Sequestering biomass for natural, efficient, and low-cost direct air capture of carbon dioxide (Version 3)

Abstract

Many corporations and governments aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. Achieving this goal requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO2 generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Many prior proposed solutions focus on reducing future CO2 emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. Examination of these technologies exposes their limitations and shows that none offer a complete solution. Direct Capture technologies are needed to reduce CO2 already in the air. The best way to permanently remove CO2 already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO2 and permanently sequestering that biomass carbon in landfills modified to discourage decomposition to CO2 and methane. Tree leaves and switchgrass are proposed as good biomass sources for this purpose. Left unsequestered, leaves decompose with a short Carbon Cycle time constant releasing CO2 back to the atmosphere. Leaves can represent a substantial fraction of the total biomass generated by a tree when integrated over a tree’s lifetime. The cost for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for growing and sequestering high yield switchgrass is estimated to be lower than CCS for steam reforming of methane hydrogen plants (SRM) and supercritical or combined cycle coal power plants. Thus, sequestration of biomass is a natural, carbon efficient, and low-cost method of Direct Capture. Biomass sequestration can provide CO2 removal on giga tonnes per year scale and can be implemented in the needed timeframe (2030-2050).

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide, Net Zero, Sequestration, Biomass, Direct Capture, Global Warming, Climate