Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

Series Editor: Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Deepak Pant
Ashok Kumar Nadda
Kamal Kishore Pant
Avinash Kumar Agarwal Editors

Advances
in Carbon
Capture and
Utilization
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

Series Editor
Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
AIMS AND SCOPE
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or authored by top researchers and professional across the globe. The series aims
at publishing state-of-the-art research and development in areas including, but not
limited to:
• Renewable Energy
• Alternative Fuels
• Engines and Locomotives
• Combustion and Propulsion
• Fossil Fuels
• Carbon Capture
• Control and Automation for Energy
• Environmental Pollution
• Waste Management
• Transportation Sustainability
Review Process
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Deepak Pant · Ashok Kumar Nadda ·
Kamal Kishore Pant · Avinash Kumar Agarwal
Editors

Advances in Carbon Capture

and Utilization
Editors
Deepak Pant Ashok Kumar Nadda
School of Earth and Environmental Department of Biotechnology
Sciences and Bioinformatics
Central University of Himachal Pradesh Jaypee University of Information
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India Technology
Waknaghat, Himachal Pradesh, India
Kamal Kishore Pant
Department of Chemical Engineering Avinash Kumar Agarwal
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Department of Mechanical Engineering
New Delhi, Delhi, India Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

ISSN 2522-8366 ISSN 2522-8374 (electronic)

Energy, Environment, and Sustainability
ISBN 978-981-16-0637-3 ISBN 978-981-16-0638-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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Preface

This book was motivated by the current scenario of global warming and its harmful
impact on the environment as well as living system. In the modern society, human
beings are well aware about the climate change and the factors responsible for the
same. However, our efforts to mitigate the climate change do not meet the required
standard that can make significant impact to save the earth. The greenhouse gases
(CO2 , N2 O, HFC and methane) are majorly responsible for the global warming.
CO2 is being released from various sources, automobiles, cement industries, power
plants, animals and volcanic eruptions. Every year, there is continuous rise in the CO2
level and reached around 417 ppm. The controlled emission of CO2 , capturing the
emitted CO2 from atmosphere, and conversion of CO2 released from various sources
are the key objectives to achieve in order to lower its atmospheric level. Naturally,
plants and oceans are the ordinary sink available for the absorption and conversion of
CO2 . Even after 70% of total water covered area on earth, various human activities,
such as deforestation, unplanned urbanization, excessive automobiles and industrial
emission, construction of highways and new cities led to the increase in CO2 level.
This became a great challenge in front of environmentalists, chemical engineers as
well as whole human population to minimize the CO2 quantity to a safe level on the
earth. In the last two decades, researchers have focused to develop the new methods
and techniques to control the release of CO2 or to capture the released CO2 from
the atmosphere and convert it into value-added products. Nanomaterials including
nanoparticles, nanosheets, nanomembranes, metal organic frameworks and biochar
have gained more acceptance to use these as artificial CO2 adsorbents. Also, the
organic solvents such as amine-based solvents have also been employed for the CO2
absorption from various sources. Various ionic liquids, eutectic solvents and organic
solvents have also huge potential to absorb and convert the atmospheric CO2 and
convert it into other or useful products under controlled conditions. Biologists moved
toward the microorganisms to exploit their potential as CO2 converting candidates.
The major advantages stabilities and efficiencies of the chemical-, biological- and
material-based systems have been discussed in the respective chapters of this book.
The International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (ISEES)
was founded at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), India, in January
2014 with an aim to spread knowledge/awareness and catalyze research activities in
v
vi Preface

the fields of energy, environment, sustainability and combustion. The society’s goal
is to contribute to the development of clean, affordable and secure energy resources
and a sustainable environment for the society and to spread knowledge in the above-
mentioned areas and create awareness about the environmental challenges, which
the world is facing today. The unique way adopted by the society was to break the
conventional silos of specialications (engineering, science, environment, agriculture,
biotechnology, materials, fuels, etc.) to tackle the problems related to energy, environ-
ment and sustainability in a holistic manner. This is quite evident by the participation
of experts from all fields to resolve these issues. The ISEES is involved in various
activities such as conducting workshops, seminars, conferences in the domains of
its interests. The society also recognizes the outstanding works done by the young
scientists and engineers for their contributions in these fields by conferring them
awards under various categories.
Fourth International Conference on ‘Sustainable Energy and Environmental Chal-
lenges’ (IV-SEEC) was organized under the auspices of ISEES from November 27–
29, 2019, at NEERI, Nagpur. This conference provided a platform for discussions
between eminent scientists and engineers from various countries including India,
USA, China, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic,
Germany, Netherland and Canada. In this conference, eminent speakers from all
over the world presented their views related to different aspects of energy, combus-
tion, emissions and alternative energy resource for sustainable development and
cleaner environment. The conference presented one high-voltage plenary talk by
Mrs. Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, Automotive Research Association of India
(ARAI), Pune.
The conference included 28 technical sessions on topics related to energy and envi-
ronmental sustainability including 1 plenary talk, 25 keynote talks and 54 invited talks
from prominent scientists, in addition to 70+ contributed talks and 80+ poster presen-
tation by students and researchers. The technical sessions in the conference included
fuels, engine technology and emissions, coal and biomass combustion/gasification,
atomization and sprays, combustion and modeling, alternative energy resources,
water and water and wastewater treatment, automobile and other environmental appli-
cations, environmental challenges and sustainability, nuclear energy and other envi-
ronmental challenges, clean fuels and other environmental challenges, water pollu-
tion and control, biomass and biotechnology, waste to wealth, microbiology, biotech-
nological and other environmental applications, waste and wastewater management,
cleaner technology and environment, sustainable materials and processes, energy,
environment and sustainability, technologies and approaches for clean, sensors and
materials for environmental, biological processes and environmental sustainability.
One of the highlights of the conference was the rapid fire poster sessions in (i)
engine/fuels/emissions, (ii) environment and (III) biotechnology, where 50+ students
participated with great enthusiasm and won many prizes in a fiercely competitive
environment. 300+ participants and speakers attended this three days conference,
where 12 ISEES books published by Springer, Singapore, under a special dedicated
series ‘Energy, environment and sustainability’ were released. This was third time in
a row that such significant and high-quality outcome has been achieved by any society
Preface vii

