14 Nov 2024        10:36:53 am

Environmental Ecology

Enhanced Rock Weathering

Tags : Enhanced Rock Weathering

Topic: Carbon Sequestration

Why in the news?

• A Darjeeling-based company is transporting basalt dust from Jharkhand and using it as an organic fertilizer to enrich soil and accelerate carbon sequestration. It has used about 500 tonnes of dust. With $500,000 in investments from carbon-credit companies, it is utilizing a geo-chemical process known as enhanced rock weathering to tackle atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).

Source: The Hindu 

About Enhanced Rock Weathering:

• It is a nature-based process that accelerates the natural weathering of rocks to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and help address climate change.
• It involves spreading finely ground silicate rocks (like basalt) on land.
• This increases the surface area of the rock, which speeds up the chemical reactions between the rocks, water, and air.
• Natural process:
  • Rocks naturally decompose over thousands of years, primarily through rain and heat.
  • This breakdown leads to the formation of bicarbonates as atmospheric CO2 reacts with minerals like calcium and magnesium.
  • These bicarbonates eventually make their way to the oceans via aquifers, where they have the capacity to store/ sequester carbon for thousands of years.
  • Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO2. It is one method of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.
• Accelerating carbon removal:
  • Given the urgent need to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels - supported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - there’s a growing focus on accelerating natural carbon removal processes.
• Benefits:
  • Carbon sequestration: ERW can help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
  • Improved soil: ERW can improve soil pH, nutrient uptake, and fertility.
  • Reduced ocean acidification: ERW can help mitigate ocean acidification.
• Challenges:
  • The challenge lies in making ERW a practical climate solution.
  • The processes of mining, grinding, and transporting rock consume significant energy, primarily from fossil fuels, which could negate the CO2 benefits.
  • Effective enhanced weathering requires large areas of land, necessitating participation from numerous farms or coastal regions to achieve meaningful carbon removal.
  • Enhanced weathering is simply more expensive than more direct ways of dealing with carbon emissions.

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