* fight viruses better than any drug on the market today
* control bugs like ants and termites better than any pesticide currently available
* clean up oil spills and other environmental disasters
* renew soils and reestablish forest habitat while recycling our waste matter at the same time
* produce "econol" - ethanol that is far more ecologically sound than the current model using corn

CARBONATE CHEMISTRY FOR SEQUESTERING FOSSIL CARBON
Klaus S. Lackner
Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Abstract
Fossil fuels play a crucial role in satisfying growing world energy demands, but their continued use could cause irreparable harm to the environment. Unless virtually all anthropogenic carbon dioxide is captured, either at the source or subsequently from the air, and disposed of safely and permanently, fossil fuels may have to be phased out over the next few decades. Sequestration of waste carbon dioxide will require methods that can safely store several trillion tons of carbon dioxide. Long-term storage of a gaseous substance is fraught with uncertainty and hazards, but carbonate chemistry offers permanent solutions to the disposal problem. Carbonates can be formed from carbon dioxide and metal oxides in reactions that are thermodynamically favored and exothermic, which result in materials that can be safely and permanently kept out of the active carbon stocks in the environment. Carbonate sequestration methods require the development of an extractive minerals industry that provides the base ions for neutralizing carbonic acid. Full Text



Basaltic rocks and their potential to permanently sequester industrial carbon dioxide emissions
Matter, J. and Assayag, N. and Goldberg, D. (2006) Basaltic rocks and their potential to permanently sequester industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Proceedings of the International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies . Elsevier Science.

Abstract Injection of anthropogenic CO2 into deep aquifers is one of the promising geological storage options being considered for CO2 sequestration. The retention time and environmental safety of the CO2 storage depend on the chemical reactions between the injected CO2, the reservoir fluid and the host rocks. The pH buffer capacity of aquifer water and the acid neutralization potential of the aquifer rocks are important factors for stabilization of the injected CO2. Mafic rocks such as basalt, which primarily consists of calcium, magnesium silicate minerals provide alkaline earth metals necessary to form solid carbonate minerals. The carbonate minerals formed thus sequester CO2 in a chemically stable and environmental benign form. We explore the scientific and technical potential of deep basalt formations for long-term storage of CO2 as an alternative to the more common sedimentary reservoir rocks. The significant global storage capacity onshore as well as offshore and the high potential for secure and permanent sequestration as stable (Ca, Mg, Fe)CO3 minerals demonstrate the importance of basalt as a potential sequestration target. Small-scale CO2 injection experiments have been carried out as single well push-pull tests to study CO2-water-rock reactions under natural in situ conditions. The in situ tests confirm rapid acid neutralization rates and waterrock reactions sufficient for safe and permanent geologic storage of CO2. Full Text