A system that takes in atmospheric CO2 and turns it into a stone starts operation

"Whether we can save humanity from climate change will depend on the next three years"It is pointed out by experts, and development of technology to remove carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is required not only by suppressing the discharge of carbon dioxide, but also by some means. On Iceland's Hetrishage Geothermal Power Station, research on techniques to mineralize and store carbon dioxide has been researched, Wednesday, October 11, 2017 (Wednesday, October 11, 2017), although it is a pilot version, it has a commercial scale of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere The technology to capture and mineralize was started.

The world's first "negative emissions" plant has opened in Iceland-turning carbon dioxide into stone - Quartz
https://qz.com/1100221/the-worlds-first-negative-emissions-plant-has-opened-in-iceland-turning-carbon-dioxide-into-stone/

World's first 'negative emissions' power plant in Iceland | Daily Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4975720/World-s-negative-emissions-power-plant-Iceland.html

Climeworks of Zurich, Switzerland launched a system to remove carbon dioxide released from the atmosphere on October 11, 2017 at the Hetrishage Geothermal Power Plant in Iceland. According to the experiment, this system can remove 50 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. An amount of 50 metric tons is equal to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by one household in the United States and ten households in India in a year, and it is not a large figure,Carbon dioxide storageIt is expected that the future will be very large when scale is expanded by using technology and Climeworks technology together.

Hetris Hage Geothermal Power Plant is one of the largest geothermal power plants in the world.


Introduced to the Hetris Hage Geothermal Power Plant was developed by Climeworks, the world's first "system to capture carbon dioxide on a commercial scale". Use fans and filters to capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.


In 2014, Reykjavik Energy of Iceland cooperated with European scientists and launched a project called "Carb Fix". At CarbFix, carbon dioxide discharged from the Hetrishage geothermal power plant is mixed with water and injected into the basalt layer located at the depth of 700 meters to convert carbon dioxide into carbonate mineral. Originally, it was thought that the mineralization of carbon dioxide requires years of several hundred years to several thousand years, but it turned out that faster response was expected in relation to the Icelandic strata Thing. Generally, the sandstone used in research responds slowly to carbon dioxide, but because basalt contains iron and aluminum, it is said that carbon dioxide is mineralized in about 2 years. On the other hand, since the system of "taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere" for mineralization is extremely expensive, it has been considered difficult to utilize technology on a commercial scale so far.

Meanwhile, by using Climeworks' technology and CarbFix technology together, we realized an efficient process to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to mineralize.


This is a basalt that actually was injected with carbon dioxide.


Studies have shown that mineralized carbon dioxide can be stored safely in the ground for millions of years without being re-emitted, basalts are abundantly present on the earth and have been discharged by thermal power generation for decades It also knows that there is enough room to store the carbon dioxide that was made.

According to Edda Aradóttir, a geologist involved in Carb Fix, the project has injected 18,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the basaltic rock in the past three years. And it is shown that the cost of carbon dioxide injection per metric ton is 30 dollars (about 3400 yen).

The technology developed by Climeworks and CarbFix is ​​the world's first technology to embody "negative carbon dioxide emissions". Climeworks is also partnering with Audi, an automobile manufacturer, and is thinking about selling technology that takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for individuals in the future.