Weekend Open Thread: Rock Doctor’s Improved Desal Concept wins Acceptance of his Peers

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rock doctor carbon neutral

The Orange Juice Blog proudly congratulates its official singing geologist, Dr. John C. Hoaglund III, otherwise known as “The Rock Doctor” – a friend Greg and I met back in 2011 at Occupy OC. 

You may remember we chose him as (one of the) rebutters of Global Warming Dismisser Dr. Patrick Michaels at last August’s CATER fundraiser.  That same month, we printed his article on a way that “OC could do desal better [than Poseidon’s plan] by using salt to lock up CO2 emissions.” 

First, and appropriately, he had brought this idea to Poseidon themselves but they sloughed him off, uninterested in any change of plan that would slow down their implacable march toward fleecing us and despoiling our shore.  Then his article was rejected by both the Register and the Voice of OC, so we printed it ourselves.  Now we see our judgment was correct, as his idea has been accepted into a big scientific conference!

The following is a note from John, along with his “abstract” :

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My abstract was accepted. I haven’t been to a conference in years, but I will now be going to the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) meeting in Denver in April. I will be presenting my calculations on that crazy carbon sequestraton / ocean desalination idea I have (related article = 1st comment):

Abstract #10936

Coupling Brine Desalination with Carbon Sequestration to Produce Solid Carbonate Minerals

John Hoaglund, Ph.D. (geology), Carbon Negative Water Solutions, LLC, Irvine, CA

Abstract Text:

Leftover brine from the desalination of brine groundwater, as well as seawater, can be used to sequester carbon into solid carbonate minerals, consuming the salt from the solution, thus eliminating brine discharge and increasing freshwater yields. The process needs a source of CO2 such as from a power plant.

The key is to use electrolysis of the saline water to raise hydroxide alkalinity, then to pass the CO2 through solution to convert the alkalinity into bicarbonate and carbonate components, conserving alkalinity but dropping pH. The bicarbonate and carbonate react with the salt cations to create the carbonate minerals. Hydrogen is created along with the hydroxide alkalinity in the reduction half of the electrolysis. The oxidation half of the electrolysis creates “reactive oxygen species” mostly chlorine based. These can be converted into acids using the hydrogen.

The reaction is one of the most common in industry for creating these products, where salt and freshwater are mixed as raw materials. Several patents exist for the sequestration reactions, but few if any have been coupled to desalination. A scenario is presented for a proposed desalination facility on the grounds of an existing 900 MW natural gas power plant. A salt budget for the proposed desalination rate is shown to be sufficient to sequester all of the CO2 from the plant.

Session: Climate Change and Groundwater (10522)
Coupling Brine Desalination with Carbon Sequestration to Produce Solid Carbonate Minerals

Submitter’s E-mail Address: john@h2o-c.com
Format: Either

ACCEPTED

Topic Area : Climate Change and Groundwater
First Author
Presenting Author
John Hoaglund, Ph.D. (geology)
Email: john@h2o-c.com
Carbon Negative Water Solutions, LLC
Principal Hydrogeologist
17595 Harvard Ave
C140
Irvine CA 92614
USA

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So, as we celebrate an Orange Juice friend’s success (and hopefully one that’ll throw a wrench into Poseidon’s works) let’s enjoy last month’s performance of Pink Floyd’s Echoes by him singing and myself on the piano, with the new touch of John reciting a poem in the middle of the piece, “And in the Course of Evolutionary Events…”  inspired by the recent work he’s been doing studying the old nuclear test bomb sites in Nevada:

This is your Weekend Open Thread.  Talk about this, that, or the other, but do try to show some damn discretion and decorum.  Please.

About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.