SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Deep in the jagged red mountains of Oman, geologists are drilling in search of the holy grail of reversing climate change: an efficient and cheap way to remove carbon dioxide from the air and oceans.
They are coring samples from one of the world's only exposed sections of the Earth's mantle to uncover how a spontaneous natural process millions of years ago transformed CO2 into limestone and marble.
[...] Around 13 tons of core samples from four different sites will be sent to the Chikyu, a state-of-the-art research vessel off the coast of Japan, where Keleman and other geologists will analyze them in round-the-clock shifts.
They hope to answer the question of how the rocks managed to capture so much CO2 over the course of 90 million years — and to see if there's a way to speed up the timetable.
Kelemen thinks a drilling operation could cycle carbon-rich water into the newly formed seabed on oceanic ridges far below the surface. Just like in Oman's mountains, the submerged rock would chemically absorb carbon from the water. The water could then be cycled back to the surface to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere, in a sort of conveyor belt.
The geologists are studying how well the rock core samples from Oman absorb CO2 in the hope they can build a means to sequester captured carbon in the Earth's mantle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @12:02AM (3 children)
We aren't going to bag up our carbon dioxide, then ship it to Oman. That only makes things worse.
We aren't going to freeze or liquify or compress it, then ship it to Oman. That only makes things worse.
We aren't going to pull it out of the air in Oman. That only makes things worse.
Look, all of the above requires stupidly huge amounts of energy. Where is that supposed to come from? Maybe we burn more fuel? Oh yeah, this is also fucking Oman. That isn't quite ISIS territory, at least for today.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @12:36AM
They mean duplicate the process that occurs in Oman somewhere else, not use the process in Oman.
Speculation: Passive solar for energy on an ocean barge maybe, just sit there and during the day cycle water via pumps. Send someone out once in a while for pump maintenance and clean the panels.
A global CO2 trading scheme could make it actually pay for itself and drive third world economies broke at the same time!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday April 15 2017, @01:19AM
Where is that supposed to come from?
A possible future fusion reactor that is being researched at Wendelstein 7-X [wikipedia.org] and ITER [wikipedia.org]. Or accelerator driven fission reactors etc. Ie there may come future power sources that isn't available now.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Saturday April 15 2017, @05:22AM
The ITER should prove Fusion viable by 2030 at which point all of your points are invalid.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam