A new study sheds light on the way salty water acts in deep-sea aquifers, paving the way for further research into carbon storage deep beneath the seabed.
A new study sheds light on the way salty water acts in deep-sea aquifers, paving the way for further research into carbon storage deep beneath the seabed.
Pools of salty water (brine) trapped beneath the seabed offer an unparalleled opportunity to sequester carbon and keep it trapped for millennia. Yet research in this area remains rudimentary, as little is known about the way sodium chloride (salt) behaves when it’s combined with carbon dioxide several kilometres beneath the surface of the earth, where conditions of heat and pressure are extreme.
Now a study from the University of Bath is shedding new light on the way saline solutions act in deep geological formations (known as aquifers), paving the way for further research into CO₂ sequestration beneath the seabed. The final aim of this work is for pipes to carry CO₂ from the earth’s atmosphere into these aquifers, where it will be stored harmlessly, potentially forever.
Working out how CO₂-laden salty water behaves under extreme conditions in the presence of rock is important. Will it dissolve in the water and react with the rock, or will it simply bubble back to the surface at the first opportunity, like the bubbles from a bottle of cola after it has been shaken and opened?
Read more at University of Bath
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