News & Events
Roadside pot trials
A 1 year experiment has begun looking into how the mineral carbonation process is affected by elevated levels of CO2 and NO2 emissions.
Dr Ben Kolosz from SUCCESS who is leading the experiment explains why it is crucial to the project
“The carbon capture function in urban soils at this moment in time has currently not been measured against background emission levels. Plants on roadside verges for example more often than not feature an abnormally high growth rate when in the presence of vehicles. Recent findings suggest this is due to high levels of NOx and CO2 emissions on the roadside. By placing our carbon capture product within an environment of elevated levels of emissions, we are able to understand how the abnormal growth rate in plants affects the mineral carbonation process, with the potential to capture higher amounts of CO2 that is proportionate to the emission intensity of the environments”.
The site locations are dependent on the current level of roadside emissions. 9 sites have been selected which were identified and graded through 2011 roadside CO2 data from the UK department of energy and climate change. The primary requirement of site selection is to maximise the spread of different CO2 background intensities to determine the rate of carbon capture in urban soils.
Two different soil substrates plus yellow sand will be used for the experiment. Yellow sand is used as a holding material which will allow water and organic/inorganic material to filter down. The two substrates have been selected due to the high levels of calcium and magnesium silicates which are required for mineral carbonation to occur in addition to rainwater. The first substrate is dolerite fines (basalt/road stone), which have been crushed to a uniform particle size of 4mm3.
Last modified: Thu, 09 Feb 2017 16:09:21 GMT
