On the role of wind turbines in CO₂ sequestration

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from dispersed sources, such as ground vehicles and airplanes, are difficult to eliminate and their impact on human health in populous areas is a major challenge. A potential solution, Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO₂, is currently uneconomical due to the low relative concentration in the air. It has been shown in previous studies that the turbulent energy fluxes play a major role in horizontal axis wind turbine's (HAWT) energy entrainment. Therefore in this study, we demonstrate that this mechanism can increase both power generation and local concentration of CO₂ in the inner atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Mass transport equations are incorporated into NREL's SOWFA LES solver to simulate a 1MW HAWT under three different ABL conditions; stable, unstable, and neutral. The entrainment of mass fluxes are calculated in the wake of the turbine to determine the viability of capturing the increased CO₂ concentration.