in India. The conference concluded with a panel discussion on ‘Balancing Energy

Security, Environmental Impacts and Economic Considerations: Indian Perspective’,
where the panelists were Dr. Anjan Ray, CSIR-IIP Dehradun; Dr. R. R. Sonde,
Thermax Ltd.; Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal, IIT Kanpur; Dr. R. Srikanth, National
Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru; and Dr. Rakesh Kumar, NEERI, Nagpur.
The panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Ashok Pandey, Chairman, ISEES.
This conference laid out the roadmap for technology developments, opportunities
and challenges in energy, environment and sustainability domain. All these topics
are very relevant for the country and the world in present context. We acknowl-
edge the support received from various funding agencies and organizations for the
successful conduct of the Fourth ISEES Conference IV-SEEC, where these books
germinated. We would therefore like to acknowledge SERB, Government of India
(special thanks to Dr. Sandeep Verma, Secretary); NEERI, Nagpur (special thanks
to Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Director), CSIR, and our publishing partner Springer (special
thanks to Swati Mehershi).
The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to large number of authors
from all over the world for submitting their high-quality work in a timely manner and
revising it appropriately at a short notice. We would like express our special thanks
to Anand Giri, Atul Dhar, Dr. Pravesh Chandra Shukla, Dr. Nirendra Nath Mustafi,
Prof. V. S. Moholkar, Prof. V. Ganeshan, Dr. Joonsik Hwang, Dr. Biplab Das, Dr.
Veena Chaudhary, Dr. Jai Gopal Gupta, Dr. Chetan Patel, Dr. Sajna Kottupvill, Dr.
Aditi Banerjee, Dr. Swati Tyagi, Dr. Sikandar I. Mulla, Dr. Achlesh Davery, Dr.
Rishi Mahajan, Dr. Swati Sharma and Dr. Arun who reviewed various chapters of
this monograph and provided their valuable suggestions to improve the manuscripts.
The chapters include recent results and more focussed on current trends empha-
sized on the generation of energy, fuels and products of commercial importance
from CO2 using various new methods and techniques. Chapters 1 and 2 described
the fundamentals of carbon capture and importance of healthy and green environ-
ment. Chapters 3 and 4 focused on the geological and soil-based carbon capture
and storage. Chapter 5 described the role of nanomaterials as a potent adsorbent for
CO2 capture, conversion and post-combustion technologies. The biological systems
of CO2 capture have been elaborated in detail in Chap. 6. Chapter 7 highlights the
simultaneous wastewater treatment, CO2 capture and bioenergy generation using
electrochemical approaches. The role of ionic liquids for the CO2 capture and its
absorption has discussed in Chap. 8. Chapter 9 discussed the carbon capture and
smart agriculture techniques. Chapter 10 is a case study that describes the data of
quantification of soil organic carbon in the Lahaul Valley of India. Biochar is one
the organic materials that has been emerged as potent candidate for carbon removal
which is discussed in Chap. 11. Chapter 12 discussed the use of different land sectors
of Western Himalaya. The last two Chaps. 13 and 14 have focused on the generation
of bioenergy and commercial products from CO2 using various new methods and
techniques. Overall, the present book will cover a wide range of topics of carbon
management that are being used to minimize the emission of greenhouse gases and
mitigate the climate change. We hope that the book would be of great interest to
viii Preface

the professionals, post-graduate students involved in chemistry, chemical, biological

engineering and environmental research

Dharamshala, India Deepak Pant

Solan, India Ashok Kumar Nadda
New Delhi, India Kamal Kant Pant
Kanpur, India Avinash Kumar Agarwal
Contents

Part I General
1 Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Deepak Pant, Ashok Kumar Nadda, Kamal Kant Pant,
and Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Part II Carbon Capture as Natural Phenomenon

2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Nishu Khurana, Nikita Goswami, Ranajit Sarmah, and Devanshi
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change
Mitigation Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Riju, Anurag Linda, and H. P. Singh
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement
and Climate Change Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ruma Das, Avijit Ghosh, Shrila Das, Nirmalendu Basak,
Renu Singh, Priyanka, and Ashim Datta

Part III Advance Carbon Management Techniques

5 Post-combustion of Carbon Capture Technologies:
Advancements in Absorbents and Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Ravinder Kumar, Mohammad HosseinAhmadi, Anand Bewoor,
Reza Alayi, Pawan Kumar, and Venkata Manikanta Medisetty
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation . . . . . 99
Vishal Ahuja
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture
for Energy Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Priyanka Verma, Deepshikha Pandey, Usharani Krishnaswamy,
Kasturi Dutta, Achlesh Daverey, and Kusum Arunachalam

ix
x Contents

8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Kailas Wasewar
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture
and Carbon Sequestration: The Challenges and Opportunities . . . . 195
S. Senjam Jinus, Tracila Meinam, Koijam Melanglen,
Minerva Potsangbam, Akoijam Ranjita Devi,
Lucy Nongthombam, Thoudam Bhaigyabati,
Helena D. Shephrou, Kangjam Tilotama, and Dhanaraj Singh Thokchom
10 Quantification of the Soil Organic Carbon and Major
Nutrients Using Geostatistical Approach for Lahaul Valley,
Cold Arid Region of Trans-Himalaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Praveen Kumar, Pardeep Kumar, Munish Sharma,
Nagender Pal Butail, and Arvind Kumar Shukla

Part IV Miscellaneous Techniques

11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating
Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Meera Goswami, Gaurav Pant, Dalip K. Mansotra,
Shivalika Sharma, and P. C. Joshi
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different Land Use Sectors
of Western Himalaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Deepa Rawat, S. P. Sati, Vinod Prasad Khanduri, Manoj Riyal,
and Gaurav Mishra

