Authors of a new study are readying to move ahead with a plan to pump planet-warming emissions below the ocean floor after finding there含羞草研究社檚 likely no risk of the process causing earthquakes.
The Solid Carbon project is looking to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and pump it into the sediment at the bottom of the ocean where it will be permanently stored off Vancouver Island.
Researchers involved in the project, which is led by the University of Victoria含羞草研究社檚 Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, have released a study finding the risk of causing seismic activity is below 0.01 per cent.
Geophysicist Eneanwan Ekpo Johnson used advanced computer modelling to see if injecting 2.5 megatons of CO2 annually at the study site would induce fault slip, where slabs of earth slide past one another and cause earthquakes.
含羞草研究社淭he amount of CO2 being stored there wouldn含羞草研究社檛 cause that movement,含羞草研究社� said Johnson, who led the study through her ONC and UVic science postdoctoral work. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 really a way forward in terms of the overall contribution to the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere, so it含羞草研究社檚 really reassuring.含羞草研究社�
Solid Carbon含羞草研究社檚 plan is to inject the CO2 into porous, permeable basalt lying beneath the Cascadia Basin, which is 200 kilometres off the west coast of Vancouver Island, where it would react with other minerals and eventually solidify into carbonate rock.
While people may be nervous about pushing gasses into a tectonically active area that含羞草研究社檚 prone to earthquakes, the researchers say their study shows the risk is practically non-existent. The Cascadia Basin location was chosen because of its large capacity for sequestering CO2.
含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 definitely the largest reservoir for putting CO2 in that we know of and it含羞草研究社檚 certainly the safest and the most durable,含羞草研究社� said Martin Scherwath, the study含羞草研究社檚 co-author and an Ocean Networks Canada senior scientist. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 going to be there, safe, for essentially ever.含羞草研究社�
Kate Moran, ONC president and Solid Carbon含羞草研究社檚 principal investigator, said the project offers the opportunity to safely remove decades of anthropogenic emissions and help avert the climate crisis.
The Earth has the potential to sequester 10 gigatons of CO2 emissions per year by 2050 in the basalt, which Solid Carbon said equates to about half of the reductions needed to keep the planet habitable for people.
With the feasibility study successful, the next step will be to secure funding for field testing the process and then to hopefully take the negative emission technology to multiple injection sites.
含羞草研究社淚f we have 1,000 holes spread over the globe, we then have a gigaton scale which is really what含羞草研究社檚 necessary,含羞草研究社� Scherwath said.
The end goal is to have self-sufficient floating platforms out in the sea that would use wind and solar power to draw in the gasses and pump them into the depths below.
含羞草研究社淭he final solution is to get completely away from land and not even have to worry about the transport of the CO2, but right now direct air capture is only happening on land at relatively small scales,含羞草研究社� Scherwath said.
含羞草研究社淭he long-term hope is that it is a real climate solution.含羞草研究社�
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