I get that we would trap carbon but could it fail and potentially cause a mass release?
In: Earth Science
In some cases, CO2 is pumped into the ground to repressurize oil formations, for enhanced extraction. If the CO2 remains as a gas, I guess there’s a risk of a blowout.
For long term storage the carbon needs to be converted to some non-volatile form. Into charcoal, as mentioned, or into carbonate minerals. E.g.
> Since 1990, scientists and engineers considered using naturally occurring minerals that react with CO2 to form carbonate minerals, as a means to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in solid form where it will remain stable for thousands or millions of years (Seifritz, Nature 1990). The mineral olivine (Mg2SiO4) has been the focus of the most research. Olivine forms the carbonate mineral magnesite via reactions such as
> > Mg2SiO4 (olivine) + 2 CO2 (from gas or fluid) = 2MgCO3 (magnesite) + SiO2 (quartz)
> Olivine is abundant, has more magnesium than silicon, and reacts readily because it is far from equilibrium with the atmosphere and surface waters.
https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/gpg/projects/carbon-sequestration
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