(446b) Carbon-Negative Biomaterials Via Engineered Composting with Carbon Capture

Biodegradable products are advancing rapidly due to the negative consequences associated with disposal of traditional, non-biodegradable products. Composting is advancing rapidly in parallel to biodegradable products due to the need for efficient and economical disposal of the new biodegradable products. Although composting offers many benefits, the net greenhouse gas emissions associated with compostable products are often slightly better, and sometimes worse, than traditional products. The opportunity exists to capture and sequester CO2 emitted from composting, thereby making compostable products truly carbon negative. For the first time, we have engineered a method of composting which produces a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide for subsequent capture and sequestration with a relatively low capital and infrastructure intensity. In collaboration with NCSU’s compost facility, we have rapidly composted biological materials with semi-continuous collection of gas containing 20 – 95% CO2 using a novel closed reactor design. Such a technology has the potential to remove > 1 billion tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere if bioproducts, including bioplastics and biofiber, significantly penetrate existing markets.