Applications
- Long-term carbon storage
- Agriculture
- Environmental restoration to improve resilience of ecosystems
- Biofuel production, bioremediation
Advantages/Benefits
- Enhanced carbon sequestration in soils
- Improved soil health and fertility from conversion of labile compounds into refractory carbon
- Better precision monitoring of phenolic-derived compounds to optimize carbon sequestration
Background
Plants play a significant role in the carbon cycle, with roots acting as a major source of carbon input into soils through rhizodeposits, which include an array of small molecule metabolites. However, the majority of these metabolites are rapidly returned to the atmosphere as CO2 by soil microbes, limiting their potential for carbon sequestration. To address this challenge, methods are needed to enhance the residence time of plant-derived carbon inputs in soils, thus promoting carbon storage and mitigating climate change.
Technology Overview
Researchers at Berkeley Lab have introduced a system to enhance carbon sequestration in soils by leveraging oxidoreductase enzymes to diversify photosynthetically derived phenolic compounds. Traditional methods often result in a rapid return of plant-derived carbon to the atmosphere, limiting its sequestration potential. To address this challenge, the researchers employed microbial soil amendments, including fungi, bacteria, and microbial mixtures, to produce oxidoreductase enzymes. These enzymes play a crucial role in diversifying soil phenolics, including those produced by plants, thereby converting labile compounds into refractory carbon suitable for long-term sequestration. This method has shown an increase of up to 35% in the molecular diversity of soil phenolics, resulting in a 50% increase in the refractory carbon content suitable for long-term sequestration. Initial studies also indicate that this approach can also increase soil carbon storage by up to 30%, significantly enhancing the potential for long-term sequestration.
Development Stage
Proof of concept
Principal Investigator(s)
- Trent R Northen
- Benjamin Bowen
- Markus de Raad
- Suzanne Kosina
- Peter F. Andeer
- Vlastimil Novak
- Yezhang Ding
Status
Patent pending
Opportunities
Available for licensing or collaborative research