{"id":43042,"date":"2024-10-20T08:25:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T02:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=43042"},"modified":"2025-05-05T22:37:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T17:07:48","slug":"harnessing-mining-dust-for-climate-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/harnessing-mining-dust-for-climate-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Harnessing Mining Dust for Climate Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Understanding Enhanced Rock Weathering<\/li>\n<li>The Innovative Approach of Alt Carbon<\/li>\n<li>Appreciation and Apprehensions of Alt Carbon&#8217;s Pioneering Method<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In a surprising twist, a Darjeeling-based company, <strong>Alt Carbon<\/strong>, is turning mining dust into a climate-friendly solution.<\/li>\n<li>With $500,000 in investments from carbon-credit companies, Alt Carbon is utilising a geo-chemical process known as enhanced rock weathering to tackle atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Understanding Enhanced Rock Weathering:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The natural process:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Rocks naturally decompose over thousands of years, primarily through rain and heat.<\/li>\n<li>This breakdown leads to the formation of bicarbonates as atmospheric CO2 reacts with minerals like calcium and magnesium.<\/li>\n<li>These bicarbonates eventually make their way to the oceans via aquifers, where they have the capacity to store\/ sequester carbon for thousands of years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Carbon sequestration <\/strong>is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO2. It is one method of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Accelerating carbon removal:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Given the urgent need to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels &#8211; supported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) &#8211; there\u2019s a growing focus on accelerating natural carbon removal processes.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) offers a promising solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>What is ERW?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Meaning:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a nature-based process that <strong>accelerates the natural weathering of rocks to remove CO2<\/strong> from the atmosphere and help address climate change:<\/li>\n<li>ERW involves <strong>spreading finely ground silicate rocks<\/strong> (like basalt) on land.<\/li>\n<li>This increases the surface area of the rock, which speeds up the chemical reactions between the rocks, water, and air.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Benefits<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Carbon sequestration:<\/strong> ERW can help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Improved soil:<\/strong> ERW can improve soil pH, nutrient uptake, and fertility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reduced ocean acidification:<\/strong> ERW can help mitigate ocean acidification.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The challenge lies in <strong>making ERW a practical climate solution.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The processes of mining, grinding, and transporting rock <strong>consume significant energy<\/strong>, primarily from fossil fuels, which could negate the CO2 benefits.<\/li>\n<li>Effective enhanced weathering <strong>requires large areas of land<\/strong>, necessitating participation from numerous farms or coastal regions to achieve meaningful carbon removal.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced weathering is simply <strong>more expensive<\/strong> than more direct ways of dealing with carbon emissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>The Innovative Approach of Alt Carbon:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Using basaltic rock for ERW:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Basaltic rock, especially abundant in regions like Maharashtra and Gujarat due to the volcanic Deccan Traps, is <strong>rich in minerals essential for carbon sequestration<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>By crushing this rock into a fine powder, Alt Carbon increases its effective surface area, enhancing the formation of bicarbonates significantly &#8211; by ten to a hundred times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Application in Darjeeling:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Alt Carbon collects crushed basalt from Rajmahal mines and transports it to Darjeeling, where it is <strong>applied to tea estates<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This process not only <strong>enriches the soil<\/strong> but also <strong>accelerates carbon sequestration<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Currently, the company has utilised around 500 tonnes of basalt dust, aiming to sequester 50,000 tonnes of CO2 in the coming years, thus, <strong>making mining dust climate-friendly.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Appreciation and Apprehensions of Alt Carbon&#8217;s Pioneering Method:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Securing agreements:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Alt Carbon&#8217;s innovative approach has <strong>attracted attention from major companies.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They entered a partnership with Frontier &#8211; a consortium including McKinsey and Alphabet &#8211; to secure <strong>carbon credits<\/strong> for $500,000.<\/li>\n<li>They also collaborated with NextGen to buy additional <strong>carbon credits<\/strong> at $200 per tonne.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges:<\/strong> While the principles of ERW are well understood, <strong>discrepancies in measuring sequestered carbon<\/strong> raise concerns and <strong>emphasise the need for precise measurement protocols<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Alt Carbon\u2019s pioneering work in using crushed basalt for ERW showcases <strong>a novel method for carbon sequestration.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Going ahead, the company aims to make significant strides in<strong> combating climate <\/strong>change while simultaneously <strong>improving agricultural practices<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=idyrK9uJLYg\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/idyrK9uJLYg\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>\u00a0Q.1. What is carbon credit?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A carbon credit, also known as a carbon offset, is a permit that represents the reduction or removal of one ton of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Carbon credits can be generated by projects that: reforest, use renewable energy, and reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is the carbon footprint?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A carbon footprint is a calculation of the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by a person, company, product, or event. It&#8217;s usually reported in tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) per unit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/company-uses-mining-dust-to-enhance-carbon-capture\/article68773354.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Company uses mining dust to enhance carbon capture<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alt Carbon is utilising a geo-chemical process known as enhanced rock weathering to tackle atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}