AIDA CO₂ Capture
Carbon capture working with nature's own processes
A research and development project examining how CO₂ can be captured at source and treated in a controlled system. Chemistry, energy balance, environmental effect and storage permanence must be documented before the concept can be presented as a solution.
Carbon capture today can require large plants, significant energy use, transport and access to approved geological storage. AIDA is examining whether a different approach could work for certain maritime and industrial applications.
The ocean is one of the planet's largest active carbon reservoirs and naturally absorbs large amounts of CO₂ from the atmosphere. When CO₂ meets seawater, the carbon enters chemical equilibria between dissolved CO₂, bicarbonate and carbonate. Biological processes can also move carbon further through the marine cycle.
AIDA's idea is to investigate whether captured CO₂ can be converted, stabilised or bound into forms that can be handled more controllably and enter a documentable natural carbon reservoir. The aim is not to use the ocean as an uncontrolled discharge site.
Such a concept must be assessed with great care. Increased CO₂ uptake can change seawater chemistry and contribute to acidification. A solution is not sustainable merely because it uses a natural process.
Before any practical use, the project must document how CO₂ is captured and in what chemical form the carbon ends up; how much energy and which materials the process requires; whether the carbon is stored stably and for how long; how the solution affects pH, water chemistry and marine ecosystems; how uptake, storage and any leakage can be measured and verified; and which laws, permits and international rules apply.
AIDA CO₂ Capture will not be marketed as a documented climate solution until chemistry, energy balance, environmental effect and storage permanence have been validated by relevant scientific bodies. AIDA's strength is the combination of process understanding, maritime engineering, sensors and data capture. If the concept is taken further, PUSH-style monitoring could be used to document the process, control operation and track the effect over time.