How powdered rock could help slow climate change

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A method called enhanced rock weathering shows promise at capturing carbon dioxide from the air. But verifying the carbon removal is a challenge.

On a banana plantation in rural Australia, a second-generation farming family spreads crushed volcanic rock between rows of ripening fruit. Eight thousand kilometers away, two young men in central India dust the same type of rock powder onto their dry-season rice paddy, while across the ocean, a farmer in Kenya sprinkles the powder by hand onto his potato plants.

Enhanced rock weathering is one of many carbon dioxide removal technologies that aim to strip the atmosphere of excess carbon dioxide. Approaches that lock up carbon dioxide could be key to meeting climate goals, according to. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — a target of the 2015 Paris Agreement — would require the removal of 100 billion to 1,000 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by the end of the century, the IPCC says.

“If we don’t build climate removals to gigaton scale by 2030,” Walker says, “we cannot achieve our climate goals.”Enhanced rock weathering relies on a process that’s even older than the dinosaurs: the breakdown and buildup of rock. Water droplets in the atmosphere combine with carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid. When the weak acid rains down on volcanic rock, silicate minerals in the rock dissolve.

Energy needs for rock weathering, mostly related to the grinding and transport of rock, vary widely depending on parameters like distance to a farm and the fineness of the powder . In general, though, enhanced rock weathering typically. The team studied carbon dioxide removal techniques in different countries.in this way would require about 1,200 terawatt-hours of electricity. That’s roughly three times as much electricity as the entire U.S. renewable sector generated in 2019.

Farmer Erich Schott inspects concrete powder that was spread across his soybean field south of Chicago in 2023. Like volcanic rock powder, concrete powder can enhance the natural weathering process that traps carbon.Eion, with projects located in the southeastern United States, uses olivine. Wolf, the company’s cofounder and chief innovation officer, points out that soil nickel levels in that region are so low that nickel fertilizer is actually recommended.

Another unknown is the possible effect of these rock powders on the flora and fauna of adjacent lands, lakes or ponds, or on marine life if rock powder is sprinkled into the ocean.In the acronym-heavy world of carbon dioxide removal, one jumble of letters stands out above all others: MRV, for measurement, reporting and verification. Accurate MRV is essential to assessing a technique’s effectiveness and enabling companies to sell carbon credits.

 

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