UCLA engineers have built a kind of floating lab to answer a simple question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and then return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming?
Atop a 100-foot barge tied up at the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have built a kind of floating laboratory to answer a simple question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and then return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming?
The process sends an electrical charge through seawater flowing through tanks on the barge. That then sets off a series of chemical reactions that trap the greenhouse gas into a solid mineral that includes calcium carbonate - the same thing seashells are made of. The seawater is then returned to the ocean and can pull more carbon dioxide out of the air. The calcium carbonate settles to the sea floor.
Sant doesn't disagree. Scientists estimate at least 10 billion metric tons of carbon will need to be removed from the air annually beginning in 2050, and the pace will need to continue over the next century.That's why the success of any of the technologies will rely on "how fast you can build them out," he added.
Among the ideas researchers are looking at is fertilizing the surface of the ocean to cause a proliferation of tiny carbon-absorbing phytoplankton. Another would sprinkle beaches with minerals that could be slowly swept in with the tides or deposited on coast beds to increase seawater's alkalinity so it can pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Researchers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering built the demonstration system in two years. One thing that distinguishes the process is that it produces hydrogen. To remove a metric ton of carbon dioxide, about 220 metric tons of water needs to flow through the system. That produces 35 kilograms of hydrogen, Sant said.
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