Part V Value Addition Techniques

13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating
the Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Tanvi Sharma, Reva Bhardwaj, Rupali Bhardwaj, Anand Giri,
Deepak Pant, and Ashok Kumar Nadda
14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide
into Value-Added Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Anand Giri, Suman Chauhan, Tanvi Sharma, Ashok Nadda,
and Deepak Pant
Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Prof. Deepak Pant is currently Dean, School of Earth

and Environmental Sciences, Central University of
Himachal Pradesh, India. He is also Visiting Professor
of Environmental and Chemical Science, Indira Gandhi
Technological and Medical Sciences University, India.
Prof. Pant is the recipient of Silver Jubilee Research
Fellowship award (2003) by Kumaun University, India,
UCOST Young Scientist Award 2009, INSA Visiting
Fellow 2010, DST-SERC Visiting Fellow 2010, DST-
SERC Young Scientist Award 2011 and Visitor Award
2017 by Hon’ble President of India for his research
activities. He was conferred the 8th National Award for
Technology Innovation by the Ministry of Chemicals
and Fertilizers, Government of India. Prof. Pant has 5
patents in the area of waste management by green tech-
niques and has authored 13 books and 50 research papers
in various national and international journals. He has
guided 6 Ph.D. scholars and 150 M.Sc. dissertations.

xi
xii Editors and Contributors

Dr. Ashok Kumar Nadda is Assistant Professor in

the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics,
Jaypee University of Information Technology, India. He
holds expertise in the field of microbial biotechnology,
with research focusing on various issues pertaining to
nano-biocatalysis, microbial enzymes, biomass, bioen-
ergy and climate change. He worked as Postdoctoral
Fellow at State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbi-
ology, Huazhong Agricultural University, China. He also
worked as Brain Pool Researcher/Assistant Professor
at Konkuk University, South Korea. His research inter-
ests lie in microbial enzymes, biocatalysis, CO2 conver-
sion, climate change issues, nanobiotechnology, waste
management, biomass degradation, biofuel synthesis
and bioremediation. He has published 65 research arti-
cles, 25 book chapters and 6 books. He is also a member
of the editorial board and reviewer committee of the
various journals of national and international repute.

Prof. Kamal Kishore Pant is the Federation of Indian

Petroleum Industries (FIPI) Chair Professor in the
Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India. His research interests
involve innovative studies covering both the theoretical
and experimental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis for
hydrocarbon conversion, green technologies for sustain-
able energy and the environment, biomass conversion,
metal recovery from waste and water treatment. His
research work on the development of green and sustain-
able technologies for management of plastic and elec-
tronic waste, coal and agro-waste conversion to chemi-
cals, CO2 capture and conversion to chemicals, crude oil
and natural gas to chemicals and hydrogen production is
duly recognized across the scientific community. He has
over 30 years of academic and industrial research expe-
rience with 150+ publications in peer-reviewed journals
with over 8000 citations numerous book chapters and
several patents. Prof. Pant also holds Adjunct Faculty
position at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and
CRDT, IIT Delhi as well as Honorary Faculty at the
University of Queensland, Australia. Prof. Pant has been
conferred CHEMCON Distinguished Speaker (CDS)
award in 2019, Herdilia Award by Indian Institute of
Chemical Engineers in 2017, and other honors.
Editors and Contributors xiii

Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal joined the Indian

Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India, in 2001,
after working as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Engine
Research Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison,
USA. His interests are IC engines, combustion, alternate
and conventional fuels, lubricating oil tribology, optical
diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, emissions and partic-
ulate control, and large bore engines. Prof. Agarwal
has published 290+ peer-reviewed international journal
and conference papers, 42 edited books and 78 books
chapters and has 10,000+ Scopus and 15,300+ Google
Scholar citations. He is Fellow of SAE (2012), Fellow
of ASME (2013), Fellow of ISEES (2015), Fellow of
INAE (2015), Fellow of NASI (2018), Fellow of Royal
Society of Chemistry (2018) and Fellow of American
Association of Advancement in Science (2020). He
is the recipient of several prestigious awards such
as Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017 in
Engineering and Technology, NASI-Reliance Industries
Platinum Jubilee Award-2012; INAE Silver Jubilee
Young Engineer Award-2012; Dr. C. V. Raman Young
Teachers Award: 2011; SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educa-
tional Award-2008; INSA Young Scientist Award-2007;
UICT Young Scientist Award-2007; INAE Young Engi-
neer Award-2005. Prof. Agarwal received Prestigious
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award-2016 in Engineering
Sciences. For his outstanding contributions, Prof.
Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J C Bose National
Fellowship (2019) by SERB.

Contributors

Avinash Kumar Agarwal Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute

of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Vishal Ahuja Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla,
India
Reza Alayi Department of Mechanics, Germi Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Germi, Iran
Kusum Arunachalam School of Environment and Natural Resources, Doon
University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
xiv Editors and Contributors

Nirmalendu Basak Division of Soil and Crop Management, ICAR-Central Soil

Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India
Anand Bewoor Mechanical Engineering Departments, Cummins College of Engi-
neering for Women, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Thoudam Bhaigyabati Institutional Advanced Level Biotech Hub, Imphal
College, Imphal, Manipur, India
Reva Bhardwaj Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee Univer-
sity of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, India
Rupali Bhardwaj Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee
University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, India
Nagender Pal Butail Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur,
Himachal Pradesh, India
Suman Chauhan Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of
Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, India
Ruma Das Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
Shrila Das Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
Ashim Datta Division of Soil and Crop Management, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity
Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India
Achlesh Daverey School of Environment and Natural Resources, Doon University,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Devanshi University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali,
Punjab, India
Akoijam Ranjita Devi Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science
and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India
Kasturi Dutta Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National
Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India
Avijit Ghosh ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar
Pradesh, India
Anand Giri Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of
Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India
Meera Goswami Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul
Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Nikita Goswami University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University,
Mohali, Punjab, India
Editors and Contributors xv

Mohammad HosseinAhmadi Departmant of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood

University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
P. C. Joshi Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul Kangri
Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Vinod Prasad Khanduri College of Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarak-
hand, India;
VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, India
Nishu Khurana University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University,
Mohali, Punjab, India
Usharani Krishnaswamy Department of Environmental Science, Bioremediation
Technology, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
Pardeep Kumar Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Pawan Kumar Department of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Deen-
bandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, Haryana,
India
Praveen Kumar Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Ravinder Kumar Departmant of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional
University, Phagwara, Punjab, India
Anurag Linda Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of
Himachal Pradesh, Dharamsala, India
Dalip K. Mansotra Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul
Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Venkata Manikanta Medisetty Departmant of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely
Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India
Tracila Meinam Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture, School of
Horticulture, Pandit Deen Dayal, Upadhyay Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Utlou,
Manipur, India
Koijam Melanglen Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture, School of
Horticulture, Pandit Deen Dayal, Upadhyay Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Utlou,
Manipur, India
Gaurav Mishra Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam, India;
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, India
Ashok Nadda Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University
of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, India
xvi Editors and Contributors

