• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

  • Home
  • About Earth Wise
  • Where to Listen
  • All Articles
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Archives for stone

stone

Turning Carbon Into Stone | Earth Wise

January 31, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Start-up plans to turn carbon into stone

A start-up company in Oman called 44.01 was recently awarded a $1.2 million Earthshot Prize by Prince William of the U.K.  The company, whose name corresponds to the molecular weight of carbon dioxide, is working on speeding up natural chemical reactions that take carbon from the air and lock it into solid mineral form.

The company’s location in Oman is no random occurrence.  The mountains of northern Oman and along the coast of the United Arab Emirates are the site of a huge block of oceanic crust and upper mantle that was thrust upward some 96 million years ago.  The tilted mass of rock is over 200 miles long and is the largest surface exposure of the Earth’s mantle in the world.

This type of rock, called peridotite, is rich in olivine and pyroxene, which react with water and carbon dioxide to form calcium-based minerals like serpentine and calcite that permanently lock in carbon. Other kinds of rock also are capable of carbon-storing mineralization, but this mantle rock is the most effective for the purpose. It only exists at the Earth’s surface in a few places, including Papua New Guinea and some spots in California and Oregon.

The 44.1 company is planning to use solar-powered direct air capture devices to remove CO2 from the air, use it to produce carbonated water, and inject the water into the reactive rocks.  The company will operate a couple of pilot systems during 2023.  Ultimately, the company believes it can scale up the process to be able to permanently sequester as much as a billion tons of CO2 a year by the year 2040 without needing to inject the gas into deep caverns or find other places to store it.

**********

Web Links

With Major Prize, a Project to Turn Carbon Emissions to Stone Gains Momentum

Photo, posted August 10, 2018, courtesy of JM McBeth via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Oman’s Rocks

June 13, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EW-06-13-18-Omans-Rocks.mp3

There is growing interest in the idea of capturing and storing carbon dioxide.  Reducing the amount of it we are putting into the atmosphere is essential for limiting the effects of climate change, but even eliminating emissions entirely is not enough because the CO2 already there stays in the atmosphere for decades or more.

[Read more…] about Oman’s Rocks

Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Rock

December 29, 2016 By EarthWise

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/EW-12-29-16-Turning-Carbon-Dioxide-into-Rock.mp3

There is a lot of interest in figuring out a way to store carbon dioxide produced from industrial processes and energy plants or even sucking it out of the atmosphere and then storing it.   The problem is where exactly to put the stuff and how to make sure that it stays there.

[Read more…] about Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Rock

Planning Cooler Cities

October 28, 2015 By EarthWise

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/EW-10-28-15-Planning-Cooler-Cities.mp3

Anyone who has walked the streets of New York City or Washington, D.C. on a stifling summer day can attest to the fact that cities feel hotter.  It’s not a matter of perception.

[Read more…] about Planning Cooler Cities

Primary Sidebar

Recent Episodes

  • Shrinking Birds | Earth Wise
  • A New Deep-Sea Reef In The Galapagos | Earth Wise
  • Wildfire Smoke And Global Weather | Earth Wise
  • Removing Carbon Dioxide Won’t Get the Job Done | Earth Wise
  • Record Polar Ice Melting | Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)

Copyright © 2023 ·