* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, August 4, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Hank Hill returns to a changed world in new ‘King of the Hill’ episodes – New Haven Register

    Hank Hill Navigates a Bold New World in Thrilling New ‘King of the Hill’ Episodes

    Exclusive | Fox Takes Stake in IndyCar Owner Penske Entertainment – The Wall Street Journal

    Exclusive | Fox Takes Stake in IndyCar Owner Penske Entertainment – The Wall Street Journal

    Go-to entertainment: why gaming was made for the toilet – The Guardian

    Why Gaming Is the Ultimate Way to Pass Time in the Bathroom

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

    How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

    Credo Technology: Wiring The AI Revolution (NASDAQ:CRDO) – Seeking Alpha

    Credo Technology: Driving the Next Wave of AI Innovation

    Microsoft Seeks to Extend Access to OpenAI Technology – PYMNTS.com

    Microsoft Aims to Broaden Access to OpenAI Technology

    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Hank Hill returns to a changed world in new ‘King of the Hill’ episodes – New Haven Register

    Hank Hill Navigates a Bold New World in Thrilling New ‘King of the Hill’ Episodes

    Exclusive | Fox Takes Stake in IndyCar Owner Penske Entertainment – The Wall Street Journal

    Exclusive | Fox Takes Stake in IndyCar Owner Penske Entertainment – The Wall Street Journal

    Go-to entertainment: why gaming was made for the toilet – The Guardian

    Why Gaming Is the Ultimate Way to Pass Time in the Bathroom

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

    How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

    Credo Technology: Wiring The AI Revolution (NASDAQ:CRDO) – Seeking Alpha

    Credo Technology: Driving the Next Wave of AI Innovation

    Microsoft Seeks to Extend Access to OpenAI Technology – PYMNTS.com

    Microsoft Aims to Broaden Access to OpenAI Technology

    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

New electrochemical technology could de-acidify the oceans—and even remove carbon dioxide in the process

March 31, 2024
in Science
New electrochemical technology could de-acidify the oceans—and even remove carbon dioxide in the process
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

by Charles-Francois de Lannoy, Bassel A. Abdelkader and Jocelyn Riet, The Conversation

ocean

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In the effort to combat the catastrophic impacts of global warming, we must accelerate carbon emissions reduction efforts and rapidly scale strategies to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and the oceans. The technologies for reducing our carbon emissions are mature; those for removing carbon from the environment are not, and need robust support from governments and the private sector.

Only 45 percent of carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere; the remainder is absorbed through two cycles: 1) the biological carbon cycle stores CO2 in plant matter and soils, and 2) the aqueous carbon cycle absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere into the oceans. Each of these cycles accounts for 25 percent and 30 percent of emitted CO2, respectively.

CO2 that dissolves in the oceans reacts to form chemicals that increase the acidity of the oceans. The dissolution of minerals from rocks along coastlines act to counterbalance this acidity, in a process called geological weathering, but the extreme increase in the rate and volume of CO2 emissions, especially over the last 60 years, has far exceeded the rate of geological weathering, leading to a 30 percent increase in ocean acidity.

As the oceans acidify, millions of marine species and whole ecosystems—especially coral reefs—will be unable to adapt.

We are overwhelming the Earth’s natural re-balancing systems and harming its ecosystems in the process. Our recent work at McMaster University and the University of Toronto, supported by the Carbon to Sea Initiative, has attempted to address these challenges.

The challenge ahead

The good news is it is possible to re-balance the pH of the oceans using a process called ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). What’s more, this rebalancing will also encourage additional CO2 to be absorbed from the atmosphere. By carefully and continually restoring the ocean’s alkalinity, ocean acidification and excess atmospheric CO2 concentrations can be tackled simultaneously.

The most obvious approach would be to add finely ground alkali minerals into the ocean to directly lower the acidity of the water. However, the massive scale at which these processes would have to be enacted is staggering.

For example, we estimate that the equivalent mass of roughly eight thousand Empire State buildings worth of alkaline substance would need to be added into the oceans each year starting by mid-century to meet IPCC emissions targets. Clearly, this technique cannot be the sole solution.

We believe an electrochemical approach operated on decarbonized energy is one of the best ways to combat ocean acidification. Using a process called bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED), the acidity of seawater is removed directly without the addition of other substances. This technology only requires seawater, electricity and specialized membranes.

The simplicity and modularity inherent to the BMED technology allows a flexible, scalable and potentially cost-effective method of carbon dioxide removal.

Building at scale

In 2015—with a team of researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center and X Development—we built and tested a small-scale BMED system. This system performed well and shows great promise when coupled with existing facilities such as desalination plants.

