Safe and Permanent
CO Sequestration
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Carboniferous is working to safely accelerate
one of Earth’s most powerful natural climate recovery processes
by sequestering terrestrial biomass in anoxic marine basins.
Our Process
Why agricultural byproducts?
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Crops absorb gigatons of CO each year, mostly to grow stalks and leaves. In most of the U.S., a third or more of these 'byproducts' can be sustainably removed from fields. This enormous mass of organic carbon can be transported via a vast existing infrastructure that is prepared to operate at climatically-meaningful scales.
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Why anoxic basins?
Anoxic basins contain no dissolved O2, so they are inhospitable to all eukaryotic life (animals, plants, protists, and more). This means that biomass sequestration in anoxic basins avoids potential impacts on these seafloor communities. In the absence of these organisms, nearly all (>90%) of the carbon deposited in anoxic basins can be preserved for thousands of years or more.
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Contact Us
If carbon sequestration inspires you or if you're interested in knowing more about what we're doing please reach out.
Email: info@carboniferous.co
Phone: +1 (925)784-5355
Based in Oakland, CA
Shipwrecks in the deep, anoxic Black Sea have stored their carbon for ~3000 years.
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R. L. Graham et al., “Current and Potential U.S. Corn Stover Supplies,” Agronomy Journal 99, no. 1 (January 2007): 1–11, https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2005.0222.
R. Michael Lehman et al., “Soil Microbial Community Response to Corn Stover Harvesting Under Rain-Fed, No-Till Conditions at Multiple US Locations,” BioEnergy Research 7, no. 2 (June 2014): 540–50, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9417-9.
D.J. Muth, K.M. Bryden, and R.G. Nelson, “Sustainable Agricultural Residue Removal for Bioenergy: A Spatially Comprehensive US National Assessment,” Applied Energy 102 (February 2013): 403–17, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.07.028.
María B. Villamil, Joseph Little, and Emerson D. Nafziger, “Corn Residue, Tillage, and Nitrogen Rate Effects on Soil Properties,” Soil and Tillage Research 151 (August 2015): 61–66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2015.03.005.
Hilairy E. Hartnett et al., “Influence of Oxygen Exposure Time on Organic Carbon Preservation in Continental Margin Sediments,” Nature 391, no. 6667 (February 1998): 572–75, https://doi.org/10.1038/35351.
Qusheng Jin and Craig M. Bethke, “Predicting the Rate of Microbial Respiration in Geochemical Environments,” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 69, no. 5 (March 2005): 1133–43, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2004.08.010.
Richard G. Keil, Jonathan M. Nuwer, and Stuart E. Strand, “Burial of Agricultural Byproducts in the Deep Sea as a Form of Carbon Sequestration: A Preliminary Experiment,” Marine Chemistry 122, no. 1–4 (October 2010): 91–95, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2010.07.007.