To wonder why we humans need to produce CO2?

[Tictocrobot]

I know that our current issue is that fertiliser manufacturers are not currently creating CO2 as a by-product, but it seems we also need to create a lot of CO2 for packaging, stunning animals, fizzy drinks etc.
This is probably a stupid question, but can we not remove it from the air? Given it causes us so many problems.

This story was on the radio in the car yesterday and my 10 year old son asked the exact same question. And I was like... I have no idea actually! Surely if we have a dangerous surplus of CO2 in our atmosphere there must be a way of extracting that?

It was discussed on radio 2 with Jeremy Vine today, basically it sounds like it comes down to being too costly (in terms of equipment and power) to be worth it.

It's a byproduct of fertiliser manufacturing, so if it wasnt used in the food industry then it would be released anyway. So we'd be no better off.

And there are machines that extract co2 from the air and mineralise it, but pretty small scale at the moment www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/09/worlds-biggest-plant-to-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-rock-opens-in-iceland-orca

I saw something on LinkedIn yesterday about this, I think it’s this plant here in Iceland.

capture plant

It’s in testing phase, this is the first commercial plant, interesting concept ‘locking’ the co2 away into basalt

That’s really interesting, and very promising that they have got something that works, even if it is too expensive to use more wisely just yet.

Widely not wisely! Although I suppose also quite wise…!

@Tictocrobot

I know that our current issue is that fertiliser manufacturers are not currently creating CO2 as a by-product, but it seems we also need to create a lot of CO2 for packaging, stunning animals, fizzy drinks etc. This is probably a stupid question, but can we not remove it from the air? Given it causes us so many problems.

We can remove it from the air, but it is a lot more expensive than the other ways of producing it. Don't forget that CO2 only makes up 0.04% of the atmosphere, so it is not actually that easy to extract it in raw form from the air.

Plants extract CO2 from the air. They cannot survive without it.

Flowering plants evolved during a time when the CO2 levels in the atmosphere were much higher.

Humans and other animals breathe out CO2 as a consequence of our respiration and metabolism.

There would be no plants and no animals if there was no CO2.

The organisation I work for has been involved in research on carbon sequestration for at least 14 years that I know of. This is the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, although not for commercial use.