St. Mushroom
01-05-2010, 02:35 PM
Assuming that capturing the carbon dioxide is financially and energetically feasible, the big concern becomes where to put it so that it will stay out of the atmosphere for centuries. There appear to be two main schools of thought here. One is that areas that hold large deposits of natural gas should be able to trap other gasses for the long term. The one concern here is that, unlike natural gas, CO2 readily dissolves in water, and may escape via groundwater that flows through these features. The alternative approach turns that problem into a virtue: dissolved CO2 can react with minerals in rocks called basalts (the product of major volcanic activity), forming insoluble carbonate minerals. This should provide an irreversible chemical sequestration.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/pangea-era-rift-makes-east-coast-perfect-for-carbon-storage.ars
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/pangea-era-rift-makes-east-coast-perfect-for-carbon-storage.ars
