Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has been awarded funding to investigate a potential new method of carbon capture.

The award of £105,056 from the Leverhume Trust will investigate the carbon capture potential of biochar, a by-product of photosynthesis.

Biochar, a solid compound rich in carbon and inorganic elements, is produced when organic materials are thermally decomposed in the absence of oxygen. Plants synthesise organic carbon via photosynthesis and a portion of that carbon is then locked in the biochar and returned to the soil.

Biochar may offer a viable way to reduce CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and could present an economical alternative to CO2 capture and storage.

Multidisciplinary research in the sustainable production and use of biochar as a long term storage for CO2 is still in its infancy. Research is needed on whether industrial scale biochar production and usage is possible.

The creation of this UK-Canadian network, led by Heriot-Watt, will investigate the potential of biochar as a technically and economically effective method of capturing carbon in a stabilised form adaptability of agriculture to climate change.

Sources: http://www.carboncapturejournal.com/displaynews.php?NewsID=945&PHPSESSID=041nhbcs05u6am50e88ldli9f2

For more information about upcoming CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) in Southeast Europe ensure you secure your place at our upcoming energy event:

- 3rd Annual CCS Forum: Realising the potential of CCS- (December 2012, London)