Project Vesta is a non-profit promoting
accelerated weathering of
volcanic olivine as a climate
drawdown strategy in order to
capture carbon absorbed in the world's oceans.
The organization is headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2019.
They are focused on increasing the volume and quality of the scientific evidence behind accelerated weathering, in order to make it an economically viable opportunity for atmospheric
carbon removal
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR), also known as negative emissions, is a process in which carbon dioxide gas () is removed from the atmosphere and sequestered for long periods of time. Similarly, greenhouse gas removal (GGR) or negative greenho ...
.
Vesta claims that their goal is US$10 a ton for reaching economic viability, but some critics do not think this is viable.
Executive director Tom Green claims "If we spread olivine over 2% of the world’s shelf sea, then that will be enough to capture 100% of human emissions.”
To promote further adoption of the technology, they publish all of their science and methods
open source.
The Project Vesta process mimics natural weathering processes to transform the olivine into silicates and other stable chemicals, like
calcium carbonate which precipitate to the oceans bottoms as marine life consumes the naturally occurring chemical and die (see
Carbon in the water cycle for further info).
The wave action of beaches on crushed olivine allows for more rapid weathering than other natural deposits of olivine, which only absorb limited amounts of carbon dioxide.
Vesta announced in May 2020, that they began a controlled trials of the approach in two private beaches in the Caribbean and are looking for other sites to experiment.
The experiment was funded by a mix of crowdfunding, grants and carbon capture credits by companies like
Stripe who purchased 3,333 tons of
carbon sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in lan ...
for $75 a ton.
As part of the pilot experiments, they are monitoring whether the approach releases any toxics from the olivine, such as bioavailable nickel, in high concentrations into water.
References
External links
*
Reversing Climate Change Podcast Season 2 Episode 23 on Project Vesta
Organizations based in San Francisco
Enhanced weathering
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