CO2 to biochar: harnessing the potential of a fast-growing cyanobacterium for cost-efficient carbon capture utilisation and storage

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Industries producing over 25,000 T CO2/year represent ~40% of the total emissions of stationary installations in Europe and are currently subject to a carbon tax at ~€100/T CO2 under the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). These industries are desperately looking for affordable carbon capture technologies to reduce emissions, however, current prominently used direct air capture (DAC) is not commercially feasible at scale.CyanoCapture Ltd., the project lead, is an innovative SME aiming to develop a sustainable and cost-effective solution for point source carbon capture by combining novel photobioreactor processes and a fast-growing cyanobacterium, _Synechococcus_ sp. UTEX 3154 (Syn3154). Photosynthetic cyanobacteria are ubiquitous and account for 30-50% of environmental CO2 fixation. Cyanobacteria are naturally far more efficient than plants at capturing CO2 and hence are excellent candidates for scalable carbon capture. The cyanobacterium Syn3154 is a fast-growing, high biomass accumulating strain with a doubling time of less than 3 hours, with no need for external supplementation of vitamins for its growth -- meaning that it carries the potential to be an excellent candidate to enable mass-scale CO2 removal.The project partner UKBRC at the University of Edinburgh will develop a sustainable method for conversion of cyanobacteria biomass into stable biochar and evaluate applications such as agriculture, construction, sanitation, environmental management etc. that offer not only long-term carbon sequestration, but also additional economic and societal benefits. The proposed breakthrough solution enables affordable CO2 capture and has a strong potential to elevate the UK's position at the forefront of the global Net-Zero transition.