Project Vesta
Project Vesta is a non-profit working to further the science of Coastal Enhanced Weathering (CEW).
We exist to enable critical CEW research to proceed, by combining the necessary funding and supporting logistics to the multidisciplinary scientific community with expertise in this field.
We are a team of scientists and entrepreneurs. We know any human intervention in the ocean carries risk. Our goal is to characterize the effects of CEW as accurately and robustly as we can, presenting our raw data for peer review and enabling the broader community to make a science-based judgment as to whether the benefits of CEW in removing carbon dioxide outweigh the costs and risks.
We are open to collaborators from all relevant fields of research. We are currently particularly seeking the following:
If you are a scientist with relevant expertise, especially the above, we invite you to join us as a collaborator. Click here to get involved.
We have included below a variety of papers and presentations which are a partial list of the research on which Project Vesta’s work is based.
This presentation also contributes to the logistical basis of our project. It starts out with the basic concepts and goes on to outline what the larger phases of costal olivine deployment might look like (our Phase IV is based on the numbers in this). It also addresses many common questions and common objections related to the deployment of large scale enhanced weathering. It also presents data from a flume experiment that further confirms the outsized effect that continuous motion has on accelerating the olivine weathering rate.
2015
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This paper outlines the overall view of the full potential of olivine to fight climate change and ocean acidification. It lays out some of the fundamental information that underlies the conceptual framework and logic of accelerating Earth's natural longterm carbonate storage method by enhancing the weathering speed of silicate rocks. It also goes into some numbers on what the project might look like for global level anthropogenic CO₂ emissions removal.
2011
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This paper, while concise, proposes the basic concepts Project Vesta is based on. It posits the simple formula (based on 2011 numbers) that a volume of 7 KM^3 of olivine on 2% of the world's tropical shelf seas could remove total yearly anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. A simple desktop shaker experiment detailed in this paper also demonstrates the counter-intuitive speed at which larger grains are able to weather rapidly due to their greater mass in collisions and from the effects of mechanical activation.
2011
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Geoengineering Potential of Artificially Enhanced Silicate Weathering of Olivine
2010
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Köhler, P., Hartmann, J., & Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. (2010). Geoengineering potential of artificially enhanced silicate weathering of olivine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(47), 20228–20233. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000545107
Potential and costs of carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering of rocks
2017
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Strefler, J., Amann, T., Bauer, N., Kriegler, E., & Hartmann, J. (2018). Potential and costs of carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering of rocks. Environmental Research Letters, 13(3), 034010. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaa9c4
Enhanced Weathering An Effective and Cheap Tool to Sequester CO2
2006
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Schuiling, R. D., & Krijgsman, P. (2006). Enhanced Weathering: An Effective and Cheap Tool to Sequester Co2. Climatic Change, 74(1), 349–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-3485-y
Enhanced chemical weathering as a geoengineering strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, supply nutrients, and mitigate ocean acidification
2013
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Hartmann, J., West, A. J., Renforth, P., Köhler, P., Rocha, C. L. D. L., Wolf‐Gladrow, D. A., Dürr, H. H., & Scheffran, J. (2013). Enhanced chemical weathering as a geoengineering strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, supply nutrients, and mitigate ocean acidification. Reviews of Geophysics, 51(2), 113–149. https://doi.org/10.1002/rog.20004
Negative co2 emissions via enhanced silicate weathering in coastal environments global montserrat
2016
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Meysman, F. J. R., & Montserrat, F. (2017). Negative CO2 emissions via enhanced silicate weathering in coastal environments. Biology Letters, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0905
A thorough paper looking at the details related to real-world weathering rates of coastal olivine distribution. With a focus on marine safety and an analysis of the implications of deployment, this paper concludes that further research such as the real world, or "in situ," experiments proposed by Project Vesta, need to be carried out. This study lays out methodologies by which CO2 dissolution can be tracked and by which the safety of the ecosystem can be monitored. Project Vesta is being advised in our work and is in and contact with a majority of the authors of this paper.
2017
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Montserrat, F., Renforth, P., Hartmann, J., Leermakers, M., Knops, P., & Meysman, F. J. R. (2017). Olivine Dissolution in Seawater: Implications for CO2 Sequestration through Enhanced Weathering in Coastal Environments. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(7), 3960–3972. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b05942
In-depth, full-chapter outline on olivine weathering and the mechanism by which it's weathering removes CO2. This chapter also touches on proposed plans for deployment and experiments.
2013
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Schuiling, R. D. (2013). Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, Weathering Approaches to. In T. Lenton & N. Vaughan (Eds.), Geoengineering Responses to Climate Change: Selected Entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology (pp. 141–167). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5770-1_7
The latest IPCC Report on limiting global warming to a 1.5 degrees increase has a section related to Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) (4.3.7) and an entire subsection related to Enhanced Weathering (4.3.7.4). While coastal weathering is mentioned, they also cite uncertainties and the need for verification by field experiments: "Agreement is low due to a variety of assumptions and unknown parameter ranges in the applied modeling procedures that would need to be verified by field experiments... Site-specific cost estimates vary depending on the chosen technology for rock grinding, material transport, and rock source." So here at Project Vesta, we are working to carry out a field experiment and have real-world weathering, mining, and transport data published and verified in time to be included in the next report. By utilizing tropical beaches to finely grind dunite rocks transported only from within 300 km of the beach, we believe this enhanced coastal weathering model is efficient and scalable enough to overcome any of the IPCC's concerns. We hope to provide the evidence that enhanced coastal weathering's total CDR potential and price point warrant it to be a major part of the future CDR strategery.
