A new U.K. trial has started to speed up the natural process of rock weathering, where tiny pieces of basalt rock remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
The international resource management company Veolia has teamed up with biotechnology startup FabricNano for the trial, where enzymes will be applied to basalt rock dust to make the process happen much faster.
Enhanced rock weathering is a carbon removal process, whereby basalt rock dust is spread on agricultural land, which is then rained on.
The rainwater contains atmospheric carbon dioxide, which through the process of weathering spontaneously forms a small quantity of weak carbonic acid that reacts with elements in the rock dust to create carbonates like calcium carbonate, often referred to as chalk.
The end result is the carbon is permanently locked in the soil, but the process can take more than 30 years.
FabricNano’s patented technology uses the carbonic anhydrase enzyme, which it claims will speed up the process from decades to just a couple of years.
This year, Veolia will be spreading 30,000 tonnes of basalt rock across farmland throughout the U.K, all sourced from local mining operations.
The trial with FabricNano has already seen protein powder containing the carbonic anhydrase enzyme combined with silicate rock and spread on a stretch of farmland near Bicester, UK and run by Oxford Agricultural Trials (OATs).
With 17 million hectares of utilised agricultural area and over 2 billion tonnes of basalt rock reserves in the U.K, this accelerated version of the enhanced rock weathering process could help countries decarbonise, if it can be scaled up with economic viability.
According to research by the University of Sheffield, it could deliver 6 to 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide removal a year in the U.K.
The chief executive and co-founder of FabricNano, Grant Aarons said in an interview the carbonic anhydrase enzyme being used in the trials is readily available.
Aarons told me that this enzyme is present in nearly all biological species including humans, where it is responsible for regulating pH levels in the human bloodstream.
“Every species that lives and dies in the soil contributes to the constant release of this enzyme into the soil,” he told me.
“All we are saying is that this specific protein should be added to the top-dressing of soil to help these rocks weather faster.
“We are hoping that the enzyme is going to exponentially increase the ability of these rocks to degrade and that it’s going to create a more robust operation for Veolia.”
Aarons said recently published studies have shown that as well as removing carbon from the atmosphere, the enhanced weathering process can also help improve soil quality, reduce the need for fertilizers and increase yield.
“Protein biochemistry needs to be considered from an architecture perspective in order to get them to work for us in the real world,” he explained.
“A protein is just a building block and will do whatever it’s programmed to do. We need to architect applications of these proteins to meet industrialized human civilization.”
Veolia U.K’s head of corporate development, Marine Avisse said in an interview the trials are a “perfect fit” with the company’s ecological transformation strategy and ongoing work with the company’s recently formed agricultural services team, which aims to reduce emissions in the food chain.
“Veolia already has access to farmers and a good relationship with rock quarries, so we have all the elements to have a positive impact in the agricultural sector,” Avisse told me.
“In order to reach Net Zero, we need carbon removal and there are very few good quality technologies currently in the market.
“The potential to scale this method up very quickly is exciting for us and if the trials are successful, we will look to roll this out to different locations all over the world.”
