Scientists Plan to Pump Carbon to the Sea Floor

LONDON – From whole world there are basalt rock deposits on the seabed that have the potential to trap carbon dioxide, thereby removing this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. This prompted a team of scientists to build a floating rig in a strategic location offshore.

Unlike conventional offshore rigs that extract oil, this futuristic platform will inject carbon dioxide into the rock deposits.

Powered by wind turbines, these floating stations would suck carbon dioxide from the air (or even from seawater) and pump it into vents on the seabed.

The project is called Solid Carbon. If successful, the injected CO2 will be stored forever in the form of rock on the seabed.

“This makes for very long-lasting and very safe carbon storage,” Martin Scherwath, a geophysicist working on the project and a staff scientist at Ocean Networks Canada, told Business Insider.

Unlike other carbon storage techniques, this method does not allow carbon to return to the atmosphere and increase global temperatures.

However, there is still no guarantee that this ocean carbon removal plant will work as expected. First, scientists need about $60 million to test the prototype at sea.

This project has the potential to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to combat climate change.

CO2 injected into the seabed will be stored forever in the form of rock, preventing it from returning to the atmosphere.

The initial cost of building and testing a prototype of this project is quite high. There is still no guarantee that this project will be successful on a large scale.

Further research is needed to ensure that this project does not harm the marine environment.

The Solid Carbon Project is an innovative solution to combat climate change by permanently storing carbon dioxide on the seabed. While there are still some challenges to overcome, this project has huge potential to help us reach our net zero carbon emissions target.

(wbs)