111 results for group: climate-change

Carbonate Precipitation in Artificial Soils as a Sink for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

P.Renforth, D.A.C.Manning, E.Lopez-Capel Abstract Turnover of C in soils is the dominant flux in the global C cycle and is responsible for transporting 20 times the quantity of anthropogenic emissions each year. This paper investigates the potential for soils to be modified with Ca-rich materials (e.g. demolition waste or basic slag) to capture some of the transferred C as geologically stable CaCO3. To test this principal, artificial soil known to contain Ca-rich minerals (Ca silicates and portlandite) was analysed from two sites across NE England, UK. The results demonstrate an average C content of 30±15.3 Kg C m^-2 stored as CaCO3, ...

Carbon Dioxide Mineralization Feasibility in the United States

Madalyn S. Blondes, Matthew D. Merrill, Steven T. Anderson, and Christina A. DeVera Abstract Geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage is one of many methods for stabilizing the increasing concentration of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere. The injection of CO2 in deep subsurface sedimentary reservoirs is the most commonly discussed method; however, the potential for CO2 leakage can create long-term stability concerns. This report discusses the feasibility of an alternative form of geologic CO2 storage: CO2 mineralization. In this method, CO2 reacts with rocks and minerals to form solid and stable carbonate rocks. New pilot projects and laboratory-b...

Fuzzy optimization model for enhanced weathering networks using industrial waste

Kathleen B. Aviso, Jui-Yuan Lee, Aristotle T. Ubando & Raymond R. Tan Abstract Enhanced weathering is a negative emissions technology based on the accelerated weathering of alkaline minerals. Such materials can be reduced to a fine powder and applied to land sinks to maximize the area exposed for reaction with rainwater and dissolved CO2. The carbon is captured in the form of bicarbonate ions in the runoff, which ultimately carries it to the ocean for virtually permanent sequestration. Enhanced weathering has been demonstrated in proof-of-concept laboratory and field tests, but scale-up to a level that delivers significant CO2 removal is still ...

Farming with crops and rocks to address global climate, food and soil security

David J. Beerling, Jonathan R. Leake, Stephen P. Long, Julie D. Scholes, Jurriaan Ton, Paul N. Nelson, Michael Bird, Euripides Kantzas, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, Mike Kelland, Evan DeLucia, Ilsa Kantola, Christoph Müller, Greg Rau & James Hansen Abstract The magnitude of future climate change could be moderated by immediately reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of energy generation and by adopting strategies that actively remove CO2 from it. Biogeochemical improvement of soils by adding crushed, fast-reacting silicate rocks to croplands is one such CO2-removal strategy. This approach has the potential to improve ...

Increased yield and CO2 sequestration potential with the C4 cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust-amended agricultural soil

Mike E. Kelland, Peter W. Wade, Amy L. Lewis, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, M. Grace Andrews, Mark R. Lomas, T. E. Anne Cotton, Simon J. Kemp, Rachael H. James, Christopher R. Pearce, Sue E. Hartley, Mark E. Hodson, Jonathan R. Leake, Steven A. Banwart, David J. Beerling Abstract Land-based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a biogeochemical carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy aiming to accelerate natural geological processes of carbon sequestration through application of crushed silicate rocks, such as basalt, to croplands and forested landscapes. However, the efficacy of the approach when undertaken with basalt, and its potential co-benefits ...

Dust in the Wind

On a blistering June day in West and see what appears to be a blood-red curtain billowing the length of the horizon. When the curtain arrives, daylight disappears, and the land is covered in a dark red, gritty-tasting night. Going inside offers little protection—windblown dust soon penetrates shutters and plaster cracks, leaving a thin red layer everywhere; rooms feel like mine shafts. This is a dust storm in Africa’s arid Sahelian band, the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert from Mauritania to Chad. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1240740/

Rock’s power to mop up carbon revisited

Last week, a group of geoengineers met in Hamburg to discuss what on the face of it sounds like a very attractive idea: to soak up anthropogenic carbon emissions using only rocks and water. In particular, they want to help to mitigate climate change by crushing rocks and dropping them into the sea or spreading them on land. The meeting was hailed a success, but the idea is still far from fruition.   Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature News, Vol 505, pp 464, copyright 2014. For the complete article, please visit: http://www.nature.com/news/rock-s-power-to-mop-up-carbon-revisited-1.14560

Geoengineering potential of artificially enhanced silicate weathering of olivine

Geoengineering is a proposed action to manipulate Earth’s climate in order to counteract global warming from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. We investigate the potential of a specific geoengineering technique, carbon sequestration by artificially enhanced silicate weathering via the dissolution of olivine. This approach would not only operate against rising temperatures but would also oppose ocean acidification, because it influences the global climate via the carbon cycle. If important details of the marine chemistry are taken into consideration, a new mass ratio of CO2 sequestration per olivine dissolution of about 1 is achieved, 20% ...

Direct electrolytic dissolution of silicate minerals for air CO2 mitigation and carbon‐negative H2 production

Greg H. Rau, Susan A. Carroll, William L. Bourcier, Michael J. Singleton, Megan M. Smith, and Roger D. Aines Abstract We experimentally demonstrate the direct coupling of silicate mineral dissolution with saline water electrolysis and H2 production to effect significant air CO2 absorption, chemical conversion, and storage in solution. In particular, we observed as much as a 105 fold increase in OH− concentration (pH increase of up to 5.3 units) relative to experimental controls following the electrolysis of 0.25 M Na2SO4 solutions when the anode was encased in powdered silicate mineral, either wollastonite or an ultramafic mineral. After ...

Silicate production and availability for mineral carbonation

P. Renforth*, C.-L. Washbourne, J. Taylder, and D. A. C. Manning Abstract Atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered as carbonates through the accelerated weathering of silicate minerals is proposed as a climate change mitigation technology with the potential to capture billions of tonnes of carbon per year. Although these materials can be mined expressly for carbonation, they are also produced by human activities (cement, iron and steel making, coal combustion, etc.). Despite their potential, there is poor global accounting of silicates produced in this way. This paper presents production estimates (by proxy) of various ...