'It’s a whole industry in the making': Researchers working to turn greenhouse gas into undersea rock

New research shows carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere could turn to rock in 25 years if injected into the ocean floor off Vancouver Island.

Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas that comes from the burning fossil fuels. As greenhouse gases warm the planet, researchers at Ocean Networks Canada are working on a solution.

The researchers from the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary are working on the Solid Carbon project to turn carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into solid rock under the ocean floor.

"This project is really combining existing technologies," said Kate Moran, president and CEO of Ocean Networks Canada.

“Ultimately that will use direct air capture, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere, pumping it down through the water column and injecting it into a very durable reservoir, ocean basalt," Moran said.

"That means that basalt will react with CO2 and once it's mineralized, we don’t have to worry about it any more."

The researchers believe the basalt rock off the B.C. coast could store 15 years worth of global gas emissions at just one potential deposit site.

"It’s clear now based on numerous scientific studies, no matter how fast we decarbonize, which we have to do, we also have to remove CO2 from the atmosphere," Moran said.

Ocean Networks Canada plans to commercialize the technology once it's fine-tuned. However, the technology needed to pull carbon out of the air isn’t at an industrial level yet.

"There’s a big ecosystem of companies advancing this technology," said Moran. "We need to have that both volumetrically large and economically viable and that’s moving along very rapidly."

Once that missing piece falls into place, economists expect the moneymaking potential to be huge.

"It’s a whole industry in the making," said Simon Fraser University economist Chris Bataille. "[It] will easily be as large as the oil and gas sector, if not bigger by the time I’m a senior citizen."

Moran said she sees workers from the oil and gas sector potentially transitioning to this new industry as the work is similar, just in reverse.

Planning is now underway for a demonstration project while Ocean Networks Canada looks for investment from governments and businesses.