{"id":143,"date":"2023-06-21T03:24:41","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T03:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homeworld.bio\/?p=143"},"modified":"2024-06-06T14:32:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T14:32:57","slug":"biotech-roadmap-for-carbon-dioxide-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homeworld.bio\/blog\/biotech-roadmap-for-carbon-dioxide-removal\/","title":{"rendered":"Webinar: Roadmap for Biotech in Carbon Dioxide Removal, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mapping
Mapping of recommendations to possible solutions to constraints that limit current CDR technologies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What problem should I work on?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My journey in action-oriented climate optimism started in 2019 as I was nearing the end of my biotech PhD in Ed Boyden\u2019s neurotech lab at MIT. I wanted to transition from mammalian-focused biology to climate tech, but I was stuck asking myself, \u201cWhat problem should I work on?\u201d<\/em> I explored that question with friends, including Sarah Sclarsic and Dan Goodwin, and our work supported Sarah\u2019s Master\u2019s thesis<\/a> to map possibilities for biotechnology in carbon dioxide removal (CDR). After finishing my PhD, I wanted to go a technical layer deeper on roadmapping in CDR to provide clear and actionable recommendations to help seekers like me in the biotechnology community orient around important problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to funding from Additional Ventures, I began roadmapping biotech for CDR in 2022 as an Independent Fellow at UC Berkeley\u2019s Innovative Genomics Institute, with the mentorship of brilliant climate tech expert Colin McCormick. I\u2019m thrilled to host a webinar next Wednesday, June 28, at 9am PT, to discuss the first part of our work. Register here<\/a>!<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The webinar discusses the findings of our Roadmap for Impact of Biotech in CDR, Part 1: Industrial CDR Using Aqueous Solvents<\/a>, which is now live.  We’re proud to host it on PubPub, an open source publishing platform that allows DOIs and nice formatting as well as inline commenting to foster meaningful dialog about the technical ideas we explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image
Workshop on CDR at MIT Media lab, hosted by Sarah Sclarsic and the Boyden lab climate subgroup in 2019. This community continues to be a crucial support in my explorations of CDR.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why CDR?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CDR presents a fantastically interesting challenge. The IPCC and National Academies tell us we\u2019ll need 1-10 Gt (109 tonnes) of CDR annually by mid-century, which means creating a brand new industry at a similar scale to the fossil fuel industry. Currently we\u2019re far below 1 Mt. CDR innovation is needed across foundational mechanisms, optimization, and scaling. CDR is also multidisciplinary. That means we must rally an enormous increase in person-power from across science and engineering to coordinate on a new technology push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our roadmap for biotech in CDR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our roadmap is focused on CDR methods that are engineering-based and rely minimally on ecosystems for their core mechanisms. Such methods have been relatively neglected in the biotech community, but are generally more durable and have lower uncertainty than the nature-based solutions like soil carbon and forestry that have received the most attention thus far. We\u2019ve separated the roadmap into three parts, based on the CDR pathways they address:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Part 1 is focused on the use of biocatalysts in industrial CDR using aqueous solutions, such as direct air capture (DAC), direct ocean capture (DOC), and point-source capture for bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Part 2 addresses the use of geobiological mechanisms in geochemical CDR methods, like enhanced weathering (EW), ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), and subsurface CO2 mineralization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The third is focused on increasing the supply of biomass for biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) methods, like BECCS and biomass burial.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Recommendations to enable biotech in CDR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Here are a few highlights of the recommendations we give<\/a> in Part 1, which we\u2019ll explore more deeply at the webinar. They all focus on using the enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA)<\/b>, or small molecule mimics of CA, as catalysts to speed absorption and release of CO2 in capture solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n