Finally, a Carbon-Capture Plant that Only Costs $30 per Metric Ton of CO2

Carbon Capture climeworks

After opening its first commercial carbon-capture plant in Switzerland this year, Climeworks has officially turned on the first “negative emission” carbon-capture plant in Iceland.

In short, what Climeworks’ carbon-capture plant does is to suck up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, pump it into Iceland’s volcanic bedrock and introduces it to the basalt found there, which converts it into limestone.

The mechanics of this were published in June 2016 in Science Magazine, after scientists found that injecting CO2 deep into the ground, specifically into basaltic rock, could mineralize the gas in less than two years. And this is all done at depths of between 400 and 800 meters.

Incidentally, the study was conducted in Iceland, where Climeworks’ plant now stands doing exactly what the scientists said was possible.

But until now, the cost factor has been prohibitive to such projects. Though it’s a lot more affordable with current technology, the cost of converting one metric ton of CO2 is still between $50 and $100. Climeworks, on the other hand, claims that the plant in Iceland operates at $30 per metric ton.

According to global data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CO2 comprises 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming and other forms of climate change in our planet today. EPA domestic data shows that 2015 emissions (minus sequestration) have reduced by 11.5 percent since 2005, but the United States alone accounted for 6.6 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalents released into the atmosphere. Even after sequestration from the land sector, that figure stood at 5.8 billion metric tons. Global emissions are far greater.

Seen from that perspective, 50 metric tons a year might seem like a drop in the ocean, but it is the first time that affordable and achievable carbon capture is being put to the test in a purpose-built plant. The Iceland and Switzerland projects from Climeworks show that carbon emissions are now practically reversible and commercially viable, which could indicate that there’s a way to deal with the problem in this very century.

Could this finally be the breakthrough that environmentalists have been waiting for all these years? We don’t know, but we do know that a path has been cleared for others to follow.

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