We identified its primary technological limitations, but in 2015–2017, carbon credits and incentives for climate change technologies were insufficient and the project was shelved. Now the economic and physical climate has changed.

On the economic front, both the tax credits provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States as well as the steadily rising revenue-neutral carbon tax in Canada are strengthening the economic viability of carbon dioxide reduction technologies.

Further, the recent extreme climatic events in the past year from massive wildfires in Canada, to the hottest months on record, to the warmest sea temperatures ever measured, are shocking people into the glaring realities of climate change and increasing the demand for real solutions. BMED technology is one of these solutions.

BMED technology is limited in part by the specialized membranes that are commercially available. What’s more, these membranes account for a significant portion (around 30 percent) of the capital cost and have short lifetimes as they are susceptible to degradation.

Our work aims to develop scalable, ultra-thin membranes for use in a modified BMED process, while also identifying efficient operational conditions, optimal industrial couplings, and ideal global locations to cost-effectively implement this OAE technology around the world.

The ultra-thin membranes will extract acidity more efficiently than existing commercial membranes, while their manufacturing technique and optimal usage will dramatically decrease their production and operational costs.

Developing cost-effective BMED systems will open a pathway to economically viable OAE.

Cautious optimism

Recently, several start-ups have been formed—such as Ebb Carbon, SeaO2 and Vesta—that target ocean carbon dioxide removal through OAE.

We encourage open communication about the progress and challenges facing OAE with the public, research institutions, governments and the private sector to accelerate solutions to OAE’s challenges.

In particular, we must assess the impact of re-adjusting seawater alkalinity on marine ecosystems while, at the same time, also developing and implementing trusted systems to measure, report and verify the net amount of acidity and carbon removed.

Alongside this, we must also identify optimal large-scale deployment locations where OAE can be safely and effectively implemented.

These considerations are being researched by various groups, but much more support is needed to rapidly vet and scale this technology.

To overcome the technological challenges and environmental uncertainties, government, industrial, non-profit and venture capital support must be massively scaled and devoted to carefully and responsibly validating the large-scale implementation of OAE technologies around the world.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
New electrochemical technology could de-acidify the oceans—and even remove carbon dioxide in the process (2024, March 30)
retrieved 31 March 2024
from https://phys.org/news/2024-03-electrochemical-technology-de-acidify-oceans.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2024-03-electrochemical-technology-de-acidify-oceans.html

Tags: electrochemicalsciencetechnology
Previous Post

Food scientists show rice malt has potential to play a bigger role in beer

Next Post

Protests intensify across Israel as hostage rallies and anti-government protests unite

Archived natural DNA samplers reveal four decades of biodiversity change across the tree of life – Nature

Four Decades of Biodiversity Uncovered Through Archived Natural DNA Samplers

August 4, 2025
Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars – Yahoo Home

Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars – Yahoo Home

August 4, 2025
Science and the courts need to better distinguish between correlations and causation – Genetic Literacy Project

Science and the courts need to better distinguish between correlations and causation – Genetic Literacy Project

August 4, 2025
Adidas Relies on ‘Brand Heat’ in Lifestyle Footwear for Future Growth – WWD

Adidas Relies on ‘Brand Heat’ in Lifestyle Footwear for Future Growth – WWD

August 4, 2025
Team USA sets new relay record at swim worlds and Katie Ledecky wins again – CBS News

Team USA Smashes Relay Record at Swim Worlds as Katie Ledecky Reigns Supreme Again

August 4, 2025
Dow futures reverse higher as recession alarm bells jolt Wall Street awake from dreams of a gravity-defying economy – Fortune

Dow Futures Soar Amid Growing Recession Concerns Shaking Wall Street Confidence

August 4, 2025
Hank Hill returns to a changed world in new ‘King of the Hill’ episodes – New Haven Register

Hank Hill Navigates a Bold New World in Thrilling New ‘King of the Hill’ Episodes

August 4, 2025
How Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Impacting Health Care – Pulmonology Advisor

How Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Shaping the Future of Health Care

August 4, 2025
Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas – CNN

Ghislaine Maxwell Moved to Federal Prison Camp in Texas

August 4, 2025
How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military – The New York Times

August 4, 2025

Categories

Archives

August 2025
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (754)
  • Economy (779)
  • Entertainment (21,656)
  • General (16,284)
  • Health (9,816)
  • Lifestyle (787)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (778)
  • Politics (788)
  • Science (15,992)
  • Sports (21,274)
  • Technology (15,756)
  • World (760)

Recent News

Archived natural DNA samplers reveal four decades of biodiversity change across the tree of life – Nature

Four Decades of Biodiversity Uncovered Through Archived Natural DNA Samplers

August 4, 2025
Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars – Yahoo Home

Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars – Yahoo Home

August 4, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version