2019
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Chapter 4: Strengthening and implementing the global response — IPCC. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2019, from link
A CO₂ life cycle assessment of olivine mining, milling, and transport to beaches within 300 Km of the mine. Using a similar model to Project Vesta (in terms of distance transported and olivine grain size), this analysis finds an approximately 95% efficiency, with only about 5% net CO₂ loss on CO₂ removed. Carried out in 2011, it is currently being updated to include additional scenarios, and to take into account modern, more efficient equipment and vehicles.
2011
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Koornneef, J., Nieuwlaar, E., (2011). Environmental life cycle assessment of co2 sequestration through enhanced weathering of olvine.
Mechanical Activation Of Ultramafic Mine Waste Materials For Enhanced Mineral Carbonation
2007
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Jiajie Li B.A.Sc., University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2006, M.A.Sc., University of Science and Technology, Beijing, 2009.
Structural changes in olivine (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 mechanically activated in high-energy mills
2008
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Peter Balaz, Erika Turianicova, Martin Fabian, Rolf Arne Kleiv, Jaroslav Mriancin, Abdullah Obut
Ultra-fine-grinding-and-mechanical-activation-of-mine-waste-rock-using-a-high-speed-stirred-mill-for-mineral-carbonation
2015
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Jia-jie Li and Michael Hitch. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada
Enhanced dissolution of minerals stored energy, amorphism and mechanical activation – tromans meech 2001
2001
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D. Tromans and J.A. Meech. Department of Metals and Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
Mechanical activation of olivine – 2006 kleiv thornhill
2005
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R.A. Kleiv, M. Thornhill Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Sem Saelandsvei 1, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Grinding methods to enhance the reactivity of olivine summers 2005
2006
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C.A. Summers, D.C. Dahlin, G.E. Rush, W.K. O'Connor and S.J. Gerdemann. U.S. Department of Energy, Albany Research Center, Albany, Oregon
Trace-element geochemistry of mantle olivine and application to mantle petrogenesis and geothermobarometry – Dehoog 2010
2009
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Jan C.M. De Hoog, Louise Gall, David H. Cornell
Introduction to fluid motions sediments transport and current generated sedimentation structures – Chapter 9 MIT course earth atmospheric and planetary sciences
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Erosion of Deccan Traps determined by river geochemistry impact on the global climate dessert
2001
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Celine Dessert, Bernard Dupre, Louis M. Francois, Jacques Schott, Jerome Gaillardet, Govind Chakrapani, Sukit Bajpai
The worm gut; a natural clay mineral factory and a possible cause of diagenetic grain coats in sandstones
2005
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Richard H. Worden, Sarah J. Needham, Javier Cuadros. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
This paper describes the ways in which the major rock-forming primary minerals (olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, feldspars, micas and chlorites) break down during weathering, the products that develop during the breakdown and the rates at which this breakdown occurs.
2004
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M.J. Wilson. The Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Verifying and quantifying carbon fixation in minerals from serpentine-rich mine tailings using the Rietveld method with X-ray powder diffraction data
2006
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Siobhan A. Wilson, Mati Raudsepp, and Gregory M. Dipple
Carbon Dioxide Fixation within Mine Wastes of Ultramafic-Hosted Ore Deposits: Examples from the Clinton Creek and Cassiar Chrysotile Deposits, Canada
2008
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Carbon Dioxide Fixation within Mine Wastes of Ultramafic-Hosted Ore Deposits: Examples from the Clinton Creek and Cassiar Chrysotile Deposits, Canada | Economic Geology | GeoScienceWorld. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2019, from link
Dissolution of olivine during natural weathering – Velbel
2009
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Michael A. Velbel. Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University
Ex Situ Aqueous Mineral Carbonation – Gerdemann 2007
2007
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In situ carbonation of peridotite for CO2 storage
2008
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Carbonate chemistry for sequestering fossil carbon
2016
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Cost Estimates for Surface Mining
2011
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Scott A. Stebbins
Developing cost-optimization production control model via simulation – Golenko-Ginzburg1999
1999
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Dimitri Golenko-Kinzburf, Ahazon Gonik, Ljubisa Papic. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Strategizing Carbon-Neutral Mines A Case for Pilot Projects
2014
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Ian M. Power, Jenine McCutcheon, Anna L. Harrison, Siobhan A. Wilson, Gregory M. Dipple, Simone Kelly, Colette Southam, and Gordon Southam.
An estimate of the cost of sustainable production of metal concentrates from the earth’s crust
2002
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Bengt Steen, Gunnar Borg. CPM and Department of Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Mineral Investment Valuation and the Cost of Capital – Sani 1976
1976
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Eli Sani. Department of Mineral Economics, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
