IRES welcomed news last week that Dr. Terre Satterfield is co-leading a $24-million initiative, with colleagues at University of Victoria and Columbia University, over six years through the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) to advance the Solid Carbon research project—one of the most promising ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) initiatives of the modern era to combat the climate crisis.
The Solid Carbon: The Ocean’s Rock-solid Sociotechnical Climate Solution was among six initiatives awarded funding under the NFRF’s Transformation stream, which supports large-scale Canadian-led interdisciplinary research with the potential to realize real and lasting change for major challenges.
Solid Carbon is developing an offshore technology that will enable safe and permanent storage of carbon dioxide as rock, in deep ocean basalt. The volcanic rock has the unique capacity for CDR because it reacts with and thereby mineralizes carbon dioxide over short periods of time; in 2012, a team of international researchers and engineers injected a small amount of carbon dioxide into porous basalt on land at a test site in southwest Iceland. Within two years, most of the carbon dioxide had reacted to become carbonate rock.
The project will utilize Ocean Network Canada’s world-leading subsea cabled infrastructure off the coast of Vancouver Island as part of this research experiment, enabling 24/7 real-time monitoring that will be publicly accessible through the Internet.
A site being considered for the Solid Carbon demonstration is within the Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is Marine Protected Area (TḥT MPA) using existing technology that was installed by the international science community to study ocean basalt. Ocean Network Canada works closely to follow regulatory processes when conducting scientific activities within the TḥT, alongside Fisheries and Oceans Canada which collaboratively manage the MPA with First Nations partners.
Satterfield will lead the regulatory, societal and Indigenous community engagement central to this research project.
“This is an effort as deeply social as it is technological,” says Satterfield, “with every strength of the team aimed at grounding our work in the Indigenous partnerships and knowledge involved, the high-quality oversight and governance to be cultivated, and incorporation of design principles that reflect the ocean histories and knowledge that exists across coastal communities.”
Next steps under the NFRF-funded project include public engagement via consultation with coastal and Indigenous communities, as well a small-scale demonstration project.
Solid Carbon brings together expertise from the social sciences, geosciences, ocean sciences, and engineering fields. The team comprises prominent experts on the global stage from organizations with demonstrated national and international recognition, including many industry partners. Visit ONC’s Frontier’s project page for quotes from Solid Carbon co-principal investigators:
- UVic Professor Curran Crawford, who is leading systems engineering research;
- UVic Associate Prof. Felix Pretis, who leads the economic assessment;
- Prof. David Goldberg from Columbia University, who brings more than 20 years of experience in CO₂ mineralization;
- and our own Professor Terre Satterfield.
For more information including Frequently Asked Questions, visit the ONC or Solid Carbon websites.