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> Floating trees in the open ocean. The more refined version of this are intentionally created algal blooms, ala the red tide. Then you would somehow capture t
by the_sleaze_ 2y ago
> Floating trees in the open ocean.
The more refined version of this are intentionally created algal blooms, ala the red tide. Then you would somehow capture the CO2 dissolved in ocean water that the algae concentrates.
In this way you'd use the ocean itself as your carbon capture "filter" and "clean the filter".
The issue is that since there just isn't enough nutrients for life, and adding fertilizers costs more carbon than it sequesters. The deep ocean usually gets its nitrogen from life dying above, decaying downwards then getting pushed upwards again. I don't know of any deep ocean reserves of nitrogen that just needs brought to the surface.
- chr1 2y agoNitrogen is easy, it can be captured from air, iron is the main thing missing in surface water that must be brought up by upwelling. But having real trees above the water is much more useful than simple carbon capture, they would serve as wavebreakers for seasteading settlements too.
- the_sleaze_ 2y agoYou're right, there seems to be iron rich deep sea currents in some places that could be good opportunities for upwelling, especially if you had a carbon neutral way to do it. There is also emerging technology for nitrogen fixing that could work - Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction. All this being said, if the goal is carbon sequestration building a viable business is going to be next to impossible. The easiest way would be to use your renewable energy to pull bicarbonate out of the ocean directly with electrolysis, reverse-osmosis, whatever magic tech the wizards in MIT are cooking up. Only then you've got the problem of what to do with it all once you've got it on hand. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36992-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36992-1
- chr1 2y agoCarbon sequestration is merely a side effect, the main goal is to have a wavebreaker and a park and a place to grow fruits, for a floating city. To bring nutrient rich water up and to generate energy in the process temperature difference between surface and deep water can be used [1]. So if this kind of tree is created, living on open sea can become cheaper and more pleasant than even living on a beach. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_thermal_energy_conversion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_thermal_energy_conversio...
- the_sleaze_ 2y agoOk, I was misunderstanding. Ocean thermal energy conversion - I hadn't heard of this, this is awesome.