The 2015 Paris Agreement laid the groundwork for limiting the global temperature rise to 1,5° C. If the trend of recent years will be confirmed in the next future, man-made global warming would reach 1,5° C between 2030 and 2050.
However, even if emissions may stop tomorrow, it would take centuries for CO₂ in the atmosphere to be absorbed naturally.
Meanwhile, the warming of the Earth would continue. For this reason, now, and in the coming years, it is necessary to remove CO₂ by achieving negative emissions.
Limenet offers a good solution to this problem.
Limenet is inspired by the geological carbon cycle, a natural process through which carbon is exchanged between the geosphere (soil), the hydrosphere (seas and oceans), the biosphere (fresh water) and the Earth’s atmosphere.
All these portions of the Earth, in fact, can be considered large carbon tanks, which, under certain conditions, make CO₂ transit from one part to another.
Limenet replicates the geological cycle of carbon but increases the speed of this process.
Our technology, in fact, is designed to exponentially accelerate the dissolution of limestone (up to hourly scales), which together with CO₂ (absorbed by air or directly from the waste streams before they reach our atmosphere) and sea water, produces negative emissions in the form of calcium bicarbonates.
This process not only reduces the presence of CO₂ in the atmosphere but, by dissolving carbonate compounds in seawater, increases the alkalinity of water, which is the ability to resist changes in acidity levels, with potential benefits for marine biota.