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This Lab-Made Mineral Just Became a Key Candidate For Reducing CO2 in The Atmosphere
Scientists just worked out a way of rapidly producing a mineral capable of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) - giving us a potentially exciting option for dealing with our increasingly overcooked planet. Magnesite, which is a type of magnesium carbonate, forms when magnesium combines with carbonic acid - CO2 dissolved in water. If we can produce this mineral at a massive scale, it could safely store large amounts of carbon dioxide we simply don't need in our planet's atmosphere.
[...] Being able to make the mineral in the lab could be a major step forward in terms of how effective carbon sequestration might eventually be. "Using microspheres means that we were able to speed up magnesite formation by orders of magnitude," says [Ian] Power. "This process takes place at room temperature, meaning that magnesite production is extremely energy efficient."
[...] With a tonne of naturally-occurring magnesite able to capture around half a tonne of CO2, we're going to need a lot of magnesite, and somewhere to put it all as well. As with other carbon capture processes, it's not yet clear whether this will successfully scale up as much as it needs to. That said, these new discoveries mean lab-made magnesite could one day be helpful – it puts the mineral on the table as an option for further investigation.
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 20 2018, @10:45PM
We already know how to store carbon. Trees are pretty good at it, require no advanced chemistry and virtually no maintenance. Notably wind moves CO2 away from power plants, to forests without any shipping expense whatsoever. CO2 sequestration is a question of capacity, not method.
Notably the other big issue is not the CO2 but all the other toxic chemicals and unburned fuel that come out of a typical coal fired plant. If you've ever been near a really big coal plant, you'll know what I'm talking about. Everything you touch for miles around it, has a film of coal sludge on it. Even the air feels oily all the time. That is why they've been switching to cogeneration.
Most plants will increase their growth rate up to 30% with CO2 enrichment. So the practical question is, why don't all power plants have massive greenhouses next to them, producing millions of seedlings a year? Considering the incredible cost of adirondack and sitka spruce, flamed maple, and white oak, and the respective industries that are utterly crippled because of the rarity of those materials (ship building, aircraft construction, insrument making, cooperage etc.) one would think the answer would be obvious.
But I guess a whiz bang rock making plant sounds pretty cool. God knows we could use more rocks. Hit em' with a stick to make music? Nope. Store beer in them? Not unless your Irish. Fix a leak in your boat? Nope. Make a wing for your new airplaine? Certainly not. Screw up the PH in all your rivers and streams because rainwater runnoff now has carbonic acid in it? Yep.
I can see what they mean. Rocks are awesome.