I see the point of spreading carbon weathering rock so it soaks up carbon from the air, but I thought this is a fairly slow an inefficient process that is mostly relevant on the geological scale. My first thought was that if you plan to mine, crush, and distribute rock onto some barren landscape, then how much time would it take to capture back the carbon released during preparation?
In terms of use as fertilizer, olivine is Mg2SiO4 whereas basalt is MgO, CaO and similar stuff (I didn't know this, I looked it up :) ). Neither of them have nitrates of phosphates though, the main ingredients of fertilizers, so I am not sure what use they would have as fertilizers other than things like adjusting soil pH or adding granularity or somesuch. Some algae like diatoms do require silica to make their shells, but for them, so little is required that its easily found in any tap water that's stored in a glass bottle.
Admittedly I know far too little about the topic to be helpful, I only know that limestone traps quite a lot of carbon during formation, but that is again a partly biotic process and its rather slow I think.
Lately I've become interested in abiotic carbon capture also: Also known as "Enhanced Weathering", one of the only geoengineering solutions that doesn't seem to have scary or unknown side-effects. Essentially, you get some carbon-weathering rock, crush it, and spread it on fields or beaches.
Some rocks make great fertiliser, so in theory they could help displace some Haber-Bosch fertilisers, or mass-produced manure as used by some Organic* farmers, both of which constitute huge contributors to greenhouse gas.
There is some speculative work on how plant roots and lichens, thanks to their fungal component, might be able to add a biotic accelerating effect to enhanced weathering by breaking down rock faster. I don't know whether this could be of any use to Algal farming, by itself.
Most work in this area focuses on Olivine, which is a very common mineral and mining byproduct in some areas of the world, and by itself could (if mined & crushed in a low-impact, low-emissions way) make a serious dent in greenhouse gas all by itself. I've heard Basalt will do well, too. I'd love to know whether rocks like Limestone could be useful in their crude crushed state also, as we have much more of that over here in Ireland. Limestone could also perhaps replace some agricultural lime as a slower-acting soil buffer, for cases where an immediate amendment isn't necessary.
* Mandatory notice: Organic farming is not ecologically sustainable, having drastically lower yields with no clear health or consistent environmental benefit attached at scale
December 3, 2018 9:37 AM, "Ravasz" <ravasz...@gmail.com> wrote:
--Hi,The solution we are working on is to grow algae as a food and feed source. Algae are several times more efficient at producing biomass than any plant and provide a protein-rich feed for animals. As a consequence adding algae to animal feed greatly reduces the environmental impact of meat. It is not as good as veganism, but as someone said above, changing people's habits is a difficult task, switching from soy protein to alga protein is comparatively easier.Algae can also be used as food, plastic feedstock and for producing various chemicals for industry. They can be grown in areas where no plants grow like deserts our out at sea. So growing algae does not need farmers to remove natural habitats to make way for plantations.If you want to capture carbon from the air, algae are by far the most efficient biology has to offer.Cheers,Mate
On Friday, 21 September 2018 19:48:57 UTC+1, Tito wrote:
Hi everybody,Anyone here interested in direct air capture for carbon removal? https://www.fastcompany.com/40510680/can-we-suck-enough- co2-from-the-air-to-save-the- climate The current generation of tech is chemical engineering. I'm curious what solutions biology might offer. Figured some people on this list might be thinking about it already.Thoughts?Cheers,Tito
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