One question that wasn’t addressed in the excellent pod was the possibility of health risks from inhaling the finely ground basalt.
As I understand it the whole point is that basalt is rich in silica. Inhaling too much silica results in silicosis, a fatal lung disease that is going to kill a lot of people cutting engineered stone countertops over the next couple of decades.
As such, I’d very much like to know how much risk there might be to workers and bystanders, and whether companies doing projects (including in jurisdictions where occupational health and safety is not a priority) are doing anything to mitigate it if it’s a real risk.
Hi Robert, its an important question! At particle sizes of ~100 microns and a moisture content of >15%, the risk of dust inhalation is not too high, though workers using rock spreaders should wear PPA (particularly if the spreader does not have an enclosed cabin).
I loved the part about taking care of the soil. I'm skeptical the ability to scale something like this, but it is great to see it helping farmers who didn't have access to lime.
Disposal of acids from electrodialysis sounds like it would also use minerals, preferably silicates. I wonder if it can be combined with mineral extraction by doing the neutralization in silicates with some larger amount of valuable elements. Lithium and REE extraction involve acid dissolution of silicates, to the extent that a REE mine in the US has been proposed to be powered by burning of sulfur -- they need the SOx anyway to make the acid to dissolve the rocks.
Enjoyed the pod. I know farming seems to be the best application, but I was thinking parks and fields might be a good option.
I'm interested in proposing the use of basalt waste fines on some park land in my community in the Hudson Valley, NY. Wondering how I can source the product. Would it be reasonable to expect that we could get this 'waste' product for free? Here's my email if you have some guidance: scea2014@gmail.com
An excellent podcast. As a person with a background in science (lots of physics, not much chemistry), my understanding of the topic now provides modification to follow developments in the future.
CO2 sequestration via Enhanced Rock Weathering with crushed basalt applied to widely distributed farms strikes me as similar to solar parking lot canopy micro grids creating a matrix of widely Distributed (sub)urban Energy Resources. Both are kind of ubiquitous, piggy-back, low-tech, apolitical, synergistic, ground-level climate solutions that could rapidly scale.
I posted this on LinkedIn a month ago. I think that adding heat to basalt makes the reaction much faster. This idea was also taken from a previous Volts pod.
The Icelandic company that does CCS the very cheapest way is called Carbfix. Iceland already has the most geothermal of any other country. Carbfix uses the fact that if CO2 comes in contact with basaltic rock, at high temperatures (geothermal) then the carbon in the CO2 gas mineralizes on the hot basalt as solid carbon to form 95% calcium carbonates. The only thing that has to be done is for battery-powered ships with compressed CO2, world-wide, to travel to Iceland and drop off the compressed CO2 loads.
I am now aware that geothermal is virtually everywhere on earth. One, on average, has to drill into the ground about 600 ft. Therefore, the geothermal heat can catalyze the solid carbon separating from the gaseous CO2 to form calcium carbonates anywhere there is basaltic rock and geothermal.
The only problem is that the Icelandic people do not want to participate in this experiment and do not want the CO2 injected into the ground. They don't want all the electricity, hot water and groundwater to be used to inject CO2 from Europe into the ground, right next to residential area. They don't want 5700 tons of trace elements from European industries that come with the CO2 streams from the factories to be injected under residents houses. This project is a very high demand in power use, and the amount of groundwater is 2500 L/s which is 2x more than the whole capital area uses. The Value chain has not been fully calculated to show how much the CO2 footprint from the project is - how much emission does the project it self release, capturing, liquefying, transporting and so on. Iceland has always stood for a clean country, we do not want the take the compressed CO2 loads from other countries to inject into our clean nature. No thanks!
One question that wasn’t addressed in the excellent pod was the possibility of health risks from inhaling the finely ground basalt.
As I understand it the whole point is that basalt is rich in silica. Inhaling too much silica results in silicosis, a fatal lung disease that is going to kill a lot of people cutting engineered stone countertops over the next couple of decades.
As such, I’d very much like to know how much risk there might be to workers and bystanders, and whether companies doing projects (including in jurisdictions where occupational health and safety is not a priority) are doing anything to mitigate it if it’s a real risk.
Hi Robert, its an important question! At particle sizes of ~100 microns and a moisture content of >15%, the risk of dust inhalation is not too high, though workers using rock spreaders should wear PPA (particularly if the spreader does not have an enclosed cabin).
I loved the part about taking care of the soil. I'm skeptical the ability to scale something like this, but it is great to see it helping farmers who didn't have access to lime.
Disposal of acids from electrodialysis sounds like it would also use minerals, preferably silicates. I wonder if it can be combined with mineral extraction by doing the neutralization in silicates with some larger amount of valuable elements. Lithium and REE extraction involve acid dissolution of silicates, to the extent that a REE mine in the US has been proposed to be powered by burning of sulfur -- they need the SOx anyway to make the acid to dissolve the rocks.
Enjoyed the pod. I know farming seems to be the best application, but I was thinking parks and fields might be a good option.
I'm interested in proposing the use of basalt waste fines on some park land in my community in the Hudson Valley, NY. Wondering how I can source the product. Would it be reasonable to expect that we could get this 'waste' product for free? Here's my email if you have some guidance: scea2014@gmail.com
Thanks,
Steve
An excellent podcast. As a person with a background in science (lots of physics, not much chemistry), my understanding of the topic now provides modification to follow developments in the future.
Why the hell do you want to lock it away? It's plant food and with a growing population we need more plants to feed us and our animals.
CO2 sequestration via Enhanced Rock Weathering with crushed basalt applied to widely distributed farms strikes me as similar to solar parking lot canopy micro grids creating a matrix of widely Distributed (sub)urban Energy Resources. Both are kind of ubiquitous, piggy-back, low-tech, apolitical, synergistic, ground-level climate solutions that could rapidly scale.
I posted this on LinkedIn a month ago. I think that adding heat to basalt makes the reaction much faster. This idea was also taken from a previous Volts pod.
The Icelandic company that does CCS the very cheapest way is called Carbfix. Iceland already has the most geothermal of any other country. Carbfix uses the fact that if CO2 comes in contact with basaltic rock, at high temperatures (geothermal) then the carbon in the CO2 gas mineralizes on the hot basalt as solid carbon to form 95% calcium carbonates. The only thing that has to be done is for battery-powered ships with compressed CO2, world-wide, to travel to Iceland and drop off the compressed CO2 loads.
I am now aware that geothermal is virtually everywhere on earth. One, on average, has to drill into the ground about 600 ft. Therefore, the geothermal heat can catalyze the solid carbon separating from the gaseous CO2 to form calcium carbonates anywhere there is basaltic rock and geothermal.
The only problem is that the Icelandic people do not want to participate in this experiment and do not want the CO2 injected into the ground. They don't want all the electricity, hot water and groundwater to be used to inject CO2 from Europe into the ground, right next to residential area. They don't want 5700 tons of trace elements from European industries that come with the CO2 streams from the factories to be injected under residents houses. This project is a very high demand in power use, and the amount of groundwater is 2500 L/s which is 2x more than the whole capital area uses. The Value chain has not been fully calculated to show how much the CO2 footprint from the project is - how much emission does the project it self release, capturing, liquefying, transporting and so on. Iceland has always stood for a clean country, we do not want the take the compressed CO2 loads from other countries to inject into our clean nature. No thanks!