The PICS Solid Carbon project welcomes a new Columbia World Projects report identifying key opportunities and challenges in offshore carbon capture and storage.
“Accelerating Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage” has been spearheaded by David Goldberg, an activity co-lead with the PICS Solid Carbon negative emissions technology project, and supported by other members of the Solid Carbon team.
The report is the result of a CWP-hosted 3-day workshop, held in October 2020, that explored many of the technical, regulatory, and social uncertainties that would be involved in pursuing offshore carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and mineralization. These include issues associated with long-term liabilities, various engineering and ecological concerns, as well as public acceptance.
Workshop discussions focused on two potential offshore locations where designs for future demonstration projects are being considered– the Cascadia Basin in the northeastern Pacific and the continental shelf along the United States Atlantic coastline. These sites have the potential, at scale, to store billions of metric tons of CO2. Both sites feature sub-seabed basalt rock formations, wherein injected CO2 may rapidly mineralize and significantly reduce the potential for leakage. Pilot projects at one or both sites could demonstrate a new approach for permanently and safely storing CO2 that would be replicable around the world.
This report helps advance PICS and Solid Carbon's goal of permanently and safely sequestering atmospheric CO2 as a climate change mitigation solution.
Read the technical supplement to the report.