Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
I've heard of this before, and I have a question.... what happens to the CO2 once its stored? Does it break down into carbon and oxygen molecules, or does it just sit there?
Because if it just sits there, aren't we simply passing off today's issues onto future generations? The only difference is instead of the effects being seen in 50-100 years where the future generations can say "great-grampa Ken was a jerk for leaving us the CO2", now it will be left for hundreds or thousands of years where documentaries will be saying "nobody knows for sure why the people of the ancient 21st century thought it would be a good idea to leave this mess for us to clean up."
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The idea is that when you inject the carbon dioxide that it will react with water to form carbonic acid. This can then form carbonate or bicarbonate salts with available alkali metals. This will now allow (in theory) a new carbon source to enter the natural carbon cycle. People are proposing that the carbonate and bicarbonate salts are environmentally benign so it shouldn't affect things detrimentally.
CO2 + H2O --> H2CO3 + NaCl --> NaHCO3 + HCl --> carbon cycle