RockFuel

Myth No.1
The first kind of sequestration, usually referred to in conjunction with fuels that are alleged to be carbon neutral, is where carbon dioxide from an industrial plant is sequestered underground. Then, crude oil is drilled from an oil well in the normal manner and sent to an oil refinery, where it is turned into petrol / diesel that is combusted in internal combustion engines releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Some oil companies have stated that this was carbon neutral petrol or diesel, because they claim that each tonne of carbon dioxide produced from the internal combustion engines of motor vehicles is matched by a tonne of carbon dioxide sequestered from the carbon polluting industrial plant. It is misleading nonsense to say that this combination of processes is carbon neutral. Looking at the two plants together, there is still a large net emission of carbon dioxide going into the environment. In contrast, with the RockFuel process, there is no net positive emission of carbon dioxide into the environment. RockFuel is therefore carbon neutral.

 Sequestration is almost always just “sweeping it under the carpet”. The whole point is to try to improve things for future generations by not having CO2 escaping in to the environment. In practice there is always some leakage from CO2 depositories. Therefore, the more CO2 that is sequestered into those sites, the greater will be the quantity of CO2 leaked into the environment over time. Ever increasing sequestration of CO2 is therefore a time bomb for future generations.

 Myth No.2

The second kind of process sometimes (inaccurately) referred to as “sequestration” is the process of taking carbon dioxide from an industrial polluting plant and using this with carbon neutral hydrogen to make fuel. One needs to look at the two plants together. What actually happens is that the carbon dioxide from the industrial polluting plant is still released into the atmosphere, but its release is simply delayed. The fuel is ultimately combusted and the CO2 product is released into the atmosphere, without any possibility of the process recapturing this CO2. Therefore this process is a long way off from being carbon neutral. 

 Again, in contrast, the RockFuel process has no net CO2 emission and is therefore carbon neutral.

 Notes:
1.  Filters are usually used to collect CO2 from the industrial process for both kinds of so-called ’sequestration’. The filters contain chemicals such as calcium oxide that are themselves produced from carbon-polluting industrial processes, thus further adding to the carbon pollution.

 2.  Despite our comments above about sequestration, there is a circumstance in which sequestration may potentially be rendered carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative. This is when sequestration is used in conjunction with the RockFuel Process. The latter will produce calcium oxide (CaO) and the carbon dioxide also produced can be sequestered. This calcium oxide can be used to offset carbon polluting fuels and processes. To the extent that CO2 is calculated to leak from the depository, this can be offset by using that calcium oxide in marine environments. Indeed, in the latter use, up to twice the produced CO2 can be reabsorbed by the CaO formed in the production of that CO2. Thus, in the case of sequestration of RockFuel CO2, much more CO2 from fuel combustion can be offset by the CaO produced in the exercise – hence making the process carbon negative.