Millions of tonnes of potentially lethal carbon dioxide may have to be stored deep under towns and villages to prevent climate change, according to a senior government adviser.
The storage sites would have to be closely monitored to detect any leaks and an alarm system would be needed to warn nearby residents of the danger of asphyxiation. New bylaws might have to be passed prohibiting bedrooms on the ground floor because of the risk of CO2 poisoning as people slept.
“The worst-case scenario would be a situation where people were unaware there had been a leak,” he said. “In particular weather conditions or in confined spaces, those people could suffer asphyxiation.”
He said that Britain would need to learn from Ciampino near Rome, where CO2 leakage from the ground was a natural hazard controlled by monitoring and alarm systems. “People do make mistakes,” Dr Riley said.
These large-volume injection tests are designed to demonstrate that CO2 storage sites have the potential to store regional CO2 emissions safely, permanently, and economically for hundreds of years.
These large scale injection tests will occur over several years.
Sources of CO2 may include natural deposits, ethanol facilities, natural gas processing plants, and even capture from power plants to give a idea of the potential sources.
www.netl.doe.gov...
There are several key technical risk features, events and processes for geologic CO2 storage and these include:
The release of CO2 from its storage location (e.g., via wellbores, faults or fractures, etc.)
Potential injection pressure increases or seismic events
Gravity-driven CO2 movement or residual trapping
Displacement of brine or other fluids
www.netl.doe.gov...
As a value-added benefit, when CO2 is injected into a mature oil reservoir, it can produce additional oil. This process, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), begins by injecting CO2 into an oil reservoir. A small amount of the injected CO2 dissolves in the oil, increasing the bulk volume and decreasing the viscosity, thereby facilitating flow to the wellbore.
www.netl.doe.gov...
Have people in this world lost their ever-loving minds?! This, for sure, goes in the WTF category!
Confined spaces such as cellars or dispense gas stores come within the regulations of many countries. You may need to do a risk assessment and certainly, for your own peace of mind, you need to ensure the health and safety of you and your employees. One of the best ways is to install an Analox 50 carbon dioxide detector.
Where this everyday gas is stored in high concentrations people have died.
Carbon dioxide and health
Carbon dioxide is essential for internal respiration in a human body. Internal respiration is a process, by which oxygen is transported to body tissues and carbon dioxide is carried away from them.
Carbon dioxide is a guardian of the pH of the blood, which is essential for survival.
The buffer system in which carbon dioxide plays an important role is called the carbonate buffer. It is made up of bicarbonate ions and dissolved carbon dioxide, with carbonic acid. The carbonic acid can neutralize hydroxide ions, which would increase the pH of the blood when added. The bicarbonate ion can neutralize hydrogen ions, which would cause a decrease in the pH of the blood when added. Both increasing and decreasing pH is life threatening.
Apart from being an essential buffer in the human system, carbon dioxide is also known to cause health effects when the concentrations exceed a certain limit.
The primary health dangers of carbon dioxide are:
- Asphyxiation. Caused by the release of carbon dioxide in a confined or unventilated area. This can lower the concentration of oxygen to a level that is immediately dangerous for human health.
- Frostbite. Solid carbon dioxide is always below -78 oC at regular atmospheric pressure, regardless of the air temperature. Handling this material for more than a second or two without proper protection can cause serious blisters, and other unwanted effects. Carbon dioxide gas released from a steel cylinder, such as a fire extinguisher, causes similar effects.
- Kidney damage or coma. This is caused by a disturbance in chemical equilibrium of the carbonate buffer. When carbon dioxide concentrations increase or decrease, causing the equilibrium to be disturbed, a life threatening situation may occur.
Read more: www.lenntech.com...
Why don't they pump it into a greenhouse or a
forest where it will do some good and be transformed into oxygen by the plants? 