The minerals are highly reactive, eager to bond with carbon dioxide in the air. The leftover oxide minerals, which would be calcium oxide if the process starts with limestone, can be spread out in thin layers across sheets, stacked vertically, and exposed to the open air. That carbon dioxide can then be relatively easily captured, compressed, and injected underground, storing it away basically forever. That means the process can run on clean renewable energy sources and would produce a stream of carbon dioxide free from fossil-fuel impurities. Heirloom eventually intends to rely on electricity-driven kilns. (It could use other feedstocks as well, such as magnesite, which was the focus of the Nature Communications paper.) ![]() This is similar to the first step in producing cement. The company will cook materials such as ground limestone, which is mostly calcium tied up with carbon dioxide, at temperatures of 400 to 900 ˚C-high enough for it to break down and release the greenhouse gas. Heirloom is taking a very different route, however. Some are grinding up and spreading out materials like olivine, while others are putting to use the already pulverized by-products of mining operations, even including asbestos. But only a handful of mostly early-stage startups are actively working on this today, exploring a variety of means like creating machines that directly grab carbon dioxide molecules out of the air, converting biowaste into oil that is injected underground, or developing systems to incentivize or validate natural approaches like reforestation or agricultural practices that may take up more carbon in soils.Ī number of scientists and nonprofits have also researched the possibility of accelerating the processes by which various minerals-particularly those rich in silicate, calcium, and magnesium-pull carbon dioxide out of air or rainwater. Preventing the planet from warming by 2 ˚C could require pulling 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year by 2050 and 20 billion annually by 2100, according to a 2018 study. The lead author of the paper was Noah McQueen, a graduate student of Wilcox’s and now head of research at Heirloom. ![]() Those include: Peter Kelemen of Columbia University, Greg Dipple at the University of British Columbia, Phil Renforth of Heriot-Watt University and Jennifer Wilcox, who is now principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy in the Biden administration. ![]() The venture is earning attention in part because the process, described in a paper published in Nature Communications last year, was developed by prominent researchers exploring the use of minerals to capture and store carbon.
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