A case for deep-ocean CO2 sequestration

Abstract

Abstract Carbon sequestration (CO2 disposal) may be only a temporary measure for bridging from the current situation in which carbon emissions to the atmosphere are unacceptably high and increasing, to a carbon-free economy, but it is a practical and immediate process that can be undertaken. Sequestration methods vary in effectiveness and cost, and each may have different opportunities, benefits, and drawbacks and periods of time over which the CO2 is retarded from emitting into the atmosphere. Sequestration methods need to be tested on an appropriate scale as quickly as possible because carbon sequestration may help reverse the trend of increasing carbon emissions and remediate the atmosphere for a significant period of time. Among proposed carbon sequestration technologies, temporary storage of CO2 in the deep ocean may be the most practicable for many locations, and possibly the most energy efficient and cost-effective. In addition, an important added value benefit may be derived from deep ocean sequestration. A CO2 hydrate industrial crystallization desalination/disposal process is particularly applicable to oceanic islands and coastal areas adjacent to narrow continental shelves where abyssal depths can be reached by the dense, dissolved CO2-rich water gravity mass flows composed of processed water rejected from the desalination process.