Environmental impacts of ocean disposal of CO{sub 2}. Final report volume 2, September 1994--August 1996
- eds.
One option to reduce atmospheric CO{sub 2} levels is to capture and sequester power plant CO{sub 2}. Commercial CO{sub 2} capture technology, though expensive, exists today. However, the ability to dispose of large quantities of CO{sub 2} is highly uncertain. The deep ocean is one of only a few possible CO{sub 2} disposal options (others are depleted oil and gas wells or deep, confined aquifers) and is a prime candidate because the deep ocean is vast and highly unsaturated in CO{sub 2}. Technically, the term `disposal` is really a misnomer because the atmosphere and ocean eventually equilibrate on a time scale of 1000 years regardless of where the CO{sub 2} is originally discharged. However, peak atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations expected to occur in the next few centuries could be significantly reduced by ocean disposal. The magnitude of this reduction will depend upon the quantity of CO{sub 2} injected in the ocean, as well as the depth and location of injection. Ocean disposal of CO{sub 2} will only make sense if the environmental impacts to the ocean are significantly less than the avoided impacts of atmospheric release. In this project, we examined these ocean impacts through a multi-disciplinary effort designed to summarize the current state of knowledge. In the process, we have developed a comprehensive method to assess the impacts of pH changes on passive marine organisms. This final report addresses the following six topics: CO{sub 2} loadings and scenarios, impacts of CO{sub 2} transport, near-field perturbations, far-field perturbations, environmental impacts of CO{sub 2} release, and policy and legal implications of CO{sub 2} release.
- Research Organization:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States). Energy Lab.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG22-94PC94227
- OSTI ID:
- 570123
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PC/94227-T10-Vol.2; ON: DE97054033; TRN: 98:001115
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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