Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, which remove tons of carbon dioxide from industrial processes and store them away so they can’t add to the climate crisis, are gaining attention and support. A recent review paper details how CCS can contribute to a long-term reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and work to meet the caps on human-caused global warming written into the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Under an Iceland-based pilot project called CarbFix — designed and carried out with Columbia University leadership — researchers proved that basaltic rock units react rapidly with CO2 captured from a power plant. The team mixed gasses generated by the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant with water and reinjected the solution into the volcanic basalt below.
With the Solid Carbon project, the team aims to conduct offshore geophysical surveys, study the basalt reservoir, and set up a pilot injection and monitoring experiment at a site in Cascadia, at approximately the scale of the CarbFix project in Iceland.
Today’s announcement that the “Solid Carbon” capture and storage project has been selected by the MacArthur Foundation as one of the highest-scoring proposals in its 100&Change competition offers hope. As one of the top 100 projects, Solid Carbon will be featured in an online database of high-impact ideas. Goldberg hopes this will help to attract the support needed to fund a next-level carbon capture and storage demonstration. The program is designed to connect philanthropists with vetted, high-impact projects in need of funding.
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