LYE-RS BEWARE! Dumping sodium hydroxide is SAFE..in THEORY! Click below for info!
Please call 774-310-6328 if you have a shark sighting!
Lye-ing. Basically.
Lying, Basically!
The Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), along with a $10 MILLION "grant" (100% taxpayer's money) from NOAA, are using our south shore as a testing ground for what sounds like science fiction:
"It involves researchers basically dumping thousands of gallons of an alkaline liquid solution — sodium hydroxide — into the sea near Martha’s Vineyard.
"When you have heartburn, you eat a Tums that dissolves and makes the liquid in your stomach less acidic," WHOI associate scientist and project leader Adam Subhas told the WSJ.
"By analogy, we’re adding this alkaline material to seawater, and it is letting the ocean take up more CO2 without provoking more ocean acidification. Everything that we’re seeing so far is that it is environment safe."
--Subhas,Yahoo news
As massive oversimplifications go, this up there. Since neither WHOI or NOAA have responded to inquiries, I've come up with what's happening, and why, but vague entries on the WHOI website don't explain exactly HOW this experiment is going to be carried out. The EPA could shut it down before it happens, if they fail to procure a permit, but this information, is frustratingly absent.
When I first read about this back in February, I had no idea what was going on. I scribbled down some notes, and then got distracted with LIFE. When I came back to it, I saw that I had written, "whale fall?" Whale fall? Why did I write that? A whale fall is the very dignified, graceful, and bountiful death of a whale. When say, a large sperm whale dies, it will sink below the surface, but rise again as gases bloat it's body. First large sharks will take advantage of the open buffet, then smaller ones. Then large fish, and as the whale "falls" through all the different levels of the open ocean, different organisms receive nutrients from this whale carcass, until it is picked clean and the remains--just a skeleton, and some microscopic bits--land on the sea floor, and gradually become part of other, older carbonate sediment. This layer will neutralize any carbon dioxide (CO2) that is left, so that the pH level remains consistent. What the hell does this have to do with anything? WELL, CO2 is very acidic, which is part of the reason our ozone layer has been decimated. Fossil fuels, along with with ozone-depleting substances like aerosol sprays, air conditioners and refrigerators are causing the greenhouse effect, and thereby, global warming. Since all life on earth would cease to exist without the ozone layer, scientists have been scrambling to find solutions to the problem. While it is predicted the ozone will be at least be back to 1980 status by 2040, there is no guarantee. Since humans are so incredibly selfish and greedy, instead of managing the problem WE created by using alternate energy and other solutions, we are going to punish the ocean!
"The oceans are a massive reservoir of carbon, and have the potential to store all human CO2 emissions."
-- The LOC-NESS Project https://locness.whoi.edu/science/
Carbon sinks absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they produce, like plant and animal life. The largest carbon sink is, of course, the ocean. It absorbs 30% of the CO2 that we produce in our atmosphere (don't forget it also produces 50% of our oxygen!). If not for the seas across the globe, our existence would be critically endangered. For the past 50 years, scientists have been wondering how we can use the ocean to absorb MORE than 30%. They want to use the ocean as a warehouse to "store" CO2.
This is at the crux of the WHOI mission it wants to perform in August, 10 miles off the south coast of Martha's Vineyard (no evidence of exactly where, as of yet). There have been several similar trials in places like the Gulf of Mexico, however, this is a VERY grey area at the moment. Although the LOC-NESS team calls purposefully putting excess CO2 into our seas, "ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE)", the EPA has not made a determination regarding the legality of off-loading what is generally regarded as bio-hazardous waste into the earth's oceans. Any of these experiments must be approved by the EPA, and there are strict guidelines regarding safety, cleanup, and sites. What is concerning about WHOI's testing is that there is no information about ANY of those things on the LOC-NESS web page devoted to it. They, and it, breeze over the most pertinent information, and I had to go snooping on other websites that have done similar experiments (and thank GOD I did well in Biochemistry in college!). The person in charge of the whole show, Adam Subhas, is not even in Wood's Hole for the summer, and won't be returning until August. There is a lot of critical data missing, which is NOT reassuring. It sounds like an easy-breezy college experiment. It's NOT.