Ashok Kumar Nadda Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee

University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, India
Lucy Nongthombam Biswanath College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural
University, Biswanath Chariali, Assam, India
Deepshikha Pandey School of Environment and Natural Resources, Doon Univer-
sity, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Deepak Pant School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of
Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India
Gaurav Pant Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul Kangri
Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Kamal Kant Pant Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Tech-
nology New Delhi, New Delhi, India
Minerva Potsangbam Department of Horticulture, North Eastern Hill University,
Chasingre, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India
Priyanka Division of Soil and Crop Management, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity
Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India
Deepa Rawat College of Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India;
VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, India
Riju Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University Chandigarh, Chandi-
garh, India
Manoj Riyal College of Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India;
VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, India
Ranajit Sarmah University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University,
Mohali, Punjab, India
S. P. Sati College of Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India;
VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, India
S. Senjam Jinus College of Horticulture and Agri-Biotechnology, FEEDS Group
of Institutions, Hengbung, Kangpokpi, Manipur, India
Munish Sharma Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Shivalika Sharma Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul
Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Tanvi Sharma Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee Univer-
sity of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, India
Helena D. Shephrou College of Horticulture and Agri-Biotechnology, FEEDS
Group of Institutions, Hengbung, Kangpokpi, Manipur, India
Editors and Contributors xvii

Arvind Kumar Shukla ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya

Pradesh, India
H. P. Singh Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University Chandigarh,
Chandigarh, India
Renu Singh Centre for Environment Science and Climate Resilient Agriculture,
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
Dhanaraj Singh Thokchom Ethno-Medicinal Research Centre, FEEDS Campus,
Hengbung, Kangpokpi, Manipur, India
Kangjam Tilotama Foundation for Environment and Economic Development
Services, Henbung, Kangpokpi, Manipur, India
Priyanka Verma School of Environment and Natural Resources, Doon University,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Kailas Wasewar Advance Separation and Analytical Laboratory, Department of
Chemical Engineering, Visvesvarya National Institute of Technology (VNIT),
Nagpur, India
 Part I
General
Chapter 1
Advances in Carbon Capture
and Utilization

Deepak Pant, Ashok Kumar Nadda, Kamal Kant Pant,

and Avinash Kumar Agarwal

1.1 Introduction

A combination of enzyme and material which jointly capture and convert the CO2
into methanol plausibly energizes the CO2 utilization (Sharma et al. 2020a). The CO2
to methanol conversion utilizes carbon better than the conventional syngas and the
reaction yields fewer by-products, and the methanol produced can further be used
as a clean-burning fuel, in pharmaceuticals, as a general solvent, etc. The various
aspects of circular economy with present scenario of environment crisis will also
be considered for large-scale sustainable biorefinery of CO2 . In this book, thirteen
chapters have been included which represent the natural, conventional, and artificial
systems for carbon management. The contents of the book have been divided into
four sections.
The natural systems of carbon sequestration have been discussed in detail in the
first section of this book. Since ancient times, fossil fuels are used in huge amount
to meet the energy demands across the world. In India, the emanations from fossils
fuels have developed a lot, but alternative sources are not enough to fulfil the demand.

D. Pant
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh,
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh 176215, India
A. K. Nadda (B)
Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology,
Waknaghat, Solan 173234, India
K. K. Pant
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi, New Delhi
110601, India
A. K. Agarwal
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016,
Uttar Pradesh, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 3
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_1
4 D. Pant et al.

The emissions from fossil fuels are considered as one of the major factors leading
to climate change (Kumar et al. 2019). To limit the pace of emissions of these
harmful gases, various methods and approaches like reduction of energy consump-
tion, switching to alternative fuels, have been reported. This section emphasized on
the carbon capture and storage (CCS) using geological and soil-based methods. The
recent advancement in CCS technology is progressively concerned with ideal design
and functioning of the CCS infrastructure collectively maintaining every strategy
of CCS system throughout a certain range. The attainable quality of CCS tech-
nology would reduce the reliance on sustainable power sources. CCS system also
implies transfer of atmospheric CO2 into other long-lived global pools including
pedologic, oceanic, geological and biotic strata to reduce the net rate of atmospheric
CO2 increase. Since industrialization in the nineteenth century, the CO2 concentra-
tion in the atmosphere has increased and an accord is there where a visible impact
on world’s climate due to mankind is forming. The CO2 emissions from man-made
sources have also been increasing in the same time frames which are known to
produce greenhouse effect. CO2 holds 82% of all the greenhouse gases present in
the atmosphere. There are various techniques where CO2 is injected into geolog-
ical strata, oil wells, deep ocean, old coal mines, and saline aquifers. Furthermore,
the soil is the biggest terrestrial sink of carbon (C) and store nearly three times of the
atmospheric carbon pool and 4.5 times of the biotic carbon pool, and thus, maintains
the global carbon cycle. Therefore, any change in the atmospheric carbon could be
the result in modification of soil carbon. However, the carbon stabilization as well
as subsequent sequestration in soil is greatly affected by different climatic and soil
factors, such as soil type, nature of organics presents in soil, management practices,
diversity of soil microorganism, rainfall, and temperature, etc. The sequestration of
carbon in soil is very crucial to mitigate the effect of climate change by reducing
the greenhouse gases emission and also to improve the soil quality for better crop
productivity in sustainable manner (Roudi et al. 2020).
Among different developed methods, biomineralization and bioinspired storage
systems are not only cost-effective but also efficient in controlling global warming
and CO2 emission. A microbial-enzymatic CCSU system can act as a green source
of energy in form of electricity along with the utilization of wastewater by bacterial
and algal biomass (Sharma and Kumar 2021). Instead of the whole-cell capturing
systems, enzyme-based CO2 capturing systems have also been proved efficient for
various industrial applications.
Researchers are been joining their hands for the improvisation of several carbon
capture materials. In the second section, superior performance of organic blended
physical–chemical solvents is drawing much attention in recent times. Even some
blends attained the optimal performances, advancements in the materials have
not come to an end. Various types of nano-materials, nano-textured surface, and
microwave regeneration techniques are being introduced to bring down the energy
consumption of the setup. Amine technology for the capture of carbon dioxide has
certain drawbacks including cost, energy consumption and by-products formation.
Other methods such as membrane, cryogenic, biologicals are also of interest but not
technically or economically feasible at large or industrial scales. In view of this,
1 Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization 5

