10 June 2016

CO2 stored under Icelandic rocks

GLOBAL WARMING, NO THANKS:

CO2 can be mineralized in only two years - suprisingly fast also for researchers at University of Copenhagen.

Atmospheric CO2 can be sequestered by injecting it into basaltic rocks like the dark ones in Iceland, providing a potentially valuable way to undo some of the damage done by fossil fuel burning. A team of international researchers injected CO2 into wells in Iceland that pass through basaltic lavas and hyaloclastites at depths between 400 and 800 m. Most of the injected CO2 was mineralized in less than 2 years. Carbonate minerals are stable, so this approach should avoid the risk of carbon leakage. 

"The product looks like the coating in your electric kettles. As we all know, the coating does not disappear on its own, so the the CO2 is captured

Knud Dideriksen

Knud Dideriksen er assistant professor at the Nano-Science Center and Department of Chimistry and is the Danish member of the research team. The results show that safety in CO2 storage is much faster and easier than anticipated.

 

The results are published in the scientific journal Science and written by a team of international researchers from Southampton, Columbia, Reykjavik, Toulouse, London, Perth and more.




Nano-Science Center ved Københavns Universitet er centrum for forskning i den tværfaglige videnskab nanoscience, hvor vi samler forskere og studerende fra Københavns Universitets forskningsgrupper indenfor både fysik, kemi, biologi og sundhedsvidenskab. Vi udgør et stærkt tværfagligt forskningsmiljø og driver en unik naturvidenskabelig bachelor- og kandidatuddannelse.

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