Bingham mine in Utah, size of 27 km3
There are worldwide thousands more available supplies of olivine than ever required to stop the overdosis of CO2 in the atmosphere and the acidification of oceans.
To balance the emission and removal of CO2 we need annually ~25 Gt olivine, this means a volume of 7 km3 (half of todays miningvolumes of coal, oil and gas burnt). This quantity means very much, but compared with existing practises it is within the reach of modern mining techniques. The greatest mine is in Utah with volume of 27 km3.
Experimental Olivine reactor planned on the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam
One of our proposals deals with the possibility to sequester large volumes of CO2 from the atmosphere by spreading fine-grained olivine in coastal waters in order to adsorb CO2, and counteract the expected acidification of the sea water caused by the rising CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. A pilotproject is being studied.
General characteristics of 15 different enhanced weathering applications
Worldwide area sizes to be considered or potential.CO2 removal estimated in period of 5-10 yrs (1 ton removes 1.25 ton CO2) and calculations are only rough estimates.
Empty fields means no calculation available.
| Applied on land and or water | Intended removal mechanism | Additional benefits and savings | Olivine dose, grains of 100 micron | Area in ha (estimate) | CO2 removal (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural land | Replacement of liming in fertiliser | Raising pH of soil, more effective and less costs | ≈ 6 ton /ha | max 13 billion (only areas with low pH) | max ~ 100 Gt |
| Rice cultures | Spreading in wet fields (paddies) | Delivery of silica from olivine | ≈ 6 ton /ha | 146 million | ~ 1.1 Gt |
| Plantations (coffee etc.) | Combined with fertilizer spread | Better crop yields | ≈ 6 ton /ha | 20 million | ~ 0.15 Gt |
| Forestry | Spreading in new plots | Delivery of Mg from olivine | ≈ 6 ton /ha | 4 billion | ~30 Gt |
| Forest fires | Suspension of fine serpentine | Faster and more effective quencing | ≈ 40% in suspension | where applicable | reduction of CO2 emissions |
| Sandy coasts | Beachsand replenishment | No disturbance of sea bottom | replacement in NL: 25 million ton | ||
| Coastal protection | Artificial olivine reefs | Raise of pH, fish hatching places | Needs field studies | ||
| Tidal flats | Lugworms digest olivine | Recovery of pH | 100 gr/m2 | ||
| Breaking waves in beachwaters | Milling to slivers by surfs | Fast and costless milling, pH rise | Needs field studies | ||
| Diatom cultivation | Biofuels production | Replacing disputed landbased biodiesel | Needs further investigation | ||
| Shallow seas (beachwaters) | Rolling olivine mill, cheapest way ! | Recovery of ocean pH | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| Buildings offices, schools | Filtering by olivine suspension | Improved quality of ‘internal airclimate’ | Captured CO2 :75 kg / 250 persons/day | ||
| More green biogas | Olivine addition in the digester | Higher Methane yields, less smell | Modest amounts | ||
| Phytomining of Nickel | Harvesting Alyssum plantation (Ni accumulator) | Cheap Ni production, 1 kg Ni/500 kg olivine, no costs of traditional proces | Yield:100 kg Ni/ha | No CO2 emission of traditional production process | |
| Rivers near Olivine mines | Natural transport and distribution | Effective spread in large areas | 14 milion ton olivine at 10,000 m3 /sec per mine |