Project aims to capture and store carbon dioxide on Port Angeles waterfront

PORT ANGELES — An effort to harness the ocean’s natural capacity to capture and store carbon dioxide to reduce the impact of climate change is happening in Port Angeles Harbor.

The dye test members of the Project Macoma team will be conducting today in Port Angeles Harbor is a much-anticipated step in a process the company Ebb Carbon has been fine-tuning at Sequim’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since 2022.

The pink, EPA-approved dye will be discharged from the Project Macoma facility located at Terminal 7 in the Port of Port Angeles log yard.

“What this project is working to do is remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it safely in the ocean,” said Mallory Ringham, Project Macoma’s lead oceanographer.

“By generating alkalinity and adding that to the oceans is a shortcut that is meant to mimic something that we already know works.”

Ebb Carbon is one of at least 18 companies applying marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) using the power of the ocean to draw down CO2, which is primarily created by burning fossil fuels. The approach also has the potential to mitigate the acidification of the ocean.

So far, startup Ebb Carbon is the only one using an electrochemical process in this effort.

“It’s a novel approach to an existing technology,” said Kyla Westphal, Ebb Carbon’s vice president of external affairs.

At the Port Angles site, an intake system pulls water from the harbor and sends it to be filtered in three onshore tanks. The resulting brine is divided into alkaline and acid solutions by the same electrochemical process that is used in wine making.

The acid solution is neutralized and then combined with the alkaline solution. They are pumped back into the ocean where they mix with ambient seawater to form bicarbonate, which locks in carbon from the atmosphere.

Ebb Carbon says the goal of the pilot program is to remove at least 500 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.

Scaling up to tackle that challenge is a tall order considering that in 2024 the United States emitted 4.546 Gt (gigatons) of CO2 and 37.566 Gt were emitted across the globe, according to the International Energy Agency.

“That’s why it’s important to partner with companies like those processing salt water — desalination — and integrating into an existing plant,” Westphal said.

Drawing 1 Gt of CO2 from the atmosphere annually is a possibility, she said.

Stripe and Microsoft are betting on Ebb Carbon; each purchased carbon removal credits from the company.

Ebb Carbon selected Washington for its test program because of the availability of clean hydropower and concerns about ocean acidification, which poses a threat to marine ecosystems and the fishing industry, Westphal said.

Construction of the Project Macoma facility began in March and involved about 35 workers from local companies. Three locals were hired to support its operations here (Ebb Carbon is based in the San Francisco Bay Area).

It has already partnered with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe on a juvenile salmon study and is preparing for a second.

The results from today’s dye test will be analyzed to determine if the Project Macom team needs to make any adjustments to the onshore or offshore project elements.

If all goes well, the real work of chipping away at greenhouse gases can begin.

The Washington Department of Ecology’s Water Quality Permitting Information System (PARIS) webpage for Project Macoma can be found at https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/paris/FacilitySummary.aspx?FacilityId=100001224. The SEPA checklist for the project can be found at https://portofpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2.-SEPA-Checklist-Project-Macoma.pdf#:~:text=Project%20Macoma%2C%20LLC%2C%20is%20proposing%20a%20temporary,the%20atmosphere%20while%20reducing%20seawater%20acidity%20locally.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com