A new initiative has commenced along the southern coast of England, with the aim of extracting carbon from the sea. The pioneering project, known as SeaCURE, is being funded by the UK government as part of its endeavors to combat climate change. While the primary focus of climate scientists remains on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, some argue that capturing already released gases is also crucial.
SeaCURE stands out from other carbon capture projects as it explores the efficiency of extracting carbon from the sea, where it exists in higher concentrations compared to the air. The facility in Weymouth is testing the feasibility of removing carbon from the atmosphere by utilizing seawater. This innovative approach involves treating the seawater to make it more acidic, prompting the carbon to convert into a gas and be released into the air as CO2.
The project’s entrance, located behind the Weymouth Sealife Centre, leads to a pipe extending into the Atlantic to extract seawater. Once processed to remove carbon, the treated seawater is pumped back into the ocean, where it continues to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere. Although SeaCURE is currently removing a small amount of CO2 annually, it has the potential for significant scalability, with the possibility of removing billions of tons of CO2 if implemented on a larger scale.
Despite the potential benefits of extracting carbon from seawater, there are challenges, particularly in meeting the energy requirements for such operations. Dr. Paul Halloran, who heads the SeaCURE project, acknowledges the immense carbon content in seawater compared to the air, highlighting the necessity for renewable energy sources to power the carbon removal process. The project has received £3 million in government funding and is one of 15 pilot projects in the UK aimed at developing technologies for capturing and storing greenhouse gases
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