13: Can We Bury Modern CO₂ in Utah’s Ancient Sand?

One of the many challenges facing the world in the coming decades to reach carbon neutrality - in order for climate change to stabilize – is the challenge of both capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide that is emitted from power plants and putting it underground.  This is what is called Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. And accomplishing this on a large scale will be necessary all across the world to meet carbon emissions reduction goals laid out by the Paris Climate Agreement.  It turns out that Utah has some high potential to become a reservoir for captured CO2. A number of state and federal agencies and research institutions like the University of Utah have been exploring this possibility for a few decades already. And one person involved with this work is Liz Mahon, a Wilkes Center Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah.  I recently had the chance to sit down and talk with her about her work. https://wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/13-can-we-bury-co2-in-utahs-ancient-sand/