A climate-friendly way to capture carbon dioxide in the air

In a new study, researchers have developed a method Capture of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere Powered by clean and relatively cheap geothermal energy.

Reducing air pollution is very important and very difficult – scientists found that improvements in particulate pollution lead to problems with surface ozone pollution. Photo Credit: By Janak Bhatta Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Research Lettersshows that by combining direct atmospheric carbon dioxide capture technologies (DACC) and geothermal energy, large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal systems could potentially provide enough energy to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it safely underground.

Released when humans burn fossil fuels for things like heat, electricity, and transportation, carbon dioxide makes up the majority of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by human activities. Because this accumulation is one of the main drivers of climate change, efforts to address the excess have focused on the original source of carbon dioxide emissions or on methods of direct removal from the atmosphere.

“Carbon sequestration technologies are particularly helpful in mitigating climate change because we can capture the types of emissions that would be difficult to limit in other ways,” said. Martin Levinethe study’s lead author and postdoctoral scholar in Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at The Ohio State University. “So we thought, can we combine technologies that are mutually beneficial to accomplish this goal more efficiently?”

Conventional DACC methods can be expensive and require energy to operate, adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, Levini said. But she set out to investigate whether it was possible to integrate recycled carbon dioxide into the system to make it more efficient.

Direct air is called CO.₂ Possession with include₂ Utilization and Storage (DACCUS), Levini’s proposed method uses natural heat stored within saline aquifers deep below the Earth’s surface – underground geologic formations that include sedimentary rock and brine – continuously for DACC systems. To generate renewable energy. Carbon dioxide captured from the air is sequestered in these geological formations, and some of it can be circulated to extract geothermal heat. This circulation brings heat to the surface, where it can either be used directly or converted into electricity to power the system.

Such systems require a lot of energy, which can often mean more pollution. But it’s a problem he has work to address, said study co-author and associate professor Jeff Belicki. in civil, environmental and geodetic engineering and at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State.

Bielecki said geothermal energy generally has a very small carbon footprint, and this particular approach is even lower because it uses carbon dioxide.

To demonstrate the potential of their system, the researchers developed a case study of how it might work in the US Gulf Coast region. He determined that DACCUS could be deployed there with great success, as it is known to have substantial geothermal resources.

“The Gulf Coast also has the right geology to safely store carbon dioxide underground and has enough heat flow that it can harness geothermal energy,” Bielecki said. said “These features are very favorable.”

For their system to work, the geothermal heat extraction system must first be primed, much like a car engine. It takes about five years of carbon sequestration from point sources, such as factories emitting carbon dioxide, before the DACCUS facility starts removing greenhouse gases from the air. Assuming their system can operate until 2025, the study suggests its method could start removing carbon by 2030. Researchers estimate that by 2050, there could be 25 DACCUS systems installed in just one of 27 landforms along the Gulf Coast.

Nevertheless, this study provides hope for our climate future by emphasizing the importance of bringing together new ideas and concepts to better reach a long-term goal. The study suggests that if implemented, the team’s work could also help society meet its current goal of limiting global warming, while preventing some of the worst consequences of climate change.

“New technologies can enable each other, and by integrating them, we can tackle climate change,” Levini said. “Much work remains to be done to develop the technical readiness and policies required to carry out this research.”

Source: The Ohio State University

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