On June 10th 2016, it was announced in the journal Science that scientists have found a way to successfully turn carbon dioxide emissions into stone. Researchers in Iceland say that they have advanced the carbon capture and sequestration process to the next level. The process is called Carbfix, which was developed in 2012, and is now being used to store carbon dioxide underground.
The breakthrough, which was made at Iceland's Hellisheidi Power Plant just outside of Reykjavik, was the discovery that carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide could be mixed with water and then injected into volcanic basalt rock. Doing this causes a series of chemical reactions to take place that turns the basalt into a whitish, chalky mineral called calcite. This process, known as carbonation was believed to take many years.
However, in 2012, the researchers injected 250 tons of carbon dioxide mixed with hydrogen sulfide into basalt rock that was 1,500 feet down. After two years, 95% of the injected carbon dioxide beneath the plant had turned into stone. Martin Stute, a hydrologist at Lamont-Dorhety Earth Observatory at Columbia University and co-author of the study said, "This means we can pump down a lot of CO2 and store it in a very safe way over a short period of time.
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