How it began
Carbfix began as a project in 2006 and was formalized in 2007 by four founding partners: Reykjavik Energy, the University of Iceland, the French research agency CNRS in Toulouse and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. It was driven by project manager Holmfridur Sigurdardottir with Sigurdur Gislason and Eric Oelkers. The first years went to laboratory experiments, studies of natural analogues, reservoir modeling and characterization of a pilot site 3 kilometers southwest of the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in southwest Iceland, along with more than ten permits.
How it works
The method imitates and speeds up a natural process in which dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with reactive rock to form stable carbonate minerals. Where other storage methods inject carbon dioxide as a separate gas or dense fluid, the Carbfix approach dissolves it in water before or during injection into a basalt reservoir. The carbonated water reacts with the basalt and the carbon is locked in solid minerals underground. The same process captures hydrogen sulfide from the power plant's emissions and stores it as rock.
How it spread
From 2007 onward several universities and research institutes joined under European Union funded sub-projects, including Amphos 21, the University of Copenhagen and Climeworks. The operator describes a move in seven years from an idea on paper to an operating industrial process, built on collaboration between industry and academia involving scientists, engineers and tradespeople.
What changed first
Pilot injections were carried out in 2012 at the Carbfix pilot site with the power company ON Power. The results, published in the journal Science in 2016, confirmed rapid mineralization: more than 95 percent of the injected carbon dioxide was verified to have mineralized within two years. In June 2014 the method was scaled up at the Hellisheidi plant itself to inject and mineralize part of the plant's carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions.
Where it stands today
The process has been applied to reduce carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions from the Hellisheidi power plant continuously since 2014. Carbfix was established as a subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy in late 2019 and began operating as a separate entity on January 1, 2020, offering the method to other emitters and industries.
