The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) researchers have identified the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal as potential storage sinks for storing large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Called CO2 sequestration, this process envisages the ocean acting like a storage reservoir for greenhouse gas which will help to decarbonise industrial clusters, stated a press release from the institute.
The researchers found that CO2 can be stored permanently in the ocean in the form of solid hydrate beyond 500 m of sea depth through the liquid CO2, thereby, can be helpful to make our industrial clusters carbon neutral.
The key findings of this research is that it can help devise large-scale CO2 storage and utilise the fullest potential of oceans to decarbonise the world without harming marine ecology. This research can also help India achieve its national decarbonisation and climate change goals.
The stored carbon dioxide can create an eco-friendly ice-like substance called Gas Hydrates. One cubic meter of gas hydrate can sequester approximately 150-170 cubic meters of CO2 under oceanic conditions beyond 500 meters.
Thus, gas hydrates-based storage has huge potential to decarbonise India’s industrial clusters. This research will pave pathways to develop large-scale sequestration in subsea sediments that help the scientific community to fulfill India’s net-zero targets.
The research was led by Prof Jitendra Sangwai, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Yogendra Kumar Mishra, Research Scholar (Prime Ministers Research Fellow), IIT Madras.
The Key findings of their research include
- Beyond 2,800 m of sea depth, CO2 liquid is denser than seawater.
- Thus, beyond 2800 m sea depth, CO2 can be stored permanently in the form of liquid pool and solid hydrate, and
- It will not permit any reemission into the atmosphere owing to the gravitational and permeability barrier offered by subsea sediments.
- The subsea clay sediments improve the mechanical and thermal stability of gas hydrates which help for long-term CO2 storage potential.
