Monat: Oktober 2023

Media

The U.S. Energy Department Is Spending $36 Million On Ocean Carbon-Capture Research

by Alejandro de la Garza, time.com, October 26, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

„In recent years, startups have begun trying to scale up methods to use the world’s oceans to remove carbon dioxide from an overheating atmosphere. As of today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is getting in on the idea too. As TIME can exclusively report, the department is distributing $36 million to 11 scientific projects across the U.S. that aim to help quantify exactly how much carbon potential ocean projects would be locking away.“

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Fuhr et al. (2023): Disentangling artificial and natural benthic weathering in organic rich Baltic Sea sediments

Michael Fuhr, Klaus Wallmann, Andrew W. Dale, Isabel Diercks, Habeeb Thanveer Kalapurakkal, Mark Schmidt, Stefan Sommer, Stefanie Böhnke, Mirjam Perner, Sonja Geilert IN: Front. Clim. 5; https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1245580

Enhanced mineral dissolution in the benthic environment is currently discussed as a potential technique for ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. This study explores how biogeochemical processes affect the dissolution of alkaline minerals in surface sediments during laboratory incubation experiments. These involved introducing dunite and calcite to organic-rich sediments from the Baltic Sea under controlled conditions in an oxic environment.

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Media

Parliament’s ENVI Committee renames CRCF and introduces vital clarifications to Certification Framework

press release, Bellona Europa, October 24, 2023

The Carbon Removals Certification Framework, spearheaded by MEP Lidia Pereira, has seen substantial improvements, offering clarity and essential safeguards. Activities like Carbon Farming, Carbon Storage in Products, and Carbon Removals are now distinctly defined. With a focus on the long-term storage of atmospheric or biogenic carbon, these changes have broadened the scope, creating a comprehensive carbon accounting Certification Mechanism.

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Media

An Oil Giant Quietly Ditched the World’s Biggest Carbon Capture Plant

by Natasha White, Akshat Rathi, Kevin Crowley, bloomberg.com, October 23, 2023

„Occidental Petroleum is leading the global charge to vastly expand the use of technologies that suck up carbon dioxide. The failure of company’s biggest-ever bet shows the challenges ahead. The world wants to master the process of corralling carbon, and Occidental Petroleum Corp. is building a futuristic machine on the dusty plains of Texas designed to do just that.“

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Masindi et al. (2023): Wastewater Treatment for Carbon Dioxide Removal

Vhahangwele Masindi, Spyros Foteinis, Phil Renforth, Efthalia Chatzisymeon IN: ACS Omega, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c04231

The wastewater treatment process itself could present an innovative carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approach. Here, the calcium (Ca)-rich effluent of a phosphorus (P) recovery system from municipal wastewater (P recovered as calcium phosphate) was used for CDR. The effluent was bubbled with concentrated CO2, leading to its mineralization, i.e., CO2 stored as stable carbonate minerals. The chemical and microstructural properties of the newly formed minerals were ascertained by using state-of-the-art analytical techniques. FTIR identified CO3 bonds and carbonate stretching, XRF and SEM-EDX measured a high Ca concentration, and SEM imaging showed that Ca is well distributed, suggesting homogeneous formation.

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Events

The Delivery of C2G’s Mission: A catalytic journey toward governance of large-scale CDR and SRM – perspectives from stakeholders

October 30, 2023, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT, hosted by Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), hybrid

C2G’s purpose is to bring to governments’ attention the urgent need to address the governance of emerging climate-altering techniques, including carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation modification (SRM). Following completion of its mission, C2G will close-down at the end of 2023. As part of our final activities, C2G is planning a hybrid event on 30 October to celebrate C2G’s 7 years of achievement and share lessons learned looking back at major challenges, advancements and milestones related to the governance of CDR and SRM, as well as to provide an opportunity to look ahead to all that has yet to be accomplished. 

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Media

Burning questions surround biomass-based carbon removals

by Angeli Mehta, reuters.com, October 23, 2023

„Summary:

  • BECCs, claimed to deliver carbon negative emissions, involves capturing and storing CO2 from a biomass fuel stack
  • Experts say biomass can be obtained from better forest management or wood and agricultural waste
  • Critics concerned BECCS could drive timber sector and over the energy required to capture gases
  • BECCS unit commissioned by UK’s Drax plant aiming to deliver 4m tons of carbon removals by 2030
  • California-based companies Clean Energy Systems and Mote plan to capture hydrogen from process“

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Scientific Theses

Mater-thesis: Direct Air Capture as a Carbon Removal Solution: Analyzing Scale-Up, Cost Reduction, and Pathways for Acceleration

Brooke B. DiMartino, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 2023

This thesis investigates potential scale-up and cost-reduction pathways for existing direct air capture methods using technological change theory. The literature review provides context for carbon dioxide removal techniques, direct air capture, and technological change theory. Analogous technologies are reviewed for cost-reduction drivers and compared against the common direct air capture methods. This comparison is used for learning and improvement rate analysis to estimate cost reductions for mature direct air capture methods, then used for identification of levers players in the direct air capture market ecosystem can deploy to accelerate scale-up and cost reductions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Liu et al. (2023): Direct Air Carbon Capture and Recovery Utilizing Alkaline Solution Circulation

Lishan Liu,  Feng Gong, Rui Xiao IN: Energy Fuels, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c01296

This study introduces a novel application for effective CO2 capture from dispersed emission sources, integrated with a liquid electrolysis system to improve capture cycle efficiency. By focusing on distributed sources, the DAC application overcomes the constraints of traditional stationary CO2 capture methods. It employs a thin-layer moving bed spray and air convection to capture CO2 in lean liquid, which converts into rich trap liquid when the carbonate concentration exceeds a certain threshold. Electrolysis is then used to recover the lean liquid.

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