The future of Swiss carbon dioxide lies underground in Iceland

Yesterday, President Alain Berset visited a demonstration plant of Carbfix and the project “DemoUpCARMA” in Iceland, which is used to inject CO2 underground. Project coordinator and ETH professor Marco Mazzotti explains why Swiss CO2 is shipped to Iceland, of all places.

President Alain Berset has just visited the DemoUpCARMA project in Iceland. What could you show him?

Marco Mazzotti: The President of the Swiss Confederation visited the injection site, where we keep special containers filled with SwissCO2 and connected to an injection facility via a mobile line. During his visit,CO2 was continuously injected from these tanks into the basaltic rock, where it is expected to mineralize and form limestone in a few years.

What is DemoUpCARMA generally about?

Within the framework of the project "DemoUpCARMA", a 20-member consortium led by ETH Zurich is demonstrating two pathways for the capture, use and storage of CO2Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration (CCUS); on the one hand in recycled concrete aggregates for the production of a new building material, on the other hand for the transport and storage of the greenhouse gas in the basalt formations underground in Iceland, i.e. "Carbon dioxide Capture, Transport and Storage" (CCTS). This international project uses, among other things, the technology and injection infrastructure of the Icelandic company Carbfix. For the latter demonstration plant, we transportedCO2 across borders for the first time, namely from Switzerland to Iceland. This is biogenicCO2 , which means it was produced by fermenting biomass and separated from biomethane in a biogas upgrading plant. TheCO2 was then liquefied and transported in special containers called isotainers.

How should one imagine the transport?

First, a truck brings the isotainers from Bern to Basel, then they arrive in Rotterdam by rail, from there by ship to Reykjavik, and finally by truck to the Icelandic storage site. One container holds 20 tons ofCO2.

How many such isotainers have been transported to Iceland so far?

The plan is to transport a total of 50 isotainers to Iceland, and five have already arrived. Half of them were injected into the subsurface with fresh water. However, there are plans to dissolve theCO2 in seawater and inject it into the rock in the future - a technological first and a potential breakthrough for the large-scale application of this solution.

Why is the Federal Council interested in this project?

The development ofcarbon capture and storage (CCS) and negative emissions generation (NET) solutions is part of Switzerland's climate strategy. If Switzerland wants to reach the net-zero target, it will have to manage about 12 million tons ofCO2 per year in this way in 2050. DemoUpCarma is the first step in the development of these solutions. It is necessary to start as soon as possible in order to identify and address all related challenges at an early stage. The Federal Council is very interested in the project and also supports it financially via the Federal Offices for Energy and for the Environment.

What are other goals of DemoUpCarma?

In addition to the activities described above, DemoUpCarma aims to investigate the feasibility of upscaling the two solution paths. This is approached from a holistic perspective, meaning we analyze the technical, economic, environmental and risk performance of CCTS and CCUS supply chains. This is to manage 12 million tons ofCO2 per year in Switzerland in 2050. We also evaluate aspects related to regulations, certification, financing, governance and public perception. In addition, together with industrial partners, we are investigating the integration ofCO2 capture in two specific plants, the municipal waste treatment plant of the city of Zurich and the cement plant of the Jura company in Wildegg.

How far along is the project?

The demonstration of the CCUS pathway in recycled concrete in Switzerland is almost complete. The upscaling studies will be completed this year. The CCTS route with injection in Iceland will take six to ten months longer due to delays in completing the new injection well with seawater.

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