Turning the Ocean into a Carbon Sponge: How UCLA Engineers are Revolutionizing CO2 Removal
In order to help mitigate the atmospheric accumulation of CO2, a team from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering is working on a system.
A start-up born out of the technology developed at UCLA, Sea Change, is set to launch two pilot systems in LA & Singapore.
The aim of the project is to increase the ocean’s capacity to absorb CO2 by removing vast quantities of it from seawater.
The UCLA team wants to use an electrochemical process to remove CO2 from sea water to increase its absorption capacity.
The planet's main carbon sinks are already the oceans, which absorb 25% of all CO2 emissions, but they are reaching their capacity to absorb more due to ocean acidification & rising temperatures.
The engineers have built a mini factory that pumps seawater into the system & subjects it to an electrical charge to convert CO2 into a fine powder containing calcium carbonate.
The pilot plants of Sea Change turn CO2 absorbed by the ocean into minerals, leaving the ocean free to absorb ore.
It’s the belief of the researchers that around 1,800 industrial-scale plants would capture about 10 billion tons of atmospheric CO2 per year.
The goal of the project is "to use the ocean as a big sponge", according to lead researcher Gaurav Sant.
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