ionic liquids (ILs) are the one of the alternatives for the conventional and other
technologies.
Some other methods of simultaneous wastewater treatment and carbon capture
have also been explored in the third section of this book. Conventional wastewater
treatment systems are not environmentally friendly as they significantly contribute
to the CO2 emission, directly as well as indirectly. It has been realized that there is an
urgent need to not only reduce the emission of CO2 but also capture it to counter the
negative impacts of climate change. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has the potential of
carbon capture while treating the wastewater with an additional advantage of direct
electricity production (Verma et al. 2020). On the other hand, algal technology has
the potential to capture and utilize CO2 for the production of algal oil, which can be
utilized for bioenergy production (Kamyab et al. 2019a).
Furthermore, the climate smart agriculture is one of the key tools for carbon
capture which ensures the efficiency in income generation, productivity and food
security; adaptation to climate change and resilience. Although sequestration of
carbon and depletion in emissions of greenhouse gases can happen with various
smart agricultural practices, perhaps there are numerous challenges while making
these pillars of climate smart agriculture into reality. The change in soil carbon pool
can directly influence the climatic conditions of any area due to its capability to store
carbon twice as much of the atmosphere. The soil is one of the principle components
for capturing terrestrial carbon, so the spatial distribution map developed along with
the major nutrients from the study will provide an input for agricultural land eval-
uation for selecting appropriate land use plans for healthy carbon budgeting in the
area (Kamyab et al. 2019b).
The biological carbon cycles are not sufficient enough to switch the billions of
metric tons of CO2 emission while the biochar (a recalcitrant organic charcoal mate-
rial produced from pyrolysis of biomass under limited oxygen conditions) emerging
as a considerable tool for long-term sink of carbon. Biochar has many other advan-
tages of increasing the water absorption and water holding capacity of the soil which
aids to increase the fertility. The charcoal produced by incomplete burning due to
the limitation of oxygen in this system captures much more natural carbon from the
biomaterial. Along with the ability to lock up additional carbon, biochar can also store
CO2 in sink for thousands of years, displaces the fossil fuel use and also reduces the
release of nitrous oxide (N2 O) and methane, thereby reduces the greenhouse gas emis-
sion from the atmosphere and helps in mitigating the impacts of climate change. The
Western Himalayan regions are characterized by marked climatic conditions, vari-
ations in topography, soil-texture, and land-use practices. In the present scenario,
the fragile landscapes of the Himalayan region are facing an ongoing concern about
current and potential climate change impacts. Carbon stocks in vegetation types of
western Himalayas have immense ecological significance, vital for the regional and
global carbon reserves. Among the vegetation types, forests, pasture, agricultural
fields, and orchards dominate in this region. The increasing human interventions,
land management practices and natural ecosystem processes are the potential sources
of GHGs emission in the atmosphere. Deforestation and other changes in land use
cause significant exchanges of CO2 between the land and the atmosphere. The carbon
6 D. Pant et al.

stock storage and climate change mitigation cannot be easily achieved in the high-
altitude Himalayan regions, because of the type of land use available, cold climate,
and the land holding capacity of the people (Sharma et al. 2020b). The sustain-
able management regimes for these land uses can increase their potential to act as a
sink for long-term carbon storage along with providing livelihood opportunities and
vulnerability of natural resources to climate change can be reduced through adop-
tion of these management practices. Anthropogenic CO2 discharges are viewed as the
significant patron of ozone-depleting substance outflows around the world. Conver-
sion of CO2 into fuels or energy-rich compounds is very beneficial as it is cheaper
to produce, less inflammable, can be produced from biomass and is discussed in the
last section. Also, it is advantageous to many automobiles, power plants, and other
industries like pharmaceuticals, fine chemical, and food production units. Methanol
is gaining popularity as an alternative to petroleum-based fuels and is beneficial
for a safer and cleaner environment. The enzymatic method for CO2 conversion has
attracted much attention due to its improved selectivity and yields under mild reaction
conditions. CO2 can be reduced through different methods like physical, chemical,
electrochemical, photochemical and biological or enzymatic methods. Among these
potential approaches, biological or enzymatic methods offer viable, effective, green
and potent alternative of CO2 conversion into value-added products because of high
stereo specificity and region/chemo-selectivity of enzyme.
The development in global carbon management strategies becomes the mandate
of all educational and research bodies. In fact, the public awareness and inclusion of
climate change topics at elementary education is also equally important. We should
focus on the techniques and methods to minimize the emission of excessive green-
house gases. Alternatively, more green and sustainable methods should be developed
to generate the energy for transport and industrial applications. The protection and
conservation of natural ecosystem forest, lakes, rivers, wild fauna and flora should
be increased to elevate the biotic carbon level and minimize the atmospheric release.
Thus, in this monograph various developmental strategies for carbon management in
our ecosystem have been highlighted in respective chapters. Specific topics covered
in the monograph include:
• Carbon capture: Innovation for a green environment
• Geological carbon capture and storage as a climate-change mitigation technology
• Soil carbon sequestration for soil quality improvement and climate change
mitigation
• Post-combustion of carbon capture technologies: Advancements in absorbents
and nano-particles
• Carbon biocapturing system for environment conservation
• Simultaneous wastewater treatment and carbon capture for energy production
• Carbon dioxide capture by ionic liquids
• The climate smart agriculture for carbon capture and carbon sequestration: The
challenges, risks and opportunities
• Quantification of the soil organic carbon and major nutrients using geostatistical
approach for Lahaul valley, cold arid region of Trans-Himalaya
1 Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization 7

• Biochar: A carbon negative technology for combating climate change

• Carbon sequestration potential of different land use sectors of Western Himalaya
• Progresses in bioenergy generation from CO2 : Mitigating the climate change
• Recent advances in enzymatic conversion of carbon dioxide into value-added
product.
The topics are organized in four different sections: (i) carbon capture as natural
phenomenon; (ii) advance carbon management techniques; (iii) miscellaneous
techniques, and; (iv) value addition techniques.

