Take a step-by-step walkthrough of how their solution works in a 🧵 below ⬇️
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1️⃣ "@ebbcarbon with aquaculture farms, desalination plants, ocean research labs, and other industrial sites that process seawater."
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2️⃣ "Ebb intercepts existing salt water flows at the facility and processes the water before it returns to the ocean."
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3️⃣ "Using low carbon electricity, Ebb run the salt water through a stack of ion-selective membranes that separate it into acidic and alkaline solutions."
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4️⃣ "Ebb measure and monitor the pH level and volume of the alkalinity we produce in real time. This enables us to safely return it at levels within the ocean's natural pH variance."
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5️⃣ "Ebb return the alkaline solution to the sea, where it immediately lowers the acidity of the sea water locally."
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6️⃣ "Over weeks to months, the alkaline solution reacts with dissolved CO2 in seawater to create bicarbonate (HCO3), a stable form of carbon storage for 10,000+ years."
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7️⃣ "With more CO2 locked away as bicarbonate, the ocean will naturally equilibrate and sequester more CO2 from the air. Ebb measures the CO2 removed from the air using sensors in the water and ocean and carbonate chemistry models."
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8️⃣ "By partnering with the ocean, Ebb Carbon has the potential to be one of the most energy efficient and cost effective ways to reverse the impacts of climate change both locally and globally."
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🚨Georgia Tech researchers have developed a low-cost method to pull CO₂ from the air (#DAC) using cold temperatures and common materials, potentially slashing capture costs to ~$70 per ton and expanding where Direct Air Capture can work. #CDR
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2/ DAC is a critical tool for fighting climate change, but it’s been too expensive to scale.
Current systems often exceed $200 per ton of CO₂ captured, partly due to the high energy needed to run them.
3/ The Georgia Tech team found a smart way to tap into existing industrial cold from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
When LNG is regasified for use, huge amounts of cold energy are wasted (energy that can chill air for better CO₂ capture).
New study revealed that Kenyan fig trees can literally turn parts of themselves to stone, using microbes to convert internal crystals into limestone-like deposits that lock away CO2, sweeten surrounding soil & still yield fruit. #CarbonRemoval
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2/ Some Kenyan fig trees, like Ficus wakefieldii, store CO₂ not just as organic matter (wood/leaves) but also as calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) - the same mineral as chalk or limestone.
This process is called the oxalate-carbonate pathway (OCP).
3/ PROCESS:
First, the tree forms calcium oxalate crystals inside its wood.
Then, special microbes (oxalotrophic microorganisms) or fungi convert these crystals into CaCO₃.
This locks up carbon in mineral form that can persist in soil far longer than organic carbon.