Iceland negative emissions plant: Hydrothermal plant pulls CO2 out of ambient air - TomoNews
TomoNews US
2017-10-18
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ICELAND — Iceland has opened the world's first power plant that eliminates more carbon dioxide than it produces.
The geothermal plant in cooperation with Climeworks will remove an estimated 50 metric tons of CO2 from the air each year where it will be turned into limestone and stored in the ground, Quartz reported.
The process works by pulling CO2 from the ambient air using a special filter. The heat from the power plant warms up the filter which extracts pure carbon dioxide.
The gas is then combined with water and pumped 700 meters underground. When the carbon dioxide reaches with basaltic rock, it forms minerals.
The project is still in the pilot phase, but researchers at Climeworks believe negative emissions plants could be set up around the world.
One major obstacle in place is the price. Climeworks estimates it runs around $600 to extract one ton of carbon dioxide from the air.
However if economies of scale can be utilized and more plants open up, that price would drop significantly.
The geothermal plant in cooperation with Climeworks will remove an estimated 50 metric tons of CO2 from the air each year where it will be turned into limestone and stored in the ground, Quartz reported.
The process works by pulling CO2 from the ambient air using a special filter. The heat from the power plant warms up the filter which extracts pure carbon dioxide.
The gas is then combined with water and pumped 700 meters underground. When the carbon dioxide reaches with basaltic rock, it forms minerals.
The project is still in the pilot phase, but researchers at Climeworks believe negative emissions plants could be set up around the world.
One major obstacle in place is the price. Climeworks estimates it runs around $600 to extract one ton of carbon dioxide from the air.
However if economies of scale can be utilized and more plants open up, that price would drop significantly.
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