CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Qi & Jian (2026): Evaluation of rock resources for carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering: A South China case

Shan Qi and Xing Jian, IN: Applied Geochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2026.106812

With the challenge of rising atmospheric CO₂, Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) has emerged as a promising climate mitigation strategy. By spreading ground weatherable rocks (mostly mafic and ultra-mafic silicate rocks) to cropland, forest and coast in climatically favorable regions, ERW is thought to involve both benefits and environmental risks. While previous studies have mainly focused on carbon removal abilities and efficiencies of the most favorable minerals and rocks, high-potential rock resource surveys and comprehensive regional assessments integrating diverse beneficial and risk factors are poorly reported. In this contribution, the authors bridged this gap by first establishing a robust geochemical database of 7037 mafic and ultramafic rock samples across South China. Using this database, the authors developed a multi-criteria evaluation framework considering weathering potential, nutrients, heavy metals, and local climatic factors. The weight allocation in the system was determined by the Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method and subjective adjustment to assess the ERW potential of these rocks.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Zacharias (2026): Repurposing enhanced rock weathering for brownfield cleanup: a practical carbonate–silicate remineralization method for stabilizing cationic metals in shallow soils

Quinn Zacharias, IN: EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X53F5Q

Brownfield, mining-impacted, urban fill, and legacy agricultural sites often contain cationic metals concentrated in shallow soil horizons, where they sustain direct-contact, dust, and leaching risk and can complicate redevelopment. This paper reframes enhanced rock weathering (ERW), originally advanced for carbon dioxide removal, as a practical remineralization approach for immobilizing cationic metals in soil. The proposed method is not simply another mineral amendment. It uses controlled carbonate–silicate blends to accelerate soil-aging processes, acid neutralization, increased negative surface charge, Ca and Mg occupation of exchange sites, hydrolysis, sorption, and secondary Fe–Al mineral formation that shift metals from labile and leachable pools toward less mobile forms. The framework is grounded in a watershed-scale Vermont field deployment of low-Ni, Fe–Al-rich basalt and in prior liming, wollastonite, and ERW literature. Across these lines of evidence, silicate remineralization behaves as a slow-release liming system, hydrologically connected receiving zones can show strong buffering signatures, and metal lability can decline where alkalinity and base cations accumulate.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Al-Ghussain et al. (2026): Geospatial techno-economic and life cycle assessment of renewable-powered direct air capture in Middle East and North Africa

Loiy Al-Ghussain, Mohamed G. Gado, Mohammad Alrbai, Sameer Al-Dahidi and Zifeng Lu, IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccst.2026.100605

Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies powered by renewable energy are a promising approach for atmospheric carbon removal. This study presents a geospatial techno-economic and life cycle assessment of solar- and wind-powered electrified DAC systems across the Middle East and North Africa region. The authors evaluate how system sizing and regional resource conditions affect the cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity of CO₂ capture.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Hkaung et al. (2026): Enhanced rock weathering in acid mine drainage systems: Field evidence and passive treatment implications

Htut San Hkaung, Naito Yamashita, Nono Kimotsuki, Fugo Nakamura, Frances Chikanda, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Yoko Ohtomo, Tsubasa Otake and Tsutomu Sato, IN: Cleaner Engineering and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2026.101203

Despite basalt-based Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) showing promise in croplands, identifying alternative application sites is crucial for scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and maximizing co-benefits. This study investigated acid mine drainage (AMD) systems as potential ERW sites, emphasizing the use of mining waste rock as reactive material. AMD environments are naturally acidic and characterized by continuous flow, conditions that accelerate mineral dissolution and enhance ERW effectiveness. Field-scale ERW trials were conducted in two AMD-impacted rivers in Japan using locally sourced basaltic waste rock (1–2 mm). At each site, one ton of crushed rock was deployed: (1) Yoshioka basaltic andesite (Yk) in the Amemasu River, and (2) Tetsuzan basalt (Tz) in the Shojin River.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Hanes et al. (2026): Energy Emissions Accounting Methods Can Determine Whether Direct Air Capture with Storage Achieves Net Removal

