CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Su et al. (2025): Holocene to anthropocene burial of organic carbon in the Yangtze delta

Jianfeng Su, Yijing Wu, Daidu Fan, IN: Geoscience Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2025.102162

Holocene organic carbon (OC) burial in mega-deltas is considered to have played a crucial role in modulating long-term atmospheric CO₂ levels, but this role has likely been significantly altered by human activities during the Anthropocene. The absence of precise estimates for Holocene deltaic OC burial rates hinders a comprehensive understanding of carbon cycle evolution. This study, using data from 50 Holocene boreholes and 216 modern surface sediment samples, examines changes in OC sources and their controlling factors, and quantifies OC burial rates in the Yangtze Delta (YD) from the mid-Holocene to the Anthropocene.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Abdellatif et al. (2025): Amine free direct air capture integrated with buildings’ cooling systems in humid environments

Yasser M. Abdellatif, Riham Surkatti, Raeesh Muhammad, Ahmed Sodiq, Nashaat Nassar, Tareq Al-Ansari, Abdulkarem I. Amhamed, IN: Energy Conversion and Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120544

Direct air capture, among the negative emission technologies, is well positioned to reach climate goals. However, adsorption-based direct air capture system faces significant challenges in humid environments due to water-CO₂ co-adsorption, which substantially increases thermal regeneration energy requirements and negatively impacts overall efficiency. To overcome this problem, this study presents novel direct air capture systems integrated with air handling units incorporating a silica gel wheel to dehumidify air before the adsorption process. Dehumidification of air by integrated silica gel wheel enhances the performance of physisorbents and chemisorbents such as NbOFFIVE, Zeolite-13X, SBA-15 functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine, SBA-15 functionalized with L-PEI, and Lewatit by reducing moisture, thereby improving CO₂ capture efficiency in humid environments. After capture, saturated part of silica gel wheel meet the moisture-free airstream and regenerate the water without heating and raising the stream humidity approaching the desired indoor humidity levels.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Lu et al. (2025): Earth system responses under a global 2 °C-target scenario aligned with China’s carbon neutrality pledge

Yixiong Lu, Lei Jin, Junting Zhong, Xiaoye Zhang, Yanwu Zhang, Fanghua Wu, Fang Zhang, Zhili Wang, Jie Zhang, Xiaoge Xin, Tongwen Wu, Deying Wang, Da Zhang, Tianpeng Wang and Wei Hua, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adfbfb

Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 2 °C target demands regionally tailored climate policies and proven negative emission strategies. Here, the authors use a novel SSP2-com scenario that integrates updated emissions trajectories, China’s carbon neutrality pledge, and mid-to-late 21st century carbon dioxide removal (CDR) deployment to assess Earth system responses under a 2 °C-aligned pathway.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Ward et al. (2025): Regional ocean biogeochemical modeling challenges for predicting the effectiveness of marine carbon dioxide removal

Nicholas David Ward, Nicholas, Kyle Hinson, Rémi Pagès, Jessica Cross, Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs, Claudine Hauri, Parker MacCready, Chinmayee Subban, Jilian Xiong, Pierre St-Laurent, Zhaoqing Yang, IN: Frontiers in Climate, https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2025.1640617

Effectively scaling diverse marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies from pilot-scale demonstrations to industrial-scale deployments requires a quantitative understanding of how much additional carbon a given deployment will sequester compared to a scenario with no mCDR intervention and the long-term durability of the stored carbon. Given the high environmental variability and vast size of the ocean carbon pool, observations alone cannot resolve the amount, rate, and fate of mCDR-associated carbon sequestration. Likewise, when conducting an mCDR deployment it is impossible to observe a counterfactual scenario with no mCDR deployment performed. For this reason, ocean biogeochemical models are expected to play a key role in advancing mCDR deployments by informing observational requirements, defining uncertainty envelopes, and ultimately verifying durable carbon sequestration. However, current models, which are designed to capture basic ocean processes, have limitations when being used for this new application—simulating perturbations to the ocean system ranging in scale. Here, the authors describe their perspective on the most critical ocean biogeochemistry model process representations that need to be refined or added to accurately simulate the impact of a subset of mCDR approaches on carbon uptake and ocean biogeochemistry.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Lu et al. (2025): Earth system responses under a global 2 °C-target scenario aligned with China’s carbon neutrality pledge

Yixiong Lu, Lei Jin, Junting Zhong, Xiaoye Zhang, Yanwu Zhang, Fanghua Wu, Fang Zhang, Zhili Wang, Jie Zhang, Xiaoge Xin, Tongwen Wu, Deying Wang, Da Zhang, Tianpeng Wang and Wei Hua, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adfbfb

Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 2 °C target demands regionally tailored climate policies and proven negative emission strategies. This study uses a novel SSP2-com scenario that integrates updated emissions trajectories, China’s carbon neutrality pledge, and mid-to-late 21st century CDR deployment to assess Earth system responses.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Planavsky et al. (2025): Bridging time lags in durable carbon removal on working lands

Noah J. Planavsky, Beck J. Woollen, Ella Milliken, Mojtaba Fakhraee, David J. Beerling and Christopher T. Reinhard, IN: ESS Open Archive, https.://doi.org/ 10.22541/essoar.175855457.77763746/v1

Enhanced weathering and biochar application on working lands show promising signs of delivering durable carbon dioxide removal required to meet internationally agreed upon climate change mitigation goals. Although both technologies can scale comparatively quickly, their ability to offset radiative forcing from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is delayed by time lags between deployment and realized carbon removal. Here, the authors suggest that coupling enhanced weathering and biochar with point-source methane emissions reductions provides a robust crediting framework for carbon credits that can continuously-and immediately-offset anthropogenic emissions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Savoie et al. (2025): Novel field trial for ocean alkalinity enhancement using electrochemically derived aqueous alkalinity

Allison M. Savoie, Mallory Ringham, Carolina Torres Sanchez, Brendan R. Carter, Sean Dougherty, Richard A. Feely, Dave Hegeman, Julian Herndon, Tarang Khangaonkar, Jeremy Loretz, Tyson Minck, Todd Pelman, Lakshitha Premathilake, Chinmayee Subban, Jesse Vance and Nicholas D. Ward, IN: Frontiers in Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenve.2025.1641277

Ocean alkalinity enhancement has been gaining attention for its potential to durably (10,000+ years) store large amounts of CO₂ (Gt + where 1 Gt = 1 × 10⁹ tons), while potentially ameliorating acidification in the vicinity of the alkalinity release. This study focuses on a novel release of electrochemically derived aqueous alkalinity into Sequim Bay, WA, through a previously established wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). This research was made possible through the collaboration of industry, academic, and federal partners, which enabled the establishment of an Ebb Carbon electrochemical mCDR system at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim, WA, for ocean alkalinity enhancement field trials. During these field trials, pH was measured across the WWTP system from the initial alkalinity dosing, throughout the WWTP, and at the outfall. The authors use the NBS scale for pH throughout this study as it is the scale used in discharge permit limits specified for WWTP and NPDES regulation and compliance monitoring.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Guo et al. (2025): Incorporating enhanced rock weathering into sustainable forest management

Minger Guo, Ian M. Power, Shaun A. Watmough, Adam S. Gorgolewski, Larissa M.M. Wallisch, Jonathan Spence and Sasha Wilson, IN: Journal of Environmental Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127335

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) can be implemented in managed forests that use selective harvesting through trail networks for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) while improving soil health by neutralizing excess acidity and restoring base cations. Wollastonite-rich rock powder (Wo = 28.4 wt% and D50 = 350 μm) was applied using a tractor and spreader from a trail in Haliburton Forest, Ontario, Canada, to evaluate the practicability and challenges of incorporating ERW into silviculture practices. The intended amendment dosage of 5 t/ha aimed to replace soil Ca losses due to historic acidic deposition.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Nature – Beerling et al. (2025): Challenges and opportunities in scaling enhanced weathering for carbon dioxide removal

David J. Beerling, Christopher T. Reinhard, Rachael H. James, Anu Khan, Nick Pidgeon and Noah J. Planavsky, IN: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00713-7

Terrestrial enhanced weathering (EW) on agricultural lands is a proposed carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology involving the amendment of soils with crushed base cation-rich rocks, such as basalt. Over a quarter of a billion dollars have been raised by commercial EW start-ups across the globe, accelerating the deployment of EW at scale. In this Review, the authors outline the scientific knowledge and policy requirements for scaling EW.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Wu et al. (2025): Carbon sequestration induced by enhanced silicate rock weathering in a temperate larch plantation in Northeastern China

Zhou Wu, Chenxia Su, Meixia Gao, Ronghua Kang, Daniel S. Goll, Meng Yao, Zihan Tai, Ang Wang, Qing-Wei Wang and Yunting Fang, IN: Forest Ecology and Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123456

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising strategy for sequestering carbon (C) via removing atmospheric CO₂ as bicarbonate or carbonate. Previous in-situ field experiments concentrated on inorganic C sequestration by ERW, while paying little attention to the response at an ecosystem scale. In forest ecosystems, soil organic C (SOC) and tree growth represent major components of ecosystem carbon storage, and their responses to ERW could contribute to additional carbon sequestration. In this study, the authors applied wollastonite powder (0, 5, and 10 t ha−1) to a larch plantation in Northeast China and monitored soil CO₂ flux, soil C dynamics, and tree growth.

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