As I mentioned, scientists the world over have been trying to figure out how they can store MORE of the very acidic CO2 (produced by humans), in the ocean without changing the pH. This, to me, begs the question, if the ocean COULD absorb more than 30% of our CO2 safely, wouldn't it be doing that already?? Well, that's not the POINT. We are going to fry under the sun's full power unless we can figure out SOME way to wash the CO2 from the atmosphere, and put it somewhere else. There are few references to alternate energy sources here, however; this is all about humans who want their cake and eat it too.
I feel (eerily) confident regarding a few aspects of this experiment; like, what they are using, obviously where (not exactly), and why. There are several ways that the ocean can be used for CO2 storage, although most of them are still in the theoretical stages. LOC-NESS involves the "dissolved gas" or "direct air capture" storage method. This is how the ocean dissipates CO2 naturally from the atmosphere through wind, rain, or anything that creates a difference in pressure at the surface. From there, currents and waves mix the surface water and push it out into colder, deeper water, where it does a sort of non-productive whale fall to the bottom of the sea bed, where it joins the carbonate sediments already there, and is eventually neutralized. This method is the easiest and most typical way to store CO2, but it can take hundreds, even thousands of years for the CO2 to to be fully neutralized. Not super realistic. Also, the CO2 must be in VERY deep water (at least a mile) for it to be effective. Okay, so what are those kids up to at WHOI? What about the sodium hydroxide?
I DON'T get a good feeling about this, at all. I'm also guessing at a lot. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a very strong base, or alkaline. I've already discussed the fact that CO2 is a strong acid. Clearly they are dumping NaOH into the water, to see how much CO2 it can neutralize. What is not known is:
1.Where are they getting the CO2 from? (if they are taking from the 30% naturally gathered, then they are messing up the PH already) There are a few ways to try and scrub the atmosphere of CO2, and I'm not going to describe them here. They are vacuuming, molten carbonate fuel cells, and solvents. Look them up!
2. Are they using gaseous CO2 or liquid?
3. Why are they using NaOH? They don't mention it at all on the website (which is fairly useless) at all. Sodium hydroxide is the best hydroxide to neutralize CO2, but it is also the most expensive, and would be cost-prohibitive to use as a long-term solution. When NaOH hits the water it becomes lye.
SO many more questions!!
2NaOh + CO2 = Na2CO3+H20 (sodium carbonate)
This result dissolves in water. CO2 MUST react with a fairly strong hydroxide (alkaline) in order to produce this reaction.
This is what I know for now. My head hurts so I will return soon to update when I learn more!
Azi~
So! 7/16/2024
Well, as you may have heard, the EPA and the WHOI both swear it's safe. I strongly disagree!
When sodium hydroxide mixes with water, it becomes lye. Lye does not dissolve in water. It actually becomes exothermic, putting out great amounts of heat, thus changing the pH. I am not seeing any procedures regarding the removal of the lye AFTER the experiment. Apparently they are going to "monitor" the dispersal of the NaOH--now lye as it hits the water --and they are just relying on the CO2 on the ocean's surface to do the job. They have NOT captured any CO2 to help break things down!
"Then the team will monitor the dispersal “essentially until we can’t measure it anymore,” Dr. Subhas said."
--The Enterprise, Falmouth 4/16/2024
Like, seriously, what a jackass!! I honestly don't think this guy, the HEAD of the whole thing, has any idea what he's doing. He hasn't even been in Falmouth for MONTHS! This is his thing! Where is he?? This is not a plan. They are dumping 6,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide, in August --the busiet month here--and then just, WATCH. Yup. See how it goes. I hope to hell they also take into account what is happening to our marine life as the NaOH rises to caustic levels. It all just seems like a bad nightmare. I think it might be time for a Letter to the Editor. I feel like the only person that knows what is going on! Also, the EPA is supposed to have an open meeting with the residents to discuss before making a final decision. However, they have come out saying how safe it is! No worries! I'm going to find out some of the answers to these questions..I hope. Back soon!
Azi~