CO2solstock is an FP7 EU- financed funded R&D project launched in response to the common concern of Climate change. [1]
The scientific teams involved in this project investigate on sustainable bio-inspired solutions for carbon sequestration as an alternative or complementary way to existing Carbon Capture and Storage [1] (CCS) techniques. Indeed, these subterranean storage techniques consisting of injecting high-pressure gaseous CO2 in deep geological layers are exposed to leakage risks and are very energy demanding.
The explored biological CO2 sequestration [2] opportunity is the biomineralization [3] of carbon by microorganisms, in particular the natural properties of some bacteria to combine calcium and CO2 to produce calcareous rocks. A technology involving this carbonatation process is considered sustainable and environmentally safe, as the CO2 is captured in a stable mineral structure. Moreover, the project includes the aspects of valorization of the produced calcium carbonate.
This new research project emerges from a biomimetic approach [4]:
- Large scrutiny frame: allows us to explore nature's ressources and possibilities it could provide in terms of carbon sequestration via biomineralisation
- Communication and feedbacks within all teams: reassessment and adaptation along the process
By the end of the project (mars 2012) and after 3 years of European funding [5], the project will lead to the selection of 2 particular microbial systems enabling a significant carbon capture via carbonate precipitation, and to their development up to the pre-industrial pilot stage.