Stanford researchers discover how the mineral forms naturally

Dec 9, 2013 14:14 GMT  ·  By

An abandoned mine about 113 kilometers (70 miles) east of Stanford University may hold the answer to the old question of how to store carbon dioxide once it is removed from the atmosphere. The answer appears to be very simple – turn CO2 into magnesite. 

Magnesite is basically pure magnesium carbonate. It appears in very large veins inside the abandoned mine the Stanford team has been analyzing for the past two years. In a new study, geoscientists at the university finally manage to untangle the mystery of how this mineral forms.

Unlike other CO2 storing methods, which involve injecting liquid carbon into the ground, the new approach has the advantage of converting the chemical into a very stable state, which can endure for millions of years without any significant leaking, Space Daily reports.

“One million metric tons of magnesite is the equivalent of sequestering 140,000 metric tons of carbon in mineral form. Our goal is to use the vast reservoirs of magnesium stored in ultramafic rocks to chemically bind with CO2 and form magnesite,” says Stanford graduate student Pablo Garcia del Real.