Like a forward-looking - day variant ofMedusa , an Icelandic project turn enemies to pit . The advanced enemy is atomic number 6 dioxide , and success relies on the basaltic rock-and-roll on which the island baby-sit .
carbon copy capture and requisition ( CCS ) has been promoted as fogy fuel ' savior in a thaw domain . The idea is to collect carbon dioxide from coal- and gas - fire power stations and pump it into the Earth rather than into the atmosphere .
Special circumstancesaside , however , CCS has been anexpensive failure . Among the many reasons is the fearfulness the C dioxide wo n’t stay on down . Any big - musical scale release would becatastrophic for local populations . Even a slower leak at charge per unit of more than0.1 percent per yearwould destroy the value of the process .
In 2012 , the Hellisheidi king plant in Hengill , southwesterly Iceland , pump 230 tonnes ( 254 dozens ) of carbon dioxide – mixed with pee and 18 tonnes ( 20 tons ) of hydrogen sulfide – into wells drill 150 to 3,000 metre ( 500 to 10,000 feet ) through basaltic lavas . The atomic number 6 dioxide was empale with supernumerary carbon-14 so that it could be distinguished from naturally take place gas . Injection has now since increased to 4,500 tonnes ( 5,000 tons ) a year .
Hellisheidi is the large geothermal industrial plant in the world , and far clean than coal or gas , but it is place to do even better . Kevin Krajick / Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory
A subject field put out inSciencefound that more than 95 percent of the original tribulation ’s carbon was converted to rocky carbonate within two eld . This amazingly rapid transmutation , the newspaper notes , “ contrast with the common view that the immobilization of CO2as carbonate mineral within geologic reservoirs takes several hundreds to thousands of age . ”
The appendage was found to mould even when the carbon dioxide was mixed with a high concentration of H sulfide , which was think might interpose with the carbonisation process .
The author attribute the rapid mineralization to calcium , branding iron , and magnesium ion unblock by the basalt and the alkaline water into which the carbon copy dioxide was injected .
Storing the atomic number 6 as a solid , rather than a gas , removes the danger associated with conventional reservoir such as earthquakes , removal of the withstand rock ‘n’ roll or gas leak through small pores .
Hellisheidi is a surprising stead for such a test . It is geothermal , run on the heat generate by the volcanic consideration . The carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide are volcanic gasses released with the steam that drive the station ’s turbines . The 36,000 tonnes ( 40,000 tons ) of CO2released yearly are 5 percent of what an equivalently - sized ember - displace tycoon works would let loose , but Iceland is aim for sodding carbon neutrality .
“ In the future , we could think of using this for mightiness plants in places where there ’s a lot of basalt – and there are many such space , " said ProfessorMartin Stuteof Columbia University in astatement . Indeed , one - one-tenth of continental rock-and-roll is . Virtually the entirety of the ocean floor is also basalt , although pumping carbon paper dioxide far out to sea is expensive .
Where basalt and ample water are handily usable to the peak of capture , the author estimate that a fully developed translation of the system might farm a Mary Leontyne Price for CCS that may be as abject as $ 30 per ton , compared to $ 130 for scale - up versions of other method acting . Yet even this may clamber to vie with renewables in producing chinchy , befoulment - free electrical energy .
