Indian Start-Up Aims to Tackle Waste by Storing It Underground
Rapid Summary
- Vaulted Deep, a Texas-based start-up, has partnered with Microsoft to inject treated human waste, manure, and other organic materials deep underground for climate and pollution control purposes.
- This method prevents carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere by stopping the decomposition process underground.
- The company claims that this approach also stops contaminants like PFAS “forever chemicals” from polluting surface ecosystems, addressing waste-related air, water, and land issues concurrently.
- As its inception, Vaulted Deep has injected about 70,000 tonnes of carbon-rich waste underground-equating to over 18,000 tonnes of CO2 removed-and plans to scale up operations under the Microsoft deal.
- Microsoft’s agreement involves removing 4.9 million tonnes of CO2 over 12 years as part of its goal to be carbon negative by 2030.
- Current injection sites include Los Angeles (biosolids at depths of ~1600m) and Kansas (human/organic waste in a salt cavern).
- Studies suggest such methods could remove up to 5 billion tonnes of CO2 annually using available global organic waste supplies.
- Experts commend the innovative solution but note it doesn’t eliminate chemical pollutants-it simply isolates them underground temporarily.
Image Captions:
- Processing tanks used for pumping waste into an underground salt cavern in Kansas. (Credit: Vaulted Deep)
- System setup for deep injection processes manages slurries efficiently with minimal contamination risks. (Credit: vaulted Deep)
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