References

Kamyab H, Chelliapan S, Kumar A, Rezania S, Talaiekhozani A, Khademi T et al (2019b)

Microalgal biotechnology application towards environmental sustainability. In: Gupta SK, Bux
F (eds) Application of microalgae in wastewater treatment: volume 2: biorefinery approaches of
wastewater treatment. Springer, Cham, pp 445–65
Kamyab H, Chelliapan S, Lee CT, Khademi T, Nadda A, Yadav KK et al (2019a) Improved produc-
tion of lipid contents by cultivating Chlorella pyrenoidosa in heterogeneous organic substrates.
Clean Technol Environ Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-019-01743-8
Kumar A, Sharma T, Mulla SI, Kamyab H, Pant D, Sharma S (2019) Let’s protect our earth:
environmental challenges and implications. In: Kumar A, Sharma S (eds) Microbes and enzymes
in soil health and bioremediation. Springer, Singapore, pp 1–10
Roudi AM, Kamyab H, Chelliapan S, Ashokkumar V, Kumar A, Yadav KK et al (2020) Application
of response surface method for total organic carbon reduction in leachate treatment using Fenton
process. Environ Technol Innov 19:101009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.101009
Sharma T, Kumar A (2021) Efficient reduction of CO2 using a novel carbonic anhydrase producing
Corynebacterium flavescens. Environ Eng Res 26(3):200191. https://doi.org/10.4491/eer.202
0.191
Sharma T, Sharma S, Kamyab H, Kumar A (2020a) Energizing the CO2 utilization by chemo-
enzymatic approaches and potentiality of carbonic anhydrases: a review. J Clean Prod 247:119138.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119138
Sharma T, Sharma A, Sharma S, Giri A, Pant D, Kumar A (2020b) Recent developments in CO2
capture and conversion technologies. In: Kumar A, Sharma S (eds) Chemo-biological systems
for CO2 utilization. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1201/978042931
7187-1
Verma P, Arunachalam K, Kumar A, Davery A (2020) Microbial fuel cell – a sustainable approach
for simultaneous wastewater treatment and energy recovery. J Water Process Eng 101768. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j/jwpe.2020.101768
 Part II
Carbon Capture as Natural Phenomenon
Chapter 2
Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green
Environment

Nishu Khurana, Nikita Goswami, Ranajit Sarmah, and Devanshi

2.1 Introduction

The moment after sunlight enters into the earth’s atmosphere, more than half of its
actual amount is confined in its envelope and is absorbed by the geosphere, and the
remaining proportion is reflected in space. Eventually, the globe warms up because
of the absorbed radiations. Thermal emissions and ultraviolet rays radiate this solar
energy that results in cooling up the earth’s atmosphere as it propagates straight
out into the space. Although, a minimum amount of those expelled emissions is
re-assimilated in the earth’s atmosphere by certain gases known as the greenhouse
gases which includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons,
carbon monoxide, etc., and is emitted down on the earth itself (Umair 2015). As the
earth emits most of its energy in the infrared spectrum of 10 µm wavelength of the
electromagnetic spectrum, it makes CO2 opaque under this range of the spectrum.
This opaqueness further reduces the volume of heat eliminated, contributing to global
warming (Newell 1971; Hileman 1989).
The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the earth’s atmosphere or
surrounding is the major reason for greenhouse effect and global warming, which
are ultimately deteriorating earth’s health at a higher rate via climate change, sea-
level rise and other major environmental changes (Lallanilla 2015a). Due to the
increased production of these gases, less heat escapes the planet causing an increase
in global warming (Umair 2015). Different sectors are responsible for such an over-
production of these greenhouse gases, which includes fossil fuel incineration, indus-
trial processes, agricultural by-products (crop residue burning) and transportation
fuel, producing pollutants to the air (Lallanilla 2015b; Bhuvaneshwari et al. 2019).
Various studies have suggested that the CO2 gas signifies major role, i.e. 63% as

N. Khurana (B) · N. Goswami · R. Sarmah · Devanshi

University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 11
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_2
12 N. Khurana et al.

compared to the other GHGs, which is why it needs to be standardized to prevent

the mother nature (Zhang and Da 2015; Parry et al. 2007). This CO2 can be gener-
ated by natural as well as artificial activities, such as volcanic eruption, the decay of
organic materials and numerous anthropogenic deeds (Giri and Pant 2018; Pant et al.
2017; Winter et al. 2019). As the warming trend of the past 100 years has increased
up to twice in the present 50 years, it clearly depicts that there is an increase of
CO2 level in the atmosphere (Yu et al. 2008). The increasing CO2 level is not only
affecting the aquatic ecosystem but also the terrestrial ecosystem, raising the major
concern to stop or control this issue before we reach a point where it becomes
impossible to curb the damage caused by these emissions (MacDonald 1982). In
account to prevent the massive CO2 production, countries, like India using its action
plan, have contributed in diminishing the number of environmental changes through
various power generation programs, green energy generation initiatives and sustain-
able technologies (Bhuvaneshwari et al. 2019). India, being a part of 24 developing
countries, is carrying out research in the field of carbon capture and storage with the
help of some research institutes majorly from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi
(Sood and Vyas 2017; Gupta and Paul 2019). Switching to alternative or renewable
energy resources like biomass, hydro, wind and solar systems, etc., can really help in
improving earth’s condition and is a promising technology that would not disturb the
ecological balance of the earth in the coming years (Umair 2015). However, shifting
to these techniques may not be possible completely due to the dependence of indus-
tries on classical tools for energy production (Baena-Moreno et al. 2019). Therefore,
some more sustainable methods can be used to reduce the level of CO2 such as
carbon fixation technique used in pharmaceutical drugs, construction material, fuel
formation and few inorganic applications of CO2 (Yu et al. 2008; Winter et al. 2019).
Similarly, the capturing of carbon produced at the site of initiation and saving it
somewhere away from the atmosphere for future use can resolve the issues associ-
ated with carbon emissions. This process of capturing, compressing, transporting,
storing and utilizing when needed is gaining attractions worldwide (Orr 2009). The
raised CO2 emissions led us to the main aim of this communication that is carbon
capture, its utilization, advantages and disadvantages, its current status and practical
applications.
As India is one of the dominant emitters of carbon alongside China, USA, Russia,
Europe and Japan (Melillo et al. 2017), much of its investments are going on in
activities like CO2 capture, utilization and storage. For example, carbon capture for
fertilizer production having recycling quality is utilized in India (Gupta and Paul
2019). The proper use of capturing and storing approach will help in scaling the
carbon out for better environmental fortune (Mishra et al. 2019).
The carbon capture method includes different routes like chemical adsorption,
membrane technology, cryogenic separation, etc., that has great advantages such
as low waste production, thermal as well as environmental stability and separation-
capture efficiency (Li et al. 2008; Hunt et al. 2010; Pires et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2011;
Lam et al. 2012). Along with it, certain combustion techniques for the capture of
CO2 like post-combustion, pre-combustion, oxy-fuel combustion help in separation
of CO2 from other elements (Orr 2009). The storage of the captured carbon may have
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 13

