Pollution to Products

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The process of  capturing carbon from atmospheric gases and point-source exhaust, specifically those contributing to the greenhouse effect, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Often paired with infrastructure to enable long-term storage of the resulting carbon mass. In the atmosphere, CO2 and CH4 concentrations are ~400ppm and ~1900ppm respectively (in 2023), making this process inherently inefficient. 

Chemical and material science engineering enables the selective capture of CO2 directly from atmospheric gas. While land and water requirements are less than that of BECCS, these processes are typically energy and cost intensive, and encounter scalability challenges. 

The use of microorganisms to perform the fixation of carbon using Rubisco and other natural enzymes in a bioreactor format. Bioengineering has the potential to offer advantages in land, water, and energy requirements compared to all other methods. Moreover, by reimagining the metabolic pathways of these microorganisms, the carbon can be given new life in the form of useful consumer products like biofuel and nutritional supplements.   

Some crops have the ability to provide negative carbon emissions and therefore offer large scale potential for carbon capture and storage. This approach is primarily disadvantaged by the large amounts of land and water necessary to perform carbon removal and typically results in a biomass waste that still requires storage infrastructure.

Treatment of natural minerals to enhance their carbon storage capabilities with eventual storage underground. Efficiency is generally low and not considered feasible to reach carbon removal targets. 

The planting of trees on land that typically lacked trees (afforestation) or replanting of trees in areas with historical tree cover (reforestation). While feasible, land and water requirements to reach carbon removal targets are higher than all other approaches.