Of all planets that heat greenhouse gases, human activity is released into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is The most significant show. As such, experts suggested that, in addition to drastically lowered by our use of fossil fuels, we should actively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. What is known as carbon capture technology is usually expensive and/or energy intense and requires carbon storage solutions.
Now, researchers at Stanford University have suggested a surprisingly practical strategy: Make rocks that for us.
They don’t send. Stanford chemists Matthew Kanan and Yuxan Chen have developed a procedure that uses heat to convert minerals into materials that absorb CO2 – permanently. As described in detail study Posted on Wednesday in the magazine NatureThe process is practical and inexpensive. In addition, very useful rocks of Kanan and Chena could meet the needs of a common agricultural practice, hitting two birds with one stones.
“The country has an inexhaustible supply of minerals that are capable of removing the CO2 from the atmosphere, but they simply do not respond quickly enough to counteract the emissions of the human greenhouse,” said Kanan, a higher author of the study, Stanford said statement. “Our work solves this problem in a way we think is uniquely scalable.”
For decades, scientists have studied ways to accelerate the natural absorption of CO2 of some rocks, a procedure called a time work that can take hundreds, if not thousands of years. Canan and Chen seem to have been shooting when converting the usual minerals, which slowly called the silicate into a fast card minerals.
“We envisioned a new chemistry to activate inert [not chemically reactive] Silicate minerals with a simple reaction of ions change, “Chen explained. Insi are atoms or groups of atoms with an electric charge.” We didn’t expect it to succeed as it is. “
Canan and Chen were inspired by cement production, where the furnace or furnace converts limestone (sedimentary rock) into a reactive chemical compound called calcium oxide, which is then mixed with sand. The chemists repeated this procedure, but replaced the sand for material called magnesium silicate. Magnesium silicate contains two minerals that, with warmth, alternated ions and turned into magnesium oxide and calcium silicate: minerals that time quickly.
“The process acts as a multiplier,” Canan said. “You take one reactive mineral, calcium oxide and magnesium silicate that is more or less inert, and you generate two reactive minerals.”
To test their results, Canan and Chen exposed wet calcium silicate and magnesium oxide into the air. They turned into carbonate minerals – the result of the weather – in weeks to months.
“You can imagine the spread of magnesium oxide and calcium silicate in large land areas to remove the CO2 from the ambient air,” Kanan said. “One exciting application we now test is the addition of agricultural soil.” This application could also be practical for farmers, which add calcium carbonate to the soil when too acidic: a solution called tin.
“Adding our product would eliminate the need for removal because both mineral components are alkaline [basic, as opposed to acidic]”He explained Canan.” In addition, as a calcium silicate, he releases silicon to the soil in the form that plants can occupy, which can improve yields and resistance. In ideal case, farmers would pay these minerals because they are useful for the productivity of agriculture and soil health – And as a bonus, there is a removal of carbon. “
About one ton of magnesium oxide and calcium silicate could absorb one ton of CO2 from the atmosphere – and this assessment explains the CO2 that emitting the stove itself, for which it still requires less than half of the energy used in other carbon capture technologies.
However, the scaling of this solution to an influential level would require millions of tons of magnesium oxide and calcium silicate a year. Still, Chen points out that if the assessments of natural magnesium silicate reserves such as Olivine or Serpentine are correct, they would be sufficient to remove all atmospheric CO2 and then some. In addition, the silicates could recover from mine tails (mining of remains).
“The company has already realized how to produce billions of tons of cement a year, and cement furnaces have been going on for decades,” Kanan said. “If we use these teachings and design, there is a clear path to cross from the discovery of the laboratory to the removal of carbon to a meaningful scale.”