What would you think if someone were to tell you that CO2 could be captured beneath the earth’s surface and help in generating electricity? This is about to come true; thanks to some genius scientists of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Berkley Lab has received a staggering $5 million funding from the Department of Energy to make this project actually feasible.
The scientists from Berkley Lab would be the first in the world to produce electricity using geothermally heated carbon dioxide. Initially the team proposed to insert CO2 upto three kilometers inside the sedimentary layer. Herein CO2 is expected to acquire a supercritical state at 125 degree Celsius, when it would bear the properties of both liquid and solid states.
Next, it will be pumped to the surface and fed to turbine to generate electricity by thermal conversion. The residual CO2 would swoop back underground. After some time, some CO2 will seep permanently in the sediment. The turbines would be kept spinning by gushing in more CO2. These turbines are to be designed by Echogen Power Systems. Numerical methods would then be used to figure out the volume of CO2 reservoir that would evolve after a continuous pumping of carbon air into the ground.
This technology will be tested in Cranfield in Mississippi wherein a couple of shipping containers with imbibed turbines will be installed. The CO2 would be sourced from a Denbury Resources operated pipeline. A group of scientists from the University of Texas will be responsible for a lifetime analysis of the impacts of the process. This project would curtail the cost of geologic carbon storage, both economically and ecologically, and give results that are equivalent.
Although now, it is not exactly possible to pronounce the quantum of electricity that would be produced from this process, let us expect the best. After all, wind comes in gushes. What comes in swoosh is often called a tornado. It is better to have a sustainable development take shape of reality rather than a superfast progress that would prove harmful in the end. Ironically, that is exactly what we have been doing till today. So, let us try to improve. The rest nature would do for itself.
Via: Berkeley Lab
