Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology has been gaining attention once again, despite its ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and high costs. The recent hype surrounding CCS is centered around a paper presented at the Goldschmidt Conference in 2018, which discussed the production of magnesite from CO2 at room temperature. However, the scale of the problem and the limitations of the technology are not adequately addressed in the media coverage.
The article highlights that the process of producing magnesite from CO2 can remove approximately half a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere for every tonne of magnesite produced. It also mentions that the process is energy-efficient and uses polystyrene microspheres as a catalyst. However, what is not mentioned is the sheer magnitude of the carbon problem and the limitations of the technology.
There are currently around a thousand billion tons of excess CO2 in the air, and the process of producing magnesite would only be able to remove a small fraction of this amount. To put it into perspective, the production of magnesite would need to be scaled up significantly to have a meaningful impact on reducing atmospheric CO2. Even if the process could remove 10% of excess atmospheric CO2, it would take 267 years to achieve this goal.
Furthermore, the article fails to mention that there is currently no economically viable way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere on a large scale. The only effective method of carbon sequestration is through natural processes in the carbon cycle. Removing CO2 from coal plant effluents is also a challenge that has yet to be solved.
In addition to the limitations of the technology, there is also a lack of demand for magnesite on such a large scale. The global consumption of magnesite is relatively low, and there are limited uses for it. Furthermore, magnesite poses a health risk, with exposure limits set by regulatory bodies.
In conclusion, while the process of producing magnesite from CO2 may seem promising, it is not a viable solution to the carbon problem. The scale of the problem and the limitations of the technology make it impractical and inefficient. It is important for the media to accurately portray the challenges and limitations of carbon capture and sequestration to avoid giving the false impression that a solution is just around the corner. Instead, the focus should be on reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and allowing natural processes to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere.
