Injected into Icelandic rocks, carbon dioxide stays there

Drilling at the CarbFix site, with the Hellisheiði geothermal power plant in the background. (credit: Juerg Matter)

As the world continues its slow shift to renewable energy, it would be great to limit the carbon dioxide produced from the fossil fuels we'll burn in the meantime. Some researchers are working on capturing that CO₂ from smokestacks using as little energy as possible. Others are working on places to put it.

Deep, briny aquifers are an obvious choice. The concern there is the risk of leakage. Once we put the CO₂ deep into the Earth, we want it to stay there. Eventually, the CO₂ dissolved in those brines can precipitate as carbonate minerals (which won't be going anywhere), but that takes a pretty long time.

Brines aren't the only option for locking away captured CO₂, though. There are also volcanic rocks that will readily react with CO₂, potentially speeding things along. In 2012, a pilot project got rolling in Iceland to inject CO₂ into basalt—something the island nation has in abundance. An impressive outcome from this pilot is reported in a new paper published in Science.

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