Scientists seek to turbocharge a natural process that cools the Earth

Terradot, a carbon removal company, is using “enhanced rock weathering” to sequester carbon by spreading crushed volcanic rock over farmland.

STATE OF SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years.

The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean, where the carbon remains stored.

The technique, known as “enhanced rock weathering,” is emerging as a promising approach to lock away carbon on a massive scale. Some researchers estimate the method has the potential to sequester billions of tons of carbon, helping slow global climate trends. Other major projects are underway across the globe and have collectively raised over a quarter-billion dollars.

As governments around the world fall woefully short of their emissions reduction targets, there is a growing consensus that large-scale carbon removal will be necessary to avoid some of the worst effects of climate change. An analysis conducted by an international team of researchers estimated that the world may need to remove up to 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide a year by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — an amount greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the United States.

Shawn Benner, a hydrogeologist and geochemist who left Boise State University after more than two decades to join Terradot, said he made the decision by asking himself what his grandchildren would want him to do. “Not too many people have the opportunity to change the temperature of the...”

“Acid rain then releases the co2. But the scam is worth investing in all the same Al Gore. Big money!”

No your geology and chemistry processors failed you. Acid rain when in contact with basic volcanic rocks does not release CO2 it accelerates this very reaction and makes more soluble bicarbonates the higher the level of acid in the rain the faster the reaction with basalt and granite proceeds. Both crystal types of rocks weather in acidic liquids to sand and bicarbonates plus clay minerals it’s literally how soils form. Carbonic acid gives bicarbonate, pollution and volcanic acid gases if SOx and NOx form classic acid rain which is sulfuric and nitric acids those also do not produce CO2 on contact to basic rocks they produce nitrates and sulfates with the metal ion of Mg K,Na,Ca ect. Only in contact with calcium carbonate CaCO3 rocks aka limestone does acid rain release CO2 as the HNOx and HSOx replaces the CO3 in calcium carbonate regular carbonic acid rain from 440ppm air does not release CO2 from carbonates it forms Calcium Bicarbonate that is soluble and proceeds to the ocean like all the other bicarbonates.

This process is how the planet weather’s rocks it is 100% part of the natural carbon cycle , humans grinding up rocks to increase the surface area and thenergy spreading them to increase the contact rate is not some doomsday plan it’s not going to depopulate the planet it’s not going to salt the soils it’s how soils form in the bloody first place. The lack of geological understanding in the general population is sad this means secondary science teachers have failed in their charge.

There is three main ways the planet pulls CO2 out of the air and into the deep carbon cycle. Weathering of rocks and minerals to bicarbonates that flow to the oceans and are deposited as sediments as limestone from the bioaccumulated by organisms into coral reefs, oyster banks, or it is directly precipitated above the CCD depth line as calcarous ooze from (micro algae,coccolithophores). The ocean surface is in equilibrium with the atmosphere above it for gases this includes CO2. CO2 directly enters the water via contact and wave action. This is the ocean bicarbonate buffer system is a chemical process that maintains the ocean’s pH by regulating the balance of dissolved carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, bicarbonate ions, and carbonate ions. Half of all CO2 ends up in this buffer system eventually where it will be used by the above noted organisms to form eventually limestone. The other main carbon sink is the biosphere and everything growing in it , forests , crops, grasslands ect. They all form structural carbon polymers like cellulose or lignin which is carbon in solid forms. The storage happens when you have those parts get put into an environment where the decay process cannot function which would break those c carbon polymers down to CO2 and water. Peat swamps are the perfect example material accumulates into anoxic waters where decay happens so slowly the sediments bury the materials before they fully decompose. Peat is the first step to hard geologically stored solid carbon commonly called coal. Marine or Lake algae also accumulate mass carbon and when they die they settle out on the bottom if that bottom layer is also anoxic then decay doesn’t happen there fast either, you get organic sediments which get silted in and buried as well, this then forms kerogen the precursor for the total hydrocarbon system aka liquid and gas geological stored carbon.

This is why the other method being proposed to store carbon is also effective. Shallow landfill storage of dry biomass that is also mixed with a hydrophilic salt in sealed lines landfill cells would store the materials for tens,hundreds even millions of years. At less than 65% absolute humidity in a salt environment all biological activity ceases decay cannot proceed at all the materials are inert forever or until they are exposed to the atmosphere and the water cycle again. Under stable geological conditions this could be tens to hundreds of millions of years for a stable area. Once those cells are filled you can put a layer of sediments above them and use them at will even grows crops or forests over them as long as there is an impermeable cover layer.

There is debate if humans should sequester excess carbon there is no debate there is excess carbon every scientist who can do basic math and physics understands that digging up and pumping up geological carbon has, is and will continue to increase the levels of carbon in the atmospheric cycle that is immutable physics not even up for debate because it is quantifiable down to the ppm level worldwide. The only debate is how harmful is this increase if at all and should humans take action in some way for it. Humans will evolve past primitive combustion and move on to better and cleaner sources of primary energy. We as a species already have the knowledge and technology to do so. As soon as our species understood the binding curve of atomic mass we unlocked unlimited primary energy. Once we understood that the sun is a giant thermonuclear reactor showering our home with millions of times what humans could ever use we had unlimited primary energy in two forms. The materials to make energy harvesting machines are silicon,aluminum,boron and phosphorus. The first two are the 2nd & 3rd most common elements in the earth’s crust by mass.

Oxygen: (O): ~46.1%
Silicon: (Si): ~28.2%
Aluminum: (Al): ~8.23%

Boron and K are in seawater in quantities that we as a species could never use up and weathering puts more one everyday by the millions of tonnes per day. Uranium as well there is an unlimited supply of U in seawater and more washes in every day more than humans could use in a billion years. It’s not if, it’s when we move to forever energy sources.

China is kicking our butts in this endeavor. They have a single factory that can put out a full Texas grid worth of panels 80,000 megawatts worth every 6-3 months production is ramping up not down. They installed more solar than the USA has in total in the first 6 months this year. They installed three Texas grids worth. Remember China don’t do climate change they give zero Fs about carbon they can do math and understand the implications of it. They let engineer’s run their infrastructure and production means not lawyers.

“A single hour of sunlight in Texas contains more energy than the entire world uses in a day.”

Absolute truth, the math is solid on this.

https://x.com/JessePeltan/status/1962834092120019372

I see you drank the global warming Kool-Aid.

Not hardly. I was just pointing out the idiocy of the left's environmental schemes. Like windmills and other "green energy" projects, it doesn't matter if paper recycling is counterproductive to their claimed goal, as long as they care about the environment (and have more of our money to spend).

I am old enough to remember when environmentalists were concerned with actual pollution, i.e., chemicals released into the environment that are harmful for people and other life. Of course, even back then, the only solution was more government control along with higher taxes and government spending, redistributing assets from those who worked for them to those that the left believe should have them.

Then the iron curtain fell and the former communist countries were revealed to be the worst polluters in the history of mankind, littered with toxic waste dumps that no one would tolerate on property they were allowed to own. Gosh, maybe more government control wasn't the answer?

So the environmentalist left stopped caring about pollution and focused instead on carbon dioxide, a trace element that not only is not harmful to life, but is essential for the continued existence of all life on Earth. Why CO2? Because it is a natural byproduct from the production of most goods, which in turn are mostly produced by wealthy and successful capitalist countries, because they produce far more goods per capita than any communist or socialist country ever could.

Of course, the only solution remains the same, more government control along with higher taxes and government spending.

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