Worlds largest atmospheric CO2 capture plant opens

[dvs_dave]

As the title, world’s largest atmospheric CO2 capture plant opens in Iceland, powered by geothermal energy, and storing the CO2 underground. 32,000 tons a year, or the equivalent of around 23,000 cars. Not bad.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/clime...

Interesting to see how the economics and energy consumption for this works out as everything I’ve seen so far suggests that this tech is a dead end at any sort of scale. I’m glad they’re trying it, and maybe this will be a turning point, but I doubt it.

Edited by dvs_dave on Friday 10th May 19:53

[dvs_dave]

Huff said:

dvs_dave said:

As the title, world’s largest atmospheric CO2 capture plant opens in Iceland, powered by geothermal energy, and storing the CO2 underground. 32,000 tons a year, or the equivalent of around 23,000 cars. Not bad.

Snip for one side comment - I agree with the idea this approach is v likely a dead-end - but let's also just sense-check those two numbers - because I suspect its 'best Marketing light' being shone, just as when we see a claim like ...' it generates' X MW, enough for Y thousand homes'

Anyway - 1.39tonnesCO2/car/year , then. Aha, at what gm CO2/Km?
Well - try, say, 250g/Km, which is still common in anything interesting/ or a not-mahoosive, UK SUV say- that's about 3500 miles/yr. Erm, no.
So - for 12000mile/yr - it'd requires a fleet average of 45grammes CO2 / Km.

We are nowhere near that, whatsoever; will def struggle even beginning with an all-EV fleet if embodied carbon is taken into account.


(That's not to say I'm not curious how this large-scale test works in detail; I also applaud it. There will be cases, maybe industrial processes, where such as 'a local capture measure' - might well make great sense)

Edited by Huff on Saturday 11th May 16:54

Dunno, seems to check out? 1.42 average tons annually is the equivalent of 22,535, or approx 23,000 cars.

• The average UK car (Diesel, Petrol, Hybrid) contribution to CO2 emissions is 119.7 grams per kilometre (g/Km) and with an average of 12,000km (7,600mls) per year 119g/km x12k = 1.42 Metric tons of CO2 per year per car.

https://www.firstvehicleleasing.co.uk/blog/co2-emi...

Splitting hairs beyond that is probably missing the point.

Edited by dvs_dave on Sunday 12th May 22:10

[dvs_dave]

PlywoodPascal said:

MrTrilby said:

caziques said:

If my maths is correct, New Zealand has 1.75 million hectares of pine trees, sucking up around 50 million tons of CO2 a year (around 6.5% of the land area).

The trouble with trees is that they’re only really a temporary store of carbon - even if they don’t get cut down and burned, eventually they die and when they decay the carbon is released back to the atmosphere.

You could cut them down and store them underground though.

CO2 has some interesting properties when you compress it. It becomes a supercritical fluid, a state midway between a gas and a liquid, where it fills its container like a gas, but with the density of a liquid. So it can be stored relatively easily and efficiently in this state in large quantities, for example in underground caverns, old oil/gas wells, etc. without it easily leaking out as it’s effectively in a liquid form.