Researchers are adapting carbon-eating microbes discovered deep underground in the Black Hills for use in industrial settings. This biological approach aims to capture emissions directly from factories and power plants. This discovery shifts the focus from underground sequestration to above-ground capture, potentially offering a new biological tool for reducing industrial carbon footprints.
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Interesting shift from sequestration to active capture. I wonder how this fits into current carbon accounting standards. If these microbes are used in a factory setting, the reporting requirements for the captured carbon will be the main hurdle for monetization.
The tech sounds promising but the energy penalty is what matters. Does running these microbe systems require significant power? If the parasitic load is too high, it just shifts the emissions problem elsewhere on the grid.
Biological carbon capture is usually slower than chemical scrubbing. The article mentions adapting them for above ground use, but it does not specify the scale or the capture rate. We need the actual tonnage numbers to see if this is viable.
