Environmental News

Had not heard of this. WHOI plans to add 50% NaOH and that is plenty nasty. Reliable eye protection at least.

FAQs: The LOC-NESS Project

I see a bulk price $USD 362 per ton of 50% NaOH. Not showing my work (but I could) this means a direct cost of about $1370 per ton of CO2 sequestered. That is not a low price compared to other C seq technologies, but maybe there are other benefits such as mitigating ocean acidification.

Making NaOH involves electrolysis, and if that electricity comes from 'burning stuff', this will not be a carbon negative process. Sounds like fun though.

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I have students play with CO2 measuring equipment and 1 molar NaOH solution. But still with eye protection [CO2] in lab air can be 800 ppm (with windows closed). Watching that go to zero in a matter of seconds is impressive.

 

Just increase pH a leeeetle bit. That is a very strongly buffered aqueous system.

Unless one obtains NaOH in a way that does not require electricity from burning, this cannot be net-C-negative. The process made me wonder if there might be a way to couple this with lithium recovery from brines. I think NaOH production could be combined with water production from ocean by reverse osmosis.

I should put a spreadsheet here describing CO2 release from fossil fuels burning, per megawatt hour produced. Currently in draft form, it allows changes to input parameters. But the rule of thumb is about $USD 300 per ton CO2 produced. Flip that, and if any electricity based C seq process costs >$300 per ton CO2, it cannot win.

 

Carbon dioxide removal summarized in 15.9 megabytes:

The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal

 

From latest issue of Nature (the journal):

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02609-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02676-z

 

We may be in a bit of a lull here, so here's a story from decades ago. To assess how many and which small rodents were active in a place we used live traps. Boxes with bait inside and the door closed after 'Mickey' entered. Next morning we would mark the captured and release them. Some victims would go again. And again. We called them trap happy. What up with that?

Imagine yourself a small rodent out at night searching for food. There be snakes with infrared vision, too bad if they detect you. But now there is a box with food inside. Go in and eat and spend the night in a snake-proof place. Morning comes, some dude paints you and lets you scurry back to home hole. On balance it was not a bad night. Big enough brain says do it again.

This is field-ecology version of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The observation of natural processes changes them.

 

So it would seem that insights into what ecologists have some value here. To the extent I can provide them. Well, OK then I may provide others. We'll see how it goes.

It's clear and obvious that bits of ecology taken into lab experiments are not 'the thing'. They are chosen, ideally wisely to illuminate some aspect(s) of reality resistant to examination in the field. Everyone knows this and takes care. Value is set by journal reviewers whose omniscience may come up later.

Doing ecology outside aims at 'beating Heisenberg'. It is not always done with great insight, nor assessed with great insight.

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Well, great to read opinions, but what of it? I often return to The Human Enterprise - it is going well at >8 billions (more good than bad I want to say). Keep this good thing going to 10 billions probably needs additional ecological insights. Few among ecologists are onto the needed things, and the heck of it is that no one knows which. The Uncertainty Principle is not done with us yet.

 

One of our members plans to use poison ivy extract to harm people who would touch his political yard signs. Setting aside if this is evil, it must be done carefully.

Urushiol the desired chemical is in all parts of poison ivy. It causes contact dermatitis in 90% of humans and a few other mammal species. The most convenient extraction solvent is ethanol, let's say cheap tequila.

Poison ivy always has 'leaves of three' but is also shape shifter so leaves may not be dentate as in online images. So for scouting, bring some paper. Broken PI leaves wiped on paper turns paper black in 30 minutes. This is an effective diagnostic.

All aspects of urushiol play require protection. Polyethylene bunny suits, particle mask, and double gloves. Bag up tested leaves and tie that bag tightly for the drive home. Protective gear in a second tied bag. Extraction done outdoors on a hot plate or similar. Do not stand downwind. Dogs stay indoors.

Heat for ? minutes, filter though paper, return to heat to reduce liquid volume. Everything used must be thrown out. If the heating pan cannot be tossed, thoroughly wash with laundry detergent (dish soap inadequate) and hot water. Do the paper test after but I'd still not ingest from that pot again. Contact dermatitis in gastric tract? No thank you very much.

Put cooled juice in spray bottle. Set yard signs and spray them after. Throw all yer junk away. Assuming evil plan fails, November yard sign disposal is bunny suit etc. again.

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If scheme works, expect retribution. Tire slashing or whatever.

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Everyone else, forget about urushiol as a deer antifeedant. They are not affected, plus, you'd spray that stuff in your garden? Sheesh.