquepaille writes "One of the ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to capture carbon dioxide at its source, when it is emitted from power plants for example, and to store it in other places, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or even the ocean after liquefaction. But, according to Youxue Zhang, a professor at the University of Michigan, there are pitfalls in this last plan. If the carbon dioxide is not injected deep enough, it can come back to the surface and return to the atmosphere, which is obviously not the desired goal. But, even worse, the liquid-to-gas conversion could happen too suddenly, which could cause a potentially dangerous eruption. So Zhang has developed a model which shows that liquid CO2 would have to be injected to a depth of between 800 and 3,000 meters to keep it from escaping from the ocean."

10 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. I know one group that benefits... by penguin_asylum · · Score: 5, Funny

    Today was a great day in the history of coca-cola production.

  2. Re:Don't Want To Sound Stupid... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You store the liquified CO2 into giant plastic bubbles that are held down by weights at the bottom of the ocean. That should work. Unless the Navy uses the bubbles for submarine target practice.

    Sigh... Another beautiful theory ruined by an ugly fact.

  3. Not a Good Idea by SkuzBuket · · Score: 3, Funny

    When CO2 is dissolved in water, the substance is known as "Carbonic Acid" This is already measurably happening to our oceans naturaully (due to higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere), and accelerating the process could have severe impacts. Maybe we should just enact an exhaling tax. If people exhaled more conservatively, this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

  4. Into The Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Liquify/Freeze the CO2 and then put it in a Viking Rocket with its destination being the Sun.

  5. Let's do it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What could possibly go wrong?

  6. Exhaling tax... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Exhaling Tax would never pass. The people who make the bills would suffer the most as they blow hot air full of CO2 all day for a living.

  7. Re:Could CO2 be better used in sealed greenhouses? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

    Admit it, you just wanna grow tonnes of super-skunk don't you :P

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  8. Tieing up the earths oxigen. by Script+Cat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does any one think that this is a bad idea. Let's trap vast amounts oxigen at the bottom of the ocean as liquid CO2 or as carbonates. This way it can't be matabolized by plants and released into the asmosphear as O2 where it will certianly contribute to the green house effect.

    The green house effect has plaged our fragile Earth since before the extinction of the dinosaurs. If we want to survive we must start a zero tolerance campaign against anything that causes the green house effect. Obviously we can start by burning all the green houses. But we must not stop there. We must contunue our efforts by removing all green house chemicals from the environment not just CO2 but N2, O2, O3, CH4, and most importently the dreaded DHMO. To do this we need to remove the gutless politicians from both parties and elect a leader who will impose marsian law. Yes only the iron clad law of the red planet will allow us to take these steps and make this planet a fit place to live.

  9. Re:But... by KylePflug · · Score: 2, Funny
    cods in Norwegian waters have swallowed an 11-pound otter and six frozen hamburger patties Hell, I've done that.
  10. Re:Feed the trees? by mmontour · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm not a horticulturist, but from my understanding plants take CO2 (1 part carbon and 2 parts oxygen) and with the power of the sun break it down into carbon and release the oxygen.

    The released oxygen actually comes from water that has been split using energy from the sun. The hydrogen from the water is combined with CO2 to produce sugars, etc.