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‘Evil twin of global warming’ threatens world’s oceans

Fishermen venturing into the sea near Kannur. Ocean acidification is caused when the CO2 emitted by human activity, mainly burning fossil fuels, dissolves into the oceans.

Scientists have warned that ocean acidification, which is dubbed the ‘evil twin of global warming’, caused by a rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), threatens the world’s oceans.

“Ocean conditions are already more extreme than those experienced by marine organisms and ecosystems for millions of years,” researchers said in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE). “This emphasises the urgent need to adopt policies that drastically reduce CO2 emissions,” they added. Ocean acidification, which the researchers call the ‘evil twin of global warming’, is caused when the CO2 emitted by human activity, mainly burning fossil fuels, dissolves into the oceans. It is happening independently of, but in combination with, global warming.

“Evidence gathered by scientists around the world over the last few years suggests that ocean acidification could represent an equal -or perhaps even greater threat -to the biology of our planet than global warming,” said co-author Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland. More than 30 percent of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, cement production, deforestation and other human activities goes straight into the oceans, turning them gradually more acidic.

“The resulting acidification will impact many forms of sea life, especially organisms whose shells or skeletons are made from calcium carbonate, like corals and shellfish. It may interfere with the reproduction of plankton species which are a vital part of the food web on which fish and all other sea life depend,” said Professor Hoegh-Guldberg.

The scientists say there is now persuasive evidence that mass extinctions in past Earth history, like the “Great Dying” of 251 million years ago and another wipeout 55 million years ago, were accompanied by ocean acidification, which may have delivered the deathblow to many species that were unable to cope with it.

According to lead author, Dr. Carles Pelejero, from ICREA and the Marine Science Institute of CSIC in Barcelona, Spain, “These past periods can serve as great lessons of what we can expect in the future, if we continue to push the acidity the ocean even further.” “Given the impacts we see in the fossil record, there is no question about the need to immediately reduce the rate at which we are emitting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he added.

‘Fuel cocktail’ to increase bio-diesel yields

21st Feb 2010

Nursery of Jatropha, which is used to extract Biodiesel. File Photo: M. Srinath.

Chemists at UC (University of California) Davis have developed a new process that enable oilseed crops such as safflower to be made into a fuel cocktail that could increase yields of bio-diesel by up to 24 per cent.The method converts both plant oils and carbohydrates into bio-diesel in a single process, and should also improve the performance characteristics of bio-diesel, especially in cold weather.

“Conventional bio-diesel production extracts plant oils and then converts them into fatty acid esters that can be used to power engines,” said Mark Mascal, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and co-author of the paper with postdoctoral researcher Edward Nikitin. That leaves behind the carbohydrate portion of the plant – the sugars, starches, and cellulose that make up stems, leaves, seed husks and other structures.

The new process converts those carbohydrates into chemicals called levulinic acid esters – at the same time and in the same vessel that the oils are converted to fatty acid esters – resulting in a fuel cocktail that performs better at low temperatures than conventional bio-diesel.

The fuel cocktail has a similar boiling range to conventional bio-diesel, but is thinner; it becomes waxy at a lower temperature. Performance at low temperatures is a significant problem with B100 (conventional bio-diesel), Mascal said.

“Our hope is that this blend of levulinate esters and bio-diesel would perform better over a wider range of temperatures than bio-diesel,” Mascal said.

“Levulinate esters are nontoxic and are used as food additives,” he said.

“Costs of the new process may be somewhat higher than for conventional bio-diesel production, but should be offset by improved fuel yields and performance,” he added.

Keywords: bio-diesel, safflower, research, fuel