Using crushed minerals to combat climate change

Photo: Marcel van den Bergh - Longread Can minerals help extract the greenhouse gas CO2 from the air? PhD candidate Emily te Pas is investigating the potential of spreading crushed silicate minerals on agricultural land. 'This is still pioneering at this stage. It is important to collect data: does it work and is it safe?'' Photo above: Marcel van den Bergh At a testing site in Renkum, PhD candidate Emily te Pas is investigating whether the greenhouse gas CO2 can be extracted from the air by adding silicate minerals to agricultural soil. The underlying principle is literally as old as the hills. Silicate rocks react with dissolved CO2 to bind this gas to bicarbonate, which can precipitate in the soil in the form of lime. When this happens naturally, it goes at a geological snail's pace. But if you ground the minerals into grit, thought Utrecht geologist Olaf Schuiling 15 years ago, that weathering would take place within years or decades.