SBIR Phase I: Enhanced Blue Carbon: a novel carbon dioxide removal strategy for climate change mitigation

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to combat climate change, enhance coastal resilience, and counter ocean acidification. This project will develop a nature-based approach that deploys Olivine sand safely into salty marshes for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) while restoring marsh ecosystems. This project will contribute societal value by driving innovation and new approaches in Earth Sciences, Ocean Sciences, and Marine and Coastal Engineering. It will produce a rigorous, cost-effective method for carbon dioxide removal to generate carbon credits that can be bought on carbon exchanges to achieve net-zero emissions. Once at scale, the technology could permanently capture millions of tons of carbon/year at < $100 per ton. The impact on the lives of US citizens could be significant, both through green job creation and through climate crisis mitigation. This project will develop Enhanced Blue Carbon (EBC), a novel, nature-based, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology that combines and improves two of the most cost effective, scalable, and permanent CDR technologies: Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) and Blue Carbon (BC). The proposed research consists of a field trial that will produce a carbon quantification model, ecological impact report, and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) determining the efficiency and safety of EBC. This experiment is the first of its kind and is a critical step in developing a third-party accredited measurement-reporting-verification (MRV) methodology that directly connects EBC to carbon markets. The efficiency and safety of EBC will be assessed through geochemical and biogeochemical characterization of porewater, sediments, and biomass collected during the field trial. This data will be integrated in a proprietary 1-dimensional reactive-transport model that can be used to estimate carbon removal potential in EBC projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.