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MIT researchers propose way to safely store carbon in saline aquifers

We have harped numerous times about the propitious phase our green oriented technology is going through in the recent times. However, when it boils down to core statistical figures, ‘old school’ coal burning powerplants still account for about 40 percent of global carbon emissions. In fact, our efforts to curb greenhouse gases have conventionally hinged upon usage of renewable sources like solar and wind energy. But, given the astronomically expansive scope of human emissions, major industrial sectors have to think out of the box for a more collective approach. And, one of them quite adroitly suggests the mitigation of the carbon waste in the deep geological formations spread throughout our natural eco systems.

Greenhouse gas can find a home underground

According to new study by researchers at MIT, the naturally occurring saline aquifers in the United States do have the incredible spatial capacity to accommodate a huge quantity of carbon, emitted in the past 100 years from the nation’s powerplants. Such subterranean geological formations are found around half a mile below the earth surface, thus making them safe from the reach of freshwater sources or even human consumption.

As a matter of fact, there have been previous studies that covered the storing of carbon waste in such underground compounds. However, most of such researches alluded to major disparities, with end estimations showing a mercurial range of storing capacities that exhibited a few years worth of carbon to more than thousand years worth of carbon. But, this time around, the scientists have developed an accurate model of how the carbon would percolate through the rock fissures, thus depending upon the rate of injection.

On the other hand, the comprehensive study does exclude the cost of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage). In this regard, many pundits and analysts have predicted that the overall cost of the endeavor can be 15 to 20 percent more, as compared to fossil fuel generated power.

Via: MIT

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