Publication: The Daily Breeze

UCLA Expert: Dante Simonetti: Associate Professor, UCLA School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Synopsis: SeaChange, a project by UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management, aims to use ocean technologies to fight climate change.

UCLA News: SeaChange uses electricity to form solids from seawater minerals, Simonetti explained, creating sand-like bits of limestone and brucite that lock carbon dioxide inside. The water is then released back into the ocean, leaving behind pure hydrogen, which can be sold as emissions-free energy. Theoretically, the plants could go anywhere. Ocean carbon capture systems aren’t nearly as finicky as, say, offshore wind or wave energy projects, with no particular weather patterns or ocean temperatures needed to make them viable. So Simonetti said they can set up shop wherever regulators and the community welcome them. While there’s some potential market for the carbon produced through ocean capture projects (and hydrogen, with SeaChange’s process), the main moneymaker here will be from companies willing — or forced — to pay to offset their own carbon production.

Read more at The Daily Breeze.