Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, in collaboration with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Science and NETL announced a request for information (RFI) about “enhanced weathering” research opportunities that could lead to advances in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Weathering is nature’s process in which rocks are broken down and dissolved over time. The natural breakdown process releases calcium, which can bind to CO₂ and remove it from the atmosphere.  Enhanced weathering uses technology or modified land-use approaches to accelerate the decomposition of calcium- and magnesium-rich silicate rocks and increase the rate of CO₂ removal from the atmosphere.  It is, in effect, a technology with negative CO₂ emissions. 

In addition to its CO₂ removal benefits, enhanced weathering can improve soil quality and fertility.

In this RFI, DOE seeks input from stakeholders on what research is needed to support enhanced weathering as a viable negative emissions technology for CO₂ removal from the atmosphere.

Approaches of interest are those involving land materials that weather into constituents that react with and bind atmospheric carbon, leading to carbon storage. The materials of most interest are calcium- and magnesium-rich rocks and minerals. Rock materials may be either extrusive or intrusive and may include refuse, but they must be reasonably accessible and available in large quantities. 

Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 8 p.m. (ET) on November 6, 2020.