Nonenergy Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS): Assessing Durability of Nongaseous Carbon Products Across Terrestrial Storage Fates.
Crotty SM, Reiners PW, Clayton LK, Young E, Jones A
Carbon Sequestration
Biochar made from wood or crop waste is increasingly sold as a climate solution and a soil amendment — this research helps sort out which carbon storage claims are genuinely long-lasting versus which might release that carbon back into the air within decades.
Plants pull carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, but what happens to that carbon after the plant dies or is harvested matters enormously for the climate. Scientists are exploring ways to take plant material — like corn stalks, wood chips, or specially burned charcoal called biochar — and store it so the carbon stays locked away for centuries. This paper lays out a clear map of which plant materials hold up best over time, and which storage methods (buried in wet soils, dry warehouses, deep underground) are most reliable at keeping that carbon from escaping back into the atmosphere.
Key Findings
Carbon durability varies widely based on two axes: the chemical form of the carbon product (raw biomass vs. thermochemically converted products like biochar or bio-oils) and the storage fate (surface, dry, shallow anoxic, or deep/geologic anoxic storage).
Thermochemically converted products such as biochars and bio-oils are more chemically resistant to decay than raw agricultural residues or municipal solid waste, making them inherently more durable carbon stores.
Deep or geologic anoxic storage (injection underground) offers the greatest long-term stability, while surface storage carries the highest risk of carbon re-release, regardless of feedstock type.
chevron_right Technical Summary
This study creates a framework for evaluating how long different plant-based carbon storage methods actually keep carbon out of the atmosphere. It finds that durability varies enormously depending on both the type of carbon material (crop waste, wood, biochar) and where and how it is stored underground or on the surface.
Abstract Preview
Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage, or BiCRS, pathways use plants or algae that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it underground or in long-lived products. ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Urban Tree Canopy Reduces Heat-Related Mortality by 39% in European Cities
Trees in your local park or street aren't just pretty — they are literally keeping people alive during heatwaves, and planting even a modest number of the ri...
A crop is a plant or plant product harvested for human use. Crops are cultivated at scale to produce food, fiber, fuel, and other products. Crops have been central to human civilization since the first agricultural revolution, a key stage in the broader history of agriculture, when early societie...