4.3 Other possibilities

A further suggested method using the biosphere is to plant trees, then prevent them from decomposing by turning them into charcoal or biochar (Figure 12). This has a co-benefit of improving soil quality.

The technological equivalent uses artificial trees and other direct air capture (DAC) methods (Figure 12) to ‘scrub’ CO2 from the air with chemical methods; the CO2 can then be sequestered with CCS.

Figure 12 shows a photograph of 2 hands holding a pile of black charcoal pellets. Figure 12 shows a photograph of an array of large fans in a desert region making up a DAC plant. The arrays are stacked in long rows 4 high. A car is shown for scale, it's length is approximately twice the diameter of a fan.
Figure 12 Low-tech and high-tech methods of CDR. (a) A handful of biochar. (b) An example design of a DAC plant by Carbon Engineering.

Watch the video below to learn of some other suggested methods for carbon dioxide removal.

Video 2 More proposed CDR methods
Transcript (opens in new window)

OpenLearn - Could we control our climate?
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