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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Carbon Dioxide Removal
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1440833
This article is part of the Research Topic Current Status and Future of Biotechnology for Carbon Capture, Storage, and Negative Emissions View all 3 articles

Biotechnology in direct air capture, enhanced weathering, and methane removal: emerging opportunities and gaps

Provisionally accepted
Paul Louis Reginato Paul Louis Reginato *
  • Homeworld Collective, Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Net emissions targets for the coming decades demand that new greenhouse gas removal (GHGR) technologies be developed and scaled to up to 10 GtCO 2 e/yr by 2050. Due to the interdisciplinarity and novelty of GHGR technologies, GHGR research faces challenges of adapting technical disciplines to new domains and broadly empowering researchers with the knowledge necessary to identify and solve key problems. This Perspective discusses the significant, but underexplored, role biotechnology could play in several GHGR technologies as well as the common research, community, and knowledge gaps that are limiting progress. The GHGR technologies of focus are 1) the potential for the enzyme carbonic anhydrase to catalyze CO 2 exchange in direct air capture; 2) the potential utility of microbes for accelerating soil-based or reactor-based enhanced rock weathering; and 3) the potential for methanotrophic bacteria or methane monooxygenase enzymes to oxidize methane for atmospheric methane removal via enhanced methanotrophy or bioreactors. Research progress on those GHGR methods is strongly limited by lack of interdisciplinary research community development as well as knowledge gaps. There is a need for clear and accessible articulation of actionable problems, ideally paired with risk-tolerant funding opportunities, as a tool for recruiting and empowering relevant researchers to these under-addressed technology areas.

    Keywords: Carbon dioxide removal, atmospheric methane removal, Direct air capture, enhanced rock weathering, methanotrophy enhancement, carbonic anhydrase, Bioweathering, climate biotechnology

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 20 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Reginato. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Paul Louis Reginato, Homeworld Collective, Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.