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    Environmental (Coastal – Mitigation – Olivine)

 

  • The mineral olivine is a beautiful green magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 and similar in appearance to quartz. It is a type of nesosilicate (formerly called orthosilicate), a compound with a structure in which independent silicate tetrahedrons (each of which consist of a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners) are present.  It is a primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, and thus is an abundant mineral in Earth's subsurface.  Historically, olivine has been used as the gemstone peridotite (also referenced as chrysolite), as well as in industrial applications, such as various metalworking processes.

 

  • Olivine works well as a weathering (a natural process causing the deterioration of rocks, soils, minerals and wood when such rocks, soils, minerals and wood repeatedly come into contact with atmospheric gases, biological organisms, water or violent, destructive events such as sandstorms that will gradually break down and erode any exposed surfaces of such rocks, soils, minerals and wood) agent when mixed with soil.  Scientists have theorized that olivine’s natural ability to promote rapid weathering acceleration may contribute to enhancing capture carbon from the atmosphere and then storing it relatively quickly, resulting in transforming the olivine into what is known in scientific circles as a carbon sink – any material, natural or otherwise, that captures any carbon-containing chemical compound through some natural internal process, and then stores such carbon-containing chemical compound within itself for an indefinite period of time, thereby neutralizing any carbon dioxide (CO2) existing in such carbon-containing chemical compound.  Thus, olivine is currently being considered by academics, diplomats, entrepreneurs, governments, politicians and scientists with increased interest, as a potentially efficient and profitable tool in the apparently never-ending battle against climate change, which was brought dramatically to world attention through the COP21 2015 Paris Agreement (Agreement).

 

  • Experts and pundits have proposed olivine as a good candidate to enable faster capturing and storage of all types of existing environmental carbon through human-induced accelerated weathering processes, whether such carbon may be in the atmosphere, or on land (perhaps generally along coastlines), or underwater (called “blue carbon”, in reference to its connection with water) in coastal ecosystems and coastal estuaries, as part of coordinated climate change mitigation initiatives.  The hope is that by introducing olivine use throughout the world simultaneously in numerous locations, on a massive scale, using numerous simultaneous processes, carbon capture and storage may be greatly-accelerated.

 

  • In academic, diplomatic, entrepreneurial, governmental, political and scientific climate change circles, any process for capturing and storing carbons and particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) may sometimes be referenced as either “CDR” or “negative CO2 emissions”, and any process for greenhouse gas (GHG) removal may sometimes be referenced as “GGR”.  Collectively, such processes may sometimes be referenced as either “negative emissions technologies” or “NETs”.

 

  • Although carbon capture and storage may be easily-accomplished along coastlines that have healthy coastal ecosystems and coastal estuaries containing abundances of mangrove trees (whether estuarine or oceanic), tidal marshes, underwater seagrass meadows and carbon-attracting sediments, there are many other coastlines that do not have carbon-attracting attributes.  Fortunately, carbon capture and storage science has progressed to the point where humans have developed naturally non-destructive, non-invasive and non-toxic processes that can be introduced into areas not ordinarily suited for carbon capture and storage, particularly along coastlines, where abundant native sand already exists.

 

  • Progressive entrepreneurial enterprises have begun to initiate beach mitigation and restoration projects in which various amounts (depending upon the limits allowed in the various environmental permits issued by the relevant governmental entities – which, in the US may include, but not necessarily be limited to the: Federal government; state government; local government; various governmental entities and agents having micro-jurisdiction over the project area; the US Coast Guard; and, the US Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction over all water-related projects involving any form of construction and environmental impact) of olivine in the form of finely-ground particles is introduced into the native beach sand, hopefully to both promote carbon capture and storage and perhaps simultaneously to slow beach erosion.

 

  • The oceans themselves are magnificent carbon sinks.  Scientists have estimated that the oceans already absorb about 25% the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by all the world countries each year, which is of course incredibly helpful in our efforts to curb climate change.However, this heroic effort by the oceans does not come without a price.  The constant absorption of such atmospheric pollutants increases the acidity of ocean water, which in turn has negative effects on fish and aquatic plants, and any metals that may come into contact with the acidic water, such as hulls of ships and human-made structures, such as piers and platforms, once any protective paint has been washed away.

 

  • Adding fine particles of olivine to the oceans (as might occur if the olivine may have been originally-introduced during some coastal beach restoration project, and the washed naturally into the ocean through natural wave action) may help to both reduce the ocean water acidity, while simultaneously accelerating the ocean’s natural heat sink functioning.  This is because dissolving fine particles of olivine into ocean water causes the olivine to form bicarbonate, a stable form of carbon which is also a natural acid-reducer that results in increased water alkalinity and decreased water acidity.

 

  • Not only can olivine particles be mixed with natural beach sand, but the olivine particles themselves may be deposited directly on the ocean floor in pre-calculated mass quantities of cubic yards, that perhaps may act as mini-carbon sinks.

 

  • Olivine is so plentiful on this planet (scientists estimate that up to 80% of this planet’s mantle could be composed of olivine), that scientists have estimated that to capture all the world’s carbon emissions for one entire year would require merely 16% of one particular olivine deposit (after the required processing into fine particles) in New Zealand, and lest you may worry about what might happen to this planet after about 6 years when that particular New Zealand olivine deposit runs dry, there is apparently another particular olivine deposit in the Sultanate of Oman, that (after the required processing into fine particles) could apparently easily capture all the world’s carbon emissions for 1,000 years (assuming that all the world emissions stayed the same as current levels, without even taking into account the expected major reductions in emissions resulting from the current world initiative to consistently reduce reliance on fossil/nonrenewable fuel sources, until such time as the entire world is using low-emission renewable fuel sources) without running dry, and those are just 2 of the multitudinous olivine deposits all over this planet.

 

  • Other scientists are working on a process for extracting magnesium hydroxide – an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Mg(OH)2, a common component of milk of magnesia-type antacids that is apparently also a very efficient carbon capture and storage carbon sink – from olivine.  The scientists claim that the magnesium hydroxide apparently actually converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into a completely different inert material that can never be released into the atmosphere, land or ocean again.  This is actually an distinct advantage over the use of just plain olivine particles alone as a carbon sink, since the olivine particles alone just store the carbon dioxide (CO2), and have the potential to release the carbon dioxide (CO2) again if they are disturbed (such as for example if used on coastal beaches where the sand is then moved by bulldozers in preparation for the construction of a beach resort).

 

  • Drafting and negotiating any agreements, contracts and documents related to olivine-related coastal mitigation projects, as well as all related compliance functions and regulatory tasks.

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