Rebecca J. Hanes, Keju An, Wilson McNeil, Yijin Li, Isaias Marroquin, Soomin Chun, Sarah L. Nordahl, Kimberley K. Mayfield, Sarah E. Baker, Corinne D. Scown and Evan D. Sherwin, IN: Environmental Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c13494

The voluntary carbon market within the United States has expanded rapidly in recent years and enabled private companies and other organizations to provide revenue streams to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. For a CDR technology to participate in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), the emissions associated with constructing and operating the technology must be less than the CO₂ captured from the atmosphere. Assessing the extent to which this is true for direct air capture with storage (DACS), a relatively energy-intensive CDR technology, strongly depends on the accounting method used to assess the emissions intensity of purchased energy. The authors simulate the hourly weather-dependent operation of sorbent- and solvent-based DACS in California, Louisiana, Texas, and Wyoming, representing a wide range of local weather and electric and natural gas grid compositions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Chen et al. (2026): Synergistic CO₂-H₂O sorption kinetics of ionic exchange resin for moisture swing direct air capture

Sheng Chen, Renyu Xie, Yuxuan Zhang, Ying Ji, Tao Wang and Long Jiang, IN: Chemical Engineering Research and Design, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2026.03.037

Moisture swing adsorption (MSA) is considered as a promising negative emission technology for CO₂ direct air capture (DAC), but its kinetics description remains challenging due to the synergistic and interdependent sorption behaviors of CO₂ and H₂O. This study initially proposes H₂O-informed MSA kinetics characterization for D290 ionic exchange resin. By investigating the apparent sorption characteristics based on customized experimental platform, the research finding gives insights into the dynamic interdependence for binary-sorption.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Munir et al. (2026): Enhanced weathering for carbon dioxide removal: mechanistic advances, field evidence, and governance challenges

Bushra Munir, Seong Hyeon Nam, Byung Jun Park, Seok Soon Jeong, Jung-Hwan Yoon, Jinah Moon, Jae Yang and Hyuck Soo Kim, IN: Episodes, https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2026/026005

Achieving net-zero emissions will require scalable and durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) alongside deep mitigation. Enhanced weathering (EW) has long been proposed as a land-based CDR option, but its real-world performance and governance readiness have remained uncertain. This review assesses whether EW has progressed from theoretical promise to a credible CDR pathway by synthesizing recent advances in field evidence, monitoring–reporting–verification (MRV), life-cycle performance, risk management, and policy frameworks.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Wang et al. (2026): Cost outlook of coal power with CCS and BECCS based on a component learning curve incorporating efficiency upgrades: a case study of China

Delu Wang, Fan Chen, Chunxiao Li and Lawrence Loh, IN: Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2026.104950

Grasping the cost outlook of CCS and BECSS is crucial for guiding coal power-dependent nations in technological strategy planning and investment decision-making during the low-carbon transition. Given the practical characteristics of technological learning in the coal power sector and the limitations of existing literature in forecasting technology costs, this study adopts a learning rate estimation method that incorporates efficiency upgrade based on the component learning curve approach. Taking China as a case study, it analyzes the future cost trends and economic-environmental benefits of CCS and BECCS from a systematic perspective.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Hkaung et al. (2026): Enhanced rock weathering in acid mine drainage systems: Field evidence and passive treatment implications

Htut San Hkaung, Naito Yamashita, Nono Kimotsuki, Fugo Nakamura, Frances Chikanda, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Yoko Ohtomo, Tsubasa Otake and Tsutomu Sato, IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2026.101203

Despite basalt-based Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) showing promise in croplands, identifying alternative application sites is crucial for scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and maximizing co-benefits. This study investigated acid mine drainage (AMD) systems as potential ERW sites, emphasizing the use of mining waste rock as reactive material.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Murthy et al. (2026): Regulation of Coastal Weathering in Massachusetts

Ashwin Murthy, Korey Silverman-Roati and Romany M. Webb, IN: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sabin_climate_change/270/

This white paper reviews the U.S. federal and state laws that could apply to coastal enhanced weathering projects in Massachusetts, as part of a broader Sabin Center project exploring the role of U.S. states in regulating Carbon dioxide removal activities.

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