Researchers take small step towards proving carbon capture
Liquified CO2 was injected into underground lava flows, after two years, the climate change-causing gas was rendered inert.
Researchers believe that they have made a major step towards proving carbon capture and storage is viable. A team in Washington State injected liquified CO2 into a basalt formation -- rock that forms after a lava flow has cooled. Two years later, and it's claimed that the carbon dioxide has solidified into Ankerite, an inert material that should, theoretically, lock the carbon away forever. According to Scientific American, it was originally believed that it would take hundreds of years for the process to occur. The fact that it took just 24 months gives hope to the notion that the technology is workable.
It's worth pointing out that carbon capture and storage isn't going to be a magic bullet that saves the world as we know it. After all, this isn't going to reduce our dependency on our planet's rapidly-dwindling natural resources, and there's only so much basalt in the ground. That said, if the process can be perfected on a large scale, it could provide the stopgap necessary for us to transition toward a low-carbon future.
