Two department faculty have recently been featured in online news videos in which they describe the potential for storing carbon dioxide in different rock formations.
MIT's Technology Review interviewed Professor Peter Kelemen in his lab, where he describes how to capture and store carbon dioxide by speeding up a reaction found naturally in rocks containing mineral peridotite. Professor Kelemen's interview can be viewed on the Technology Review website.
The January 8th edition of Science Friday featured Professor Paul E. Olsen, explaining why and how basalt formations are ideally suited for soaking up carbon dioxide emissions. The interview follows publication of a study by Olsen and his colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results of the study indicate that basalt formations in the Northeastern US could serve as massive carbon dioxide sinks. The greenhouse gas could be pumped into offshore basalt deposits and then locked into the rock pores through chemical reactions that would convert it to a form resembling limestone.