Mayes, William Matthew; Riley, Alex L.; Gomes, Helena I.; Brabham, Peter; Hamlyn, Joanna; Pullin, Huw; Renforth, Phil (2018): Atmospheric CO2 sequestration in iron and steel slag. Consett, Co. Durham, UK. In: Environmental science & technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01883.

"Carbonate formation in waste from the steel industry could constitute a non-trivial proportion of global requirements to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at potentially low cost. To constrain this potential, we examined atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration in a >20 million tonne legacy slag deposit in northern England, UK. Carbonates formed from the drainage water of the heap had stable carbon and oxygen isotopes between -12 and -25 ‰ and -5 and -18 ‰ for δ13C and δ18O respectively, suggesting atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration in high pH solutions. From analysis of solution saturation state, we estimate that between 280 and 2,900 tCO2 have precipitated from the drainage waters. However, by combining a thirty-seven-year dataset of the drainage water chemistry with geospatial analysis, we estimate that <1 % of the maximum carbon capture potential of the deposit may have been realised. This implies that uncontrolled deposition of slag is insufficient to maximise carbon sequestration, and there may be considerable quantities of unreacted legacy deposits available for atmospheric carbon sequestration."

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Keller, David P.; Lenton, Andrew; Littleton, Emma W.; Oschlies, Andreas; Scott, Vivian; Vaughan, Naomi E. (2018): The Effects of Carbon Dioxide Removal on the Carbon Cycle. In: Curr Clim Change Rep 118 (1), S. 105. DOI: 10.1007/s40641-018-0104-3.

"Here, we review the carbon cycle responses to different CDR approaches and highlight the often-overlooked interaction and feedbacks between carbon reservoirs that ultimately determines CDR efficacy. We also identify future research that will be needed if CDR is to play a role in climate change mitigation, these include coordinated studies to better understand (i) the underlying mechanisms of each method, (ii) how they could be explicitly simulated, (iii) how reversible changes in the climate and carbon cycle are, and (iv) how to evaluate and monitor CDR."

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German article on CE.

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German article on CE.

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