the proficiency to rejuvenate depleted oil and increase stacking strength under bare
grounds, etc. (Kovscek and Cakici 2005; White et al. 2013; De Silva et al. 2015).
This storage mechanism for retention of CO2 like capillary trapping, dissolution,
adsorption and mineralisation is safe if deployed with the proper surface as well as
pressure monitoring techniques (Orr 2009).
The current gap of carbon capture, utilization and storage with already developed
techniques can be filled by research and development of new crop strains that maxi-
mize the carbon absorption. The field of research can also be widened by acquiring
the knowledge based on the location of a specific site and physio-chemical process
through the development of techniques that will reveal stored volume of CO2 and
locate the source of emission/storage (Goel 2012).

2.2 Carbon Capture (CC) Routes

Carbon capture (CC) technology is a very promising and developing technology

that is trying to solve the major issue of the environment by capturing CO2 . This
technology has several routes to capture CO2 from the ambient atmospheres.

2.2.1 Absorption

In the process of absorption, a sorbent is employed that helps in separating or isolating

the CO2 from the flue gas. The sorbent used (liquid or solid) can also be restored
through a stripping or regenerative methodology by warming and/or decompressing.
This method is believed to be the most developed process for CO2 separation (Bhown
and Freeman 2011). There is a major energy saving in case of solid sorbents because
they do not require water in huge amount to warm and then cool continuously
to restore the solvent solution (Figueroa et al. 2008). This solid sorbent research
aims to diminish the expense of CO2 capture by structuring tough sorbents with
productive materials dealing with plans, expand the limit of CO2 holding ability,
lowering the restoration energy condition, quicker response rates and least weight
drops (Folger 2013). An absorbent should possess high reactivity and absorptivity
for CO2 capture, low vapour pressure, simple restoration, high thermal and chemical
reduction durability, low ecological effect (green) and affordable (Sreenivasulu et al.
2015).
For the process of CO2 capture through solvents, the standard sorbents used
are monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) and potassium carbonate
(Hendriks 1995). MEA has the ability to remove high fraction of CO2 due to quick
response rate with acid gases such as CO2 , even when the concentration of CO2 in
flue gas streams is low. (Folger 2013). Monoethanolamine (MEA) is an amine-based
separation where different types of amine solvents can be used such as simple alka-
nolamines, primary, secondary, tertiary, hindered amines, mildly hindered primary,
14 N. Khurana et al.

moderately hindered and cyclic diamines that are relevant for low-CO2 partial pres-
sure streams and give a high restoration rate up to 98% as well as 99% of the purity
of the finished product (Miller 2010). Amines have been effective since the 1930s
to generate food-grade CO2 from gas streams with somewhere in the range of 3 and
25% CO2 (Breeze 2015). Immobilized amines and CO2 may exhibit similar reac-
tions to liquid amines in the classic process of absorption (Saha et al. 1995) with the
additional benefit that solids can be handled easily, and there is no issue of corrosion
caused by the movement and spreading of very basic solutions (Veawab et al. 1999).
In the recent years, the other sorbents that have gained attention and are used in
the absorption process are anion-functionalized and piperazine ionic fluid (Gurkan
et al. 2010). It has been seen that piperazine reacts a lot faster than MEA, but it is
not the most preferred solvent because of its high cost due to its larger volatility
than MEA. It is still under progress to be more cost effective (Bougie and Iliuta
2011). Sorbents are being used in different processes such as in natural gas (sweet-
ening), gasification of coal, syngas production, petroleum refining and production of
hydrogen (Sreenivasulu et al. 2015).
A substitute to MEA is an ammonia-based solvent from which it is possibly
simpler to discharge carbon dioxide once it has been caught (Breeze 2015). Aqueous
ammonia has been utilized as a solvent because of its high CC efficiency along with
high retention limit, low recovery costs, simple accessibility, capacity to evacuate
SO2 , NOx alongside CO2 at the same time and the value-added salts that could be
utilized as manures (Yeh and Bai 1999; Choi et al. 2009; Abass and Olajire 2010;
Pellegrini et al. 2010; Puxty et al. 2010; Gouedard et al. 2012; Zhao et al. 2012).
Ammonia-based systems are gaining its attention towards separation of CO2 because
ammonia is cheap and practically could function with a portion of the energy price
of amines. Added to it, the volatility of ammonia is also greater than MEA, and thus
it can be discharged efficiently into the flue gas stream in the time of the absorption
step (Folger 2013). In ammonia-based separation process, CO2 from the flue gas is
being captivated by reacting CO2 with ammonium carbonate and hence ammonium
bicarbonate is formed in the absorber column (Miller 2010). A crystalline product is
formed in the absorber as the ammonium bicarbonate partially precipitates out. As
such, the absorption process is accelerated, and the CO2 concentration is augmented
(Kather et al. 2008).
Among the other systems, alkali carbonate-based systems are also being studied
for CO2 capture. Carbonate systems depend on the capacity of a soluble carbonate
to undergo reactions with CO2 in order to form a bicarbonate, which when heated
discharges CO2 and inverses back to a carbonate. At the present time, this technique
is not widely used and more advancements and research are going on to remove CO2
from flue gas using carbonate (Miller 2010). The routes are listed in Fig. 2.1.
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 15

Fig. 2.1 Different routes of carbon capture (CC) technology (Nanda et al. 2016)

