Iceland: Technology turns CO2 emissions into stone

Scientists from Iceland have developed a new technology that helps speed up the process of turning CO2 into ice in 2 years instead of having to wait thousands of years.

A very practical idea in the context of the world recording a record increase in CO2 emissions of 37 tons last year and becoming a major threat causing global warming.

Icelandic startup Carbfix is the world’s first CO2 storage operator. Since 2012, Carbfix has mineralized more than 90 thousand tons of CO2 in Iceland, or in other words turned CO2 into stone, using proprietary technology.

Engineers mixed the CO2 stored in the power plant with water, then pumped the liquid mixture into the basalt rock below ground. Water acts as a carrier, simultaneously eliminating the buoyancy of CO2 gas and accelerating the mineralization process of basalt – a necessary ingredient for normal rock formation.

As a result, in the 9 years since the Carbfix company started pumping the above mixture into the ground, 95% of this mixture has turned into stone. What is worth mentioning is that it only takes them less than 2 years to “petrify”.

The production process does not require supervision, and it even solves the controversial problem of carbon storage in the oil and gas industry. This is also the reason why Carbfix Company developed this technology.

The first phase of importing CO2 from the EU into Iceland is expected to be in 2027. At the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) taking place in Dubai, United States United Arab Emirates, the issue of CO2 storage will also be discussed.

According to Môi trường & Đô thị