Rapid carbon mineralization for permanent disposal of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Matter, Juerg M., Stute, Martin, Snæbjörnsdottir, Sandra Ó., Oelkers, Eric H., Gislason, Sigurdur R., Aradottir, Edda S., Sigfusson, Bergur, Gunnarsson, Ingvi, Sigurdardottir, Holmfridur, Gunnlaugsson, Einar, Axelsson, Gudni, Alfredsson, Helgi A., Wolff-Boenisch, Domenik, Mesfin, Kiflom, Taya, Diana Fernandez de la Reguera, Hall, Jennifer, Dideriksen, Knud, Broecker, Wallace S.
• Other Authors: Reykjavik Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, European Commission, Min-GRO, Delta-Min
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2016
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aad8132; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aad8132

Inject, baby, inject! Atmospheric CO 2 can be sequestered by injecting it into basaltic rocks, providing a potentially valuable way to undo some of the damage done by fossil fuel burning. Matter et al. injected CO 2 into wells in Iceland that pass through basaltic lavas and hyaloclastites at depths between 400 and 800 m. Most of the injected CO 2 was mineralized in less than 2 years. Carbonate minerals are stable, so this approach should avoid the risk of carbon leakage. Science , this issue p. 1312