Carbon dioxide has been seen as one of the causes of global warming. There is need to control its output in order to lessen the effects of global warming and climate change. A new method might limit carbon dioxide as carbon dioxide can be stored by turning it to rock.
There is an effort being made now to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Currently carbon emissions are very high. One of the solutions that could be done is to store carbon dioxide. A study has found that if carbon dioxide is injected into basalt, within two years it could turn into rock.
Basalt can be useful in many ways. One of those ways is that it turns carbonate materials into rock. In this way carbon dioxide can be safely stored without causing harm to the environment. The study has also shown that once carbon dioxide has been turned into rock, it won't be able to escape into the atmosphere.
A few examples of carbon dioxide being stored into basalt can be seen. One example has been in a field project in Iceland, according to Science Daily. In that project carbon dioxide dissolved into water was injected into basalt. Another example in a project by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership. In that project made in Washington state around 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide has been injected into a basalt formation.
The team of Pete McGrail and colleagues drilled a well into the Columbia River basalt formation in 2013. The team then injected carbon dioxide into it. After extracting core samples from it in 2015, the team found carbon dioxide has turned into carbon mineral ankerite. McGrail's team has said that this could be the start of putting carbon dioxide into basalt formations.
Lab studies have confirmed that carbon dioxide injected into basalt can turn into rock, as Phys Org notes. This shows that carbon dioxide can be stored by turning it to rock, which could become part of an effort to reduce carbon dioxide. Scientists have also been developing an enzyme that can fight carbon dioxide.
