Project Description:

While carbon dioxide levels continue to increase exponentially, the ocean acts as the Earth’s largest carbon sink, absorbing 30-40% of our emissions. This absorption leads to a series of chemical reactions in the seawater that reduce pH levels- a process that has been termed ocean acidification. This acidification reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that the ocean can uptake, which will increase the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and exacerbate global warming. Ocean acidification also puts immense stress on functional ecosystems. Organisms, such as clams and oysters, lack proper nutrients to create their carbonate shells, straining survival rates. We are creating an electrolysis-based device that will process ocean water both on a local scale to prevent acidity-related oyster deaths in hatcheries and on a global scale to protect coastal ecosystems and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Project Photo:

Testing our lab scale electrolyzer prototype to determine the overall effect on pH

Student Team Members

• Callie Jones
• Evan LaTourrette-Ghez

Course Faculty

• Lawrence Aronhime

Project Mentors, Sponsors, and Partners

• Dave Harden