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Abdalqadir M, Hughes D, Rezaei Gomari S, Rafiq U. A state of the art of review on factors affecting the enhanced weathering in agricultural soil: strategies for carbon sequestration and climate mitigation. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:19047-19070. [PMID: 38372917 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-32498-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
As the urgency to address climate change intensifies, the exploration of sustainable negative emission technologies becomes imperative. Enhanced weathering (EW) represents an approach by leveraging the natural process of rock weathering to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in agricultural lands. This review synthesizes current research on EW, focusing on its mechanisms, influencing factors, and pathways for successful integration into agricultural practices. It evaluates key factors such as material suitability, particle size, application rates, soil properties, and climate, which are crucial for optimizing EW's efficacy. The study highlights the multifaceted benefits of EW, including soil fertility improvement, pH regulation, and enhanced water retention, which collectively contribute to increased agricultural productivity and climate change mitigation. Furthermore, the review introduces Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) verification frameworks as essential components for assessing and enhancing EW's effectiveness and credibility. By examining the current state of research and proposing avenues for future investigation, this review aims to deepen the understanding of EW's role in sustainable agriculture and climate change mitigation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mardin Abdalqadir
- Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK.
| | - David Hughes
- Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK
| | - Sina Rezaei Gomari
- Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK
| | - Ubaid Rafiq
- Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK
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Reershemius T, Kelland ME, Jordan JS, Davis IR, D'Ascanio R, Kalderon-Asael B, Asael D, Suhrhoff TJ, Epihov DZ, Beerling DJ, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ. Initial Validation of a Soil-Based Mass-Balance Approach for Empirical Monitoring of Enhanced Rock Weathering Rates. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:19497-19507. [PMID: 37961896 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising scalable and cost-effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy with significant environmental and agronomic co-benefits. A major barrier to large-scale implementation of ERW is a robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) framework. To successfully quantify the amount of carbon dioxide removed by ERW, MRV must be accurate, precise, and cost-effective. Here, we outline a mass-balance-based method in which analysis of the chemical composition of soil samples is used to track in situ silicate rock weathering. We show that signal-to-noise issues of in situ soil analysis can be mitigated by using isotope-dilution mass spectrometry to reduce analytical error. We implement a proof-of-concept experiment demonstrating the method in controlled mesocosms. In our experiment, a basalt rock feedstock is added to soil columns containing the cereal crop Sorghum bicolor at a rate equivalent to 50 t ha-1. Using our approach, we calculate rock weathering corresponding to an average initial CDR value of 1.44 ± 0.27 tCO2eq ha-1 from our experiments after 235 days, within error of an independent estimate calculated using conventional elemental budgeting of reaction products. Our method provides a robust time-integrated estimate of initial CDR, to feed into models that track and validate large-scale carbon removal through ERW.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom Reershemius
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Mike E Kelland
- Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, U.K
| | - Jacob S Jordan
- Porecast Research, Lawrence, Kansas 66049, United States
| | - Isabelle R Davis
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, Southampton SO14 3ZH, U.K
| | - Rocco D'Ascanio
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Boriana Kalderon-Asael
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Dan Asael
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - T Jesper Suhrhoff
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
- Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Dimitar Z Epihov
- Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, U.K
| | - David J Beerling
- Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, U.K
| | - Christopher T Reinhard
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
- Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
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Haque F, Khalidy R, Chiang YW, Santos RM. Constraining the Capacity of Global Croplands to CO 2 Drawdown via Mineral Weathering. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2023; 7:1294-1305. [PMID: 37492628 PMCID: PMC10364810 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
