Tuesday, 12 November, 2024 / Edition 33

It’s the day after Veterans’ Day in the United States. It’s a holiday in which we honor all vets: past and present. Thank you, vets!

This week, we go over some tech that improves the efficiency of offshore renewables as well as some solid CO2 storage breakthroughs. Let’s dive in!

Sarah Compton

Editor, Enspired

Mineralizing CO2 at the Speed of…Rock

Iwona Deren/Shutterstock.com

One company, cleverly named 44.01, has found a way to make the mineralization of CO2 when it contacts mafic and ultramafic rocks take roughly one year instead of millennia.

• From the papers I found, these rocks are likely to be olivine-rich peridotites, but 44.01 never states specifically which rocks they are working with, which is understandable for where they’re at in the business life cycle.

• They drilled their first injection well in the later half of 2021—a year after the company launched—and began using seawater as their injection fluid at the end of 2023.

• Using seawater or other non-potable brines is part of their business model and reduces the impact on freshwater availability.

Driving the news:

• 44.01 recently completed a pilot project in the UAE, permanently mineralizing more than 10 tonnes of CO2 from the Emirate of Fujairah’s peridotite formations.

• The project was supported by ADNOC, and as part of an announcement at a recent conference, ADNOC and 44.01 announced plans to scale the project.

The tech is very promising, but it raises many questions around overlaps with oilfield logistics!

• Injection water will have to be sourced and brought to site, just like for oil and gas fracking jobs.

• The initial CO2 source for the injection wells was direct air capture (DAC), I think, but if/as this scales up, having DAC onsite might not result in optimal carbon capture. Where will the CO2 come from, and how will it get onsite?

• While the website enthusiastically mentions the fact that mafic and ultramafic rocks are found worldwide, they leave out the likely fact that not all of those rocks will be ideal for this process and technology. I’m sure there are bounds on other reservoir properties, such as porosity, permeability, geomechanics, and more.

• Fortunately, there’s an entire army of geoscientists like us ready, willing, and able to help find the optimal conditions and locate reservoirs with them.

If you want to go down the paper rabbit hole like I did, this, this, and this should get you started.

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A Modular Generator for Offshore Renewable Installations

TebNad/ Shutterstock.com

Modularity is something the oilfield is well acquainted with, and offshore renewables are trying to get in on the game.

CGEN Engineering, a spinout from the University of Edenborough, has built a lightweight modular generator system that can be adapted to a variety of offshore energy technologies.

How it works: The generator converts mechanical energy produced by offshore wind, wave, and tidal technologies into electricity. Now, leaders are hoping to expand its application to renewable energy.

• Each module can be individually moved, repaired, etc., meaning energy companies can keep operations running while one unit is down.

• The tech has been tested at scales of up to one megawatt, enough to supply power to hundreds of homes.

Benefits of the new technology are promising and include:

• Increased responsiveness to different operating conditions, resulting in a 30–40 percent increase in operating lifespan and a reduction in maintenance costs of 50–70 percent

• A drop in downtimes for repairs and overhauls

• All these, plus additional efficiencies in power generation, combine to result in a 10–15 percent reduction in the average cost of energy produced

What they are saying: “We believe our technology directly addresses critical gaps in the U.K.’s offshore renewable energy supply chain. We aim to collaborate closely with manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers to scale up the production of our technology, ultimately expanding the Scottish and U.K. supply chains to meet the growing needs of the sector”— Joseph Burchell, Managing Director at CGEN

Increasing the efficiencies of renewable technology is going to play a key role in our energy mix, as demand is set to only rise.

As geoscientists, we have key roles to play including appropriately understanding and quantifying true environmental impacts of these technologies across their full product lifespan.

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✉️ To get in touch with Sarah or suggest a topic for Enspired, send an email to editorial@aapg.org.