2.2.2 Adsorption

Adsorption is also a different method for CO2 separation and capture. A high pressure
is applied in the system where CO2 particularly gets adsorbed on the surface of
a solid adsorbent, and then the pressure is gradually shifted to low pressure, i.e.
atmospheric pressure to desorb the adsorbent and thus CO2 is discharged for the next
step of the process, i.e. transport (Leung et al. 2014). The process involves the use of
sorbents, and to make this technology efficacious and cheap, sorbents should have
different properties such as quick adsorption and desorption flow, high selectivity,
high working limit, chemical stability and recycling ability (Wilcox et al. 2014). A
significant advantage of adsorption is that adsorbent redevelopment can be done very
easily by pressure or thermal adjustment and post-combustion CO2 capture can be
done with reduced energy consumption (Songolzadeh et al. 2012).
An adsorption process can be done by two different methods, i.e. by physisorption
which is done physically involving weak van der Waals forces and chemisorption
which is done chemically involving covalent bonding or electrostatic attraction (Ben-
Mansour et al. 2015). In comparison with physisorbents, chemisorbents display high
isosteric heats of adsorption with predominant selectivity. Added to it, high CO2
adsorption measure can be achieved at reasonably lower CO2 partial pressures. This
can be done by the introduction of basic pore–surface performance to react with
acidic CO2 (Wilcox et al. 2014). Considering physical sorbents and inorganic porous
materials (e.g. carbonaceous materials and zeolites, respectively), lesser energy is
required as compared to chemical sorbents reason being no new bond formation
occurs between the sorbate and sorbent. Thus, the energy requirement is very less
for CO2 regeneration (Ben-Mansour et al. 2015). Some of the common physical
adsorbents are carbon nanotubes (CNTs), hydrotalcites, activated carbon, zeolite,
coal, etc. Activated carbon has great adsorption measure for CO2 , the property of
repelling water is high, cheap, and energy requirement for restoration is very low and
is unaffected by moisture (Ben-Mansour et al. 2015). Zeolites have an advantage of
higher selectivity, but their efficacy is affected in the existence of water and shows
lower CO2 loading (Li et al. 2011a, b). The principle properties of the adsorbent
16 N. Khurana et al.

influencing CO2 capture by adsorption were tentatively explored by comparing 17

different types of activated carbon based on their different pore size dispersion and
thickness of the adsorbent at a designated pressure (Marco-Lozar et al. 2014).
As of now, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are being used in the field of CO2 capture
technologies because of their high thermal and electrical conductivity, encouraging
physical and chemical properties and their ability to alter their surfaces by adding a
chemical functional group (chemical process), resulting in high adsorption storage
volume (Iijima 1991; Ebbesen and Ajayan 1992; Kiang et al. 1995; Thess et al.
1996; Journet and Bernier 1998; Jung et al. 2003; Srivastava et al. 2003; Harris
1999; Abuilaiwi et al. 2010). In recent times, it has been experimented that amine
modified TiO2 nanotubes and TEPA modified metal–organic frameworks (Mg-MOF-
74) show the highest adsorption volume along with satisfactory cyclic constancy (Su
et al. 2014; Cao et al. 2013).
Relying upon the regeneration approaches, a few adsorption procedures can be
adopted for CO2 separation such as temperature swing adsorption (TSA), vacuum
and pressure swing adsorption (VSA and PSA), electric swing adsorption (ESA),
purge displacement and simulated moving bed (SMB) (Li et al. 2011a). Adsorp-
tion selectivity and CO2 function capacity are the two major components affected
in PSA system (Krishna and van Baten 2012). The adsorption step in PSA is oper-
ated at very high pressure, whereas in VSA, it is done at atmospheric pressure or
lowers (Chue et al. 1995; Krishna 2012). In temperature swing system (TSA), hot
gas or steam is used in the adsorption bed. After the heating is done, regeneration
process is started followed by cooling of the bed using cold gas steam prior to the
next adsorption step (Clausse et al. 2004; Mason et al. 2011). Among the two tech-
niques, PSA is considered to be better than VSA (Clausse et al. 2004) because of its
low-energy requirement, cheap and easy to handle with variety of applications with
temperature and pressure (Ben-Mansour et al. 2015). It has been experimented that
a huge improvement in the CO2 adsorption capacity can be achieved by the PSA
process using MCM-41 material which was saturated with polyethyleneimine (Xu
et al. 2005).
Different materials are being studied to check their ability for CO2 adsorption. The
microporous and mesoporous solid adsorbents have also displayed a great prospec-
tive for CO2 capture in a broad way (Sreenivasulu et al. 2015). A support with
immobilization of amine such as poly (methyl methacrylate) has displayed great
adsorption capacities (Lee et al. 2008). Apart from these methods, fixed bed (single
or multiple columns), normal, bubbling and ultra-sound-assisted fluidized beds and
moving bed contactors are also being used in different ways because they are very
easy to operate and plan. It is seen that adsorption capacity declines with temper-
ature (Sreenivasulu et al. 2015). Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are also being
experimented to check their ability for CO2 adsorption and gas separation (Li et al.
2011b).
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 17

2.2.3 Membrane

Membranes are permeable materials that can be utilized to specifically separate CO2
from different segments of a gas stream (Folger 2013). It utilizes porous or semi-
porous materials that take into account the particular separation and transport of CO2
from flue gas (Miller 2010). Membrane technology provides the prospect of changing
energy-inefficient division approaches that are limited thermodynamically (Luis et al.
2012). Membrane-based technology exhibits better performance compared to other
systems, and the inherent issues of CO2 capture in association with pre-combustion
and post-combustion are overpowered to meet the desired mechanism (Criscuoli and
Driol 2007; Drioli and Curcio 2007; Van Gerven and Stankiewicz 2009).
A membrane should possess different properties in order to be used for CO2
capture. This includes resistance to heat and chemicals, resistance to ageing, cheap,
selectivity to high CO2 and N2 , permeable to CO2 , resistance to plasticisation and the
capability to be constructed into distinctive membrane modules (Powell and Qiao
2006). Along with it, permeability and pore size of the membrane are also to be
considered because higher membrane permeability gives higher-quality production
(Khaisri et al. 2009; Ismail and Mansourizadeh 2010; Mansourizadