CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Costa et al. (2026): CO₂ removal by applying the adsorption process to biochar from waste materials

Maria Angelica Martins Costa, Geisa Albini, Lucas Freitas de Oliveira, Eliza Almeida de Oliveira, Alexandre Jorge Duarte de Souza, Mariana de Oliveira Bérgamo, Letícia Vicente Moreno and Kelly Johana Dussán, IN: Environmental Science and Pollution Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-026-37975-7

This study evaluated lignocellulosic residues as low-cost adsorbents for CO₂ capture in a dynamic column system, focusing on spent coffee grounds biochar (SCGB) as an alternative to commercial activated carbon. Commercial activated carbon, SCGB, magnetized SCGB, KOH-activated SCGB, peanut shell pellet charcoal, sugarcane bagasse charcoal containing kaolin, and calcined SCGB samples were tested. SCGB was produced by pyrolysis and modified by chemical activation, magnetite incorporation, or post-pyrolysis calcination. CO₂ adsorption tests were performed in a column under different air and CO₂ inlet flow rates, and CO₂ concentrations were monitored at the inlet and outlet using infrared sensors.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Adewole et al. (2026): Design and Implementation of Direct Air Capture Systems Based on Moisture Swing Adsorption for Efficient Carbon Dioxide Removal

Oluwatosin O. Adewole, Taopheeck Yusuf, Victor Hammed and Abdulrahman M. Hassan, IN: International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26apr580

Direct air capture (DAC) is necessary for achieving negative emissions and meeting the temperature targets outlined in the Paris Agreement. However, challenges of scalability and energy demands persist. This paper presents a comprehensive design framework for large-scale DAC systems utilizing moisture swing adsorption (MSA), an innovative method that leverages humidity cycles to regenerate sorbents with near-isothermal energy, thereby reducing energy penalties by 50-70% compared to thermal swing alternatives. The study proposes an architecture combining modular air contractors, structured sorbent monoliths using anion exchange resins, CO₂ compression trains, and controlled humidification chambers, enabling continuous cyclic operation in various climatic conditions. Governing equations for momentum balance, mass transfer, and adsorption kinetics inform finite element simulations and computational fluid dynamics, which are validated against laboratory-scale experimental data.

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Lin et al. (2026): Ammonia hydrate-excited PASP chelation of calcium in electrolytic manganese residue: Synergistic mechanisms for enhanced CO₂ mineralization and desulfurization with environmental co-benefits

Fan Lin, Jiancheng Shu, Huimin Yang, Shaoqin Chen, Zhuoqi Liu, Shuhua Guo, Yanyan You, Yong Yang and Yihong Liu, IN: Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.179038

Using calcium-rich industrial solid wastes for CO₂ mineralization is a highly promising Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) strategy. However, practical application is constrained by the sluggish dissolution kinetics of insoluble calcium minerals. Herein, the authors propose a chelation-enhanced strategy targeting electrolytic manganese residue (EMR), a representative sulfur/calcium-rich waste, utilizing a synergistic NH₃·H₂O-PASP system to achieve simultaneous high-efficiency desulfurization and CO₂ mineralization. Polyaspartic acid (PASP) functions as a potent alkaline chelator, boosting Ca²⁺ extraction to 473.13 mg/L.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Nagaraj et al. (2026): Thrombolites as a potential nature-based solution for carbon dioxide removal

Veena Nagaraj, Daniel Gorman, M. James McLaughlin, Santonu K. Sanyal, Thomas Jones, et al., IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccst.2026.100651

Achieving net-zero targets requires emerging carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathways capable of contributing to long-term carbon storage. Microbialite communities, including stromatolites and thrombolites, are promising but under-explored biological platforms with potential for scalable CDR. Their deployment has been limited by uncertainties surrounding survivability in seawater, biomineralisation rates, net CO₂ drawdown, and compatibility with engineered substrates. Here, the authors address four conceptual barriers using thrombolites from hypersaline Lake Clifton (Western Australia).

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Ghobadian et al. (2026): Biochar from poplar sawdust for digestate nutrient recovery and potential for long-term carbon sequestration

Saman Ghobadian, Osvaldo Romero Romero, Matthias Kraume, Meisam Tabatabaei, Mortaza Aghbashlo and Nader Marzban, IN: Chemical Papers, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-026-07179-7

Poplar sawdust-derived biochar was studied as a multifunctional material for nutrient recovery from digestate and for its potential for long-term carbon sequestration in soil. Biochar was produced via pyrolysis at 300–900 °C for 10–40 min. Considering solid yield, carbon sequestration, and phosphate removal, 500 °C for 20 min was selected as the optimal pyrolysis condition. Biochar was further characterized and tested in slurry adsorption experiments.

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Scientific Theses

Haavisto (2026): Why does policy design matter when integrating permanent carbon removals into the EU ETS? Assessing the outcomes through dynamic modelling

Jami Haavisto, IN: University of Helsinki, https://helda.helsinki.fi/items/5b2dad84-add8-4f61-9ed4-b1a44360b7ce

Integrating permanent carbon removals into the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is under an active debate, and such integration may occur as early as the upcoming reform of the EU ETS. This thesis examines how policy design affects the environmental and economic outcomes, using a dynamic ETS model extended to include permanent removals produced through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Grabb et al. (2026): A sequential gated research framework for addressing potential impacts of marine carbon dioxide removal on fisheries, aquaculture, and Indigenous communities

Marine ecosystems are at risk due to the increasing pressures of climate change and other human activities. Fisheries and aquaculture, which employ 61.8 million people worldwide and supply ∼20% of human animal protein demand, are sectors that critically rely on healthy marine ecosystems. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) encompasses a portfolio of novel approaches that aim to mimic natural processes to increase the ocean’s uptake and storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide through intentional human interventions in the marine environment. Alongside verifying the efficacy of mCDR techniques, their environmental and social impact must also be assessed to enable informed decisions about what, if any, research, development, and deployment of mCDR should move forward, accounting for the full spectrum of benefits, costs, and trade-offs and in comparison with other CDR interventions. Evaluating the footprint of mCDR requires identifying and understanding positive and negative impacts beyond carbon dioxide removal. Here, the authors provide a multi-stage research framework for mCDR project developers to assess these interdisciplinary impacts, specifically in relation to marine ecosystems, fisheries, and aquaculture. This framework considers how projects can implement these recommendations across five research phases, using a stage-gated approach that focuses on: Stage 0, Planning; Stage 1, Baseline Assessment and Experiments; Stage 2, Pilot Field Trial; Stage 3, Scaled-up Field Trial; and Stage 4, Operational Deployment and Long-term Monitoring.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Sinyangwe et al. (2026): Vacuum Moisture Swing Direct Air Capture: A Low-Thermal, Water-Managed Pathway for Scalable CO₂ Removal

Stephano Sinyangwe, Sierra Binney, Gray Becker, Peter Schulze and Jennifer L. Wade, IN: arXiv, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.26438

Direct Air Capture remains highly energy intensive, with most systems relying on high-temperature regeneration of amines or metal oxides. Here the authors present the first comprehensive evaluation of a low-temperature DAC process based on a moisture-swing mechanism that reversibly captures and releases CO₂ using commercial ion exchange resins. The proposed vacuum moisture swing, VMS, process replaces thermal regeneration with a low-temperature water vapor stripping step driven by vacuum evaporation. A cyclic model, informed by experimentally measured water and CO₂ sorption kinetics, was optimized across air relative humidity of 20 to 80 percent and kinetic regimes of 0.5 to 2.0x baseline.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Jia & Kirk (2026): The inconvenient truth about direct air capture: Realigning climate strategy with physical reality

Charles Q. Jia and Donald W. Kirk, IN: iScience, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.119979

Direct air capture (DAC) is promoted as an essential climate solution, yet thermodynamic and energy constraints make deployment at climate-relevant scales deeply problematic. Current DAC systems require 1,500–3,000 kWh per tonne of CO₂ captured and stored—one to two orders of magnitude higher than point-source capture and far beyond what global clean-energy availability can support. Meeting even the lower bound of the IPCC’s mid-century carbon-removal targets via DAC alone would demand more than half of today’s global electricity, diverting clean energy away from direct decarbonization. Overreliance on DAC thus risks institutionalizing energy inefficiency and delaying essential emissions cuts. Historical precedents, from acid rain mitigation to ozone recovery, demonstrate that pollution is best addressed at its source.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Musgrave (2026): How Uncertain Are Estimates of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal? Insights from a Simplified Model

Ruth Musgrave, IN: Research Square, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10006849/v1

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches such as Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) and Direct Ocean Removal (DOR) are necessarily evaluated using ocean models, yet uncertainties in model predictions remain poorly understood. Here, the author uses a one-dimensional ocean model to investigate the controls on uncertainty in atmospheric CO₂ drawdown in an abiotic system. The author shows that, within the first few years after deployment, estimates of carbon removal are highly sensitive to mixed-layer physical and biogeochemical properties, while longer-term uncertainties are dominated by vertical mixing, air–sea gas exchange and the depth of the initial deployment.

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