Terrestrial enhanced weathering of alkaline silicate minerals is a promising climate change mitigation strategy with the potential to limit the global temperature rise. The formation and accumulation of pedogenic carbonate and bicarbonate in soils/subsoils and groundwater offers a large sink for C storage; the amount of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) presently held within soils has been estimated to be 720-950 Gt of C. These values can be augmented by the addition of a variety of calcium and magnesium silicates via enhanced weathering. While the concept of the application of finely milled silicate rocks for faster weathering rates is well established, there has been limited discussion on the role of local climate, natural SIC content (i.e., the SIC innately present in the soil), and soil pH (among other important agronomic factors) on silicate weathering when applied to croplands, especially in view that the aim is to establish terrestrial enhanced weathering as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy on a global scale. In this work, we emphasized the importance of soil pH and soil temperature on silicate weathering and looked to estimate an upper limit of (i.e., constrain) the global capacity until the year 2100 for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) to draw down CO2 in the form of accumulated pedogenic carbonate or soluble bicarbonate. We assessed the global spatial distribution of cropland soil pH, which serves as a proxy for local innate SIC; annual rate of pluvial (rainfall) precipitation; and soil temperature, and found that the potential CO2 drawdown difference between faster and slower weathering silicates is narrower in Asia, Africa, and South America, while the gap is larger for Europe, North America, and Oceania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatima Haque
- School
of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
- Department
of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Reza Khalidy
- School
of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Yi Wai Chiang
- School
of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Rafael M. Santos
- School
of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
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Deng H, Sonnenthal E, Arora B, Breunig H, Brodie E, Kleber M, Spycher N, Nico P. The environmental controls on efficiency of enhanced rock weathering in soils. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9765. [PMID: 37328610 PMCID: PMC10275906 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36113-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in soils is a promising carbon removal technology, but the realistically achievable efficiency, controlled primarily by in situ weathering rates of the applied rocks, is highly uncertain. Here we explored the impacts of coupled biogeochemical and transport processes and a set of primary environmental and operational controls, using forsterite as a proxy mineral in soils and a multiphase multi-component reactive transport model considering microbe-mediated reactions. For a onetime forsterite application of ~ 16 kg/m2, complete weathering within five years can be achieved, giving an equivalent carbon removal rate of ~ 2.3 kgCO2/m2/yr. However, the rate is highly variable based on site-specific conditions. We showed that the in situ weathering rate can be enhanced by conditions and operations that maintain high CO2 availability via effective transport of atmospheric CO2 (e.g. in well-drained soils) and/or sufficient biogenic CO2 supply (e.g. stimulated plant-microbe processes). Our results further highlight that the effect of increasing surface area on weathering rate can be significant-so that the energy penalty of reducing the grain size may be justified-only when CO2 supply is nonlimiting. Therefore, for ERW practices to be effective, siting and engineering design (e.g. optimal grain size) need to be co-optimized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Deng
- Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
| | - Eric Sonnenthal
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Bhavna Arora
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Hanna Breunig
- Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division, Energy Technology Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Eoin Brodie
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Markus Kleber
- Department of Crop and Soil Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
| | - Nicolas Spycher
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Peter Nico
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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Kanzaki Y, Planavsky NJ, Reinhard CT. New estimates of the storage permanence and ocean co-benefits of enhanced rock weathering. PNAS NEXUS 2023; 2:pgad059. [PMID: 37096198 PMCID: PMC10122414 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Avoiding many of the most severe consequences of anthropogenic climate change in the coming century will very likely require the development of "negative emissions technologies"-practices that lead to net carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from Earth's atmosphere. However, feedbacks within the carbon cycle place intrinsic limits on the long-term impact of CDR on atmospheric CO2 that are likely to vary across CDR technologies in ways that are poorly constrained. Here, we use an ensemble of Earth system models to provide new insights into the efficiency of CDR through enhanced rock weathering (ERW) by explicitly quantifying long-term storage of carbon in the ocean during ERW relative to an equivalent modulated emissions scenario. We find that although the backflux of CO2 to the atmosphere in the face of CDR is in all cases significant and time-varying, even for direct removal and underground storage, the leakage of initially captured carbon associated with ERW is well below that currently assumed. In addition, net alkalinity addition to the surface ocean from ERW leads to significant increases in seawater carbonate mineral saturation state relative to an equivalent emissions trajectory, a co-benefit for calcifying marine organisms. These results suggest that potential carbon leakage from the oceans during ERW is a small component of the overall ERW life cycle and that it can be rigorously quantified and incorporated into technoeconomic assessments of ERW at scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshiki Kanzaki
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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