From Cleantech
Blenheim, New Zealand-based startup Carbonscape says it has developed an industrial microwave process to turn plants, trees and other biomass into charcoal in order to store carbon dioxide emissions for thousands of years.
Carbonscape’s technology is based on the principle that plants can remove carbon from the atmosphere but eventually die and rot, releasing the stored gases. Turning the biomass to charcoal prevents microbial breakdown and locks away the emissions, the company says. Such charcoal is referred to as biochar.
Carbonscape calls other carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies dangerous because of the potential for the accidental release of underground or underwater gases. Carbonscape says its technology is also superior because there’s no need for new technology to capture carbon emissions.
Last week, Danish shipping and oil company A.P. Moller-Maersk announced it was investigating whether sea vessels can transport greenhouse gases for underwater storage more efficiently and more cheaply than pipes (see Ships, not pipes, for CO2 ocean burial). Scientists are still seeking ways to quantify the underground storage capacity for carbon sequestered from power plants (see MIT unlocking carbon capture and storage).
Carbonscape says the process converts 40 percent to 50 percent of wood debris into charcoal, with each unit having the capability to lock away one metric ton of CO2 into charcoal each day.
Carbonscape has proposed plantations of fast-growing trees that can be cut down and subjected to the industrial microwave, at which point the charcoal could be buried underground.
Carbonscape says the industrial microwaving is a net winner when it comes to emissions. Although the process produces carbon dioxide emissions, the amount is significantly less than the carbon dioxide captured in the charcoal.
In September, the company began using its prototype in a pilot run in South Island, New Zealand.
Carbonscape was founded in December 2006. The company says it has multiple international patents on its technology.