Engineers are building a "cemetery" for unwanted greenhouse gas on the island off Norway's North Sea coast, in the municipality of Oxygarden, as reported by PhysOrg. The burial ground will pump tonnes of liquefied carbon dioxide captured from the top of factory chimneys across Europe into cavities deep below the seabed.
The aim here is to prevent gas from entering the atmosphere that may contribute to global warming. Once done, it will be the world's first open-access transport and storage infrastructure. According to project manager Sverre Overa, "The world's first open-access transport and storage infrastrcuture, allowing any emitter that has captured his CO2 emissions to deliver that CO2 for safe handling, transport and then permanent storage."
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Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
The world continues to struggle with climate change, yet there are many plans to combat it. Some climate experts think that the technique that will be used in Norway, which is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) can help partially reduce emissions from fossil-fuel-based industries.
What makes Norway a great site for this burial ground is that it is the biggest hydrocarbon producer in Western Europe and has the best CO2 storage prospects on the whole continent. In fact, its government has financed 80 percent of the infrastructure that puts 1.7 billion euros as part of a wider state plan to develop the technology.
CCS is not new, but the technology has never really taken off because it's expensive. There are only several CCS projects in operations globally. With the Paris Agreement goals, along with the failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new life has been breathed into the technology.
Energy giants Northern Lights that consists of several firms-Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell-have partnered up to execute the first cross-border CO2 transport and storage service at its scheduled launch in 2024.
A pipeline will inject the liquefied CO2 into geological pockets 2,6000 meters below the ocean floor, and it will stay there for good.
From 2025, the Northern Lights will ensure 800,000 tonnes of CO2 are captured every year at a plant in the Netherlands, then shipped to Oxygarden and stored there.
There are also facilities now that have signed up to send their CO2 to the site, one is a cement factory, and the other one is a waste-to-energy plant in the region of Oslo. However, the project also welcomes foreign companies to send their CO2 pollution here.
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Written by April Fowell
