Research Shows Promise for Aggregate Fines Reducing Carbon from the Atmosphere

There has been research abroad that shows volcanic rock fines can pull carbon from the air along with new research in the United States, specifically California, that supports international research, and this just might be viable.

The research in California, conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis and Cornell University, was an implementation of the theory in dryer climates. The research shows that the weathering of certain volcanic minerals, specifically basalts, and diabase rocks, can absorb and store carbon. Rain captures carbon dioxide from the air and as it falls it reacts with the rock to trap the carbon. Weathering of solid rock can take millions of years and this slow carbon reduction would be negligent to be of any value. However, research supports that if the rock is processed into a fine dust weathering happens at an exponentially faster pace therefore measurably reducing carbon from the atmosphere in decades rather than millenniums.

Virginia is geologically blessed to have significant deposits of basalt and diabase rock formations, and generally have abundant fine materials because of processing. Limestone fines are already utilized for soil enhancement and agricultural purposes, the diabase and basalt fines generally go unused and become burdensome. 

Can carbon reduction be a new market for these volcanic excess materials? VTCA has shared this research with Virginia Tech and will see if there are opportunities to explore further if the practice of employing volcanic fines reduces carbon from the atmosphere and if it can be done here in Virginia.

The latest research can be found here.