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Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

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Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#141

Post by joefigura »

ncmncm wrote: post #119

It should be much more cost-effective to float wind turbines to pump surface water to benthic depths. Then, the whole ocean is your CO2 collection surface. You might also pump water from (lesser) depths to the surface to distribute over coral reefs to relieve both heat and pH. (Picture a line of these some miles seaward, all up and down the Great Barrier Reef.) The wind turbine nacelle could be substantially cheaper…

This doesn't remove CO2 from the ocean, right? It instead mixes the ocean better to increase the total CO2 absorbed in the ocean, reducing atmospheric CO2?

It sounds like a cool idea but is not really related to what AirMyne is trying to do! Lots of ideas are promising and people need to be working on all of them

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#142

Post by s1artibartfast »

Robin_Message wrote: post #107
s1artibartfast wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For context, Global Natural Gas production is approximately 4,000 billion cubic meters per year . To sequester the world's carbon emissions, we would need to move and store <1% the volume per year.

That's apples to oranges: we don't store anything like a year's worth of gas. And anyone in Europe can tell you that natural gas transfer and storage is far from a solved problem.

The idea is not to actively store it, but dump it somewhere where it will store itself.

Europe is a great example of how we have the technology to transfer huge amounts of gas, and the challenges are largely politics and capital.

Nordstream #1 moves 60 billion m3 of gas 1,200 km and cost ~$10 billion

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#143

Post by ncmncm »

joefigura wrote: post #141
ncmncm wrote: post #119

It should be much more cost-effective to float wind turbines to pump surface water to benthic depths. Then, the whole ocean is your CO2 collection surface. You might also pump water from (lesser) depths to the surface to distribute over coral reefs to relieve both heat and pH. (Picture a line of these some miles seaward, all up and down the Great Barrier Reef.) The wind turbine nacelle could be substantially cheaper…

This doesn't remove CO2 from the ocean, right? It instead mixes the ocean better to increase the total CO2 absorbed in the ocean, reducing atmospheric CO2? It sounds like a cool idea but is not really related to what AirMyne is trying to do! Lots of ideas are promising and people need to be working on all of them

AirMyne is trying to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it attached to rocks underground. Pumping surface water down sequesters surface water down deep that recently collected CO2 from the atmosphere, and exposes incrementally less-saturated surface water to collect more.

The important difference is not how the CO2 is collected, or where it ends up. Ultimately, what matters is how much mass of CO2 is collected per unit cost, and how much CO2 is collected in total. I.e., how profitable is it, and how much difference does it really make? We need methods that can move CO2 out of the atmosphere by, ultimately, billions of tons per week.

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#144

Post by ncmncm »

mNovak wrote: post #140
ncmncm wrote: post #119

It should be much more cost-effective to float wind turbines to pump surface water to benthic depths. Then, the whole ocean is your CO2 collection surface. You might also pump water from (lesser) depths to the surface to distribute over coral reefs to relieve both heat and pH. (Picture a line of these some miles seaward, all up and down the Great Barrier Reef.) The wind turbine nacelle could be substantially cheaper…

Not to derail the OP discussion; but, how does one go about pumping water to great depths? That sounds like it would require immense energy to do on any large scale. Also thinking of the maintenance on the presumably narrow vertical pipe going miles(?) below the ocean.

It does take energy to pump water. How much is easy to calculate. But if the energy is provided by capturing wind, the cost is just the fixed capital expenditure to buy the wind turbine and pump, plus (as always) maintenance on the turbine, pump, and plumbing.

Maintaining a pipe, even one a half-mile long, is pretty cheap. (It has floats along its length, so it doesn't need to be especially strong.) Probably the biggest maintenance chore is keeping the intake from being fouled with barnacles, something most easily handled by replacing linings periodically.

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#145

Post by deadbeeves »

worik wrote: post #91
deadbeeves wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could ? Yes. It'd probably be the most expensive way to get rid of CO2, though.

> Could? Yes. It'd probably be the most expensive way to get rid of CO2, though. So? I in this context that is a plus not a minus!

How is that a plus? If it's more expensive it means you're pulling less CO2 out of the atmosphere than if had gone with a cheaper method.

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#146

Post by ncmncm »

Kirinius wrote: post #139
gridspy wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like it would also directly cool surface water, by replacing it with very cold deep water. That cooling would directly reduce current average earth temperatures, in addition to the CO2 impact on long term heating / cooling.

Not sure in which measure this "cooling" (of oceans only) would have any impact on other parameters of global climate, but that's a project I'd be eager to work on anyways.

The ocean surface, when colder, absorbs heat from the atmosphere. But the effect of removing CO2 is much more important because CO2 blocks heat that comes in every day from space from escaping back to space. And, acidifies the ocean top, damaging the food chain at its roots.

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#147

Post by tkanarsky »

mNovak wrote: post #140
ncmncm wrote: post #119

It should be much more cost-effective to float wind turbines to pump surface water to benthic depths. Then, the whole ocean is your CO2 collection surface. You might also pump water from (lesser) depths to the surface to distribute over coral reefs to relieve both heat and pH. (Picture a line of these some miles seaward, all up and down the Great Barrier Reef.) The wind turbine nacelle could be substantially cheaper…

Not to derail the OP discussion; but, how does one go about pumping water to great depths? That sounds like it would require immense energy to do on any large scale. Also thinking of the maintenance on the presumably narrow vertical pipe going miles(?) below the ocean.

Hmm, off the top of my head I think that it takes as much energy to pump water down a 1-foot tube as it would for a 1000-foot tube. It's like rotating a long loop of chain on a pulley, but in three dimensions. One liter of water goes down the tube, one liter of water comes up around the tube. Both sides weigh equal amounts so there's no net force. Of course, overcoming inertia to get the water moving and keeping it moving despite friction might be significant. Ironically, a consequence of the oil industry is that we have powerful pumps that are proven to be economical in moving large amounts of liquids long distances through pipes :)

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#149

Post by Sporktacular »

ganzuul wrote: post #62
moralestapia wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, what are YOU doing for biodiversity ganzuul?

I keep the pollution that my workplace produces down and avoiding unnecessary consumerism & plastic packaging. Voting with my wallet for the green premium.

Can't we do both approaches?

Re: Launch HN: AirMyne (YC W22) – Capturing CO2 from air at industrial scale

#150

Post by ummonk »

samstave wrote: post #45
yodon wrote: post #35

I want to be excited about this, but it's capturing CO2 as CO2 gas, not sequestering CO2 in a form that keeps it out of the atmosphere. If you pay a lot of money in process and power to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere or out of exhaust gases and then use it in chemical processes other than ones which sink the carbon into long lasting solid, liquid, or oceanic absorption form you're just burning money and power to make…

Could we put them into pods and throw them at Mars so we start dumping Co2 on Mars for Musk's Mars Mushroom Mart! too grow.

The rocket you use to sling them at Mars will produce orders of magnitude more CO2 than it could carry to Mars.

And this is completely ignoring the CO2 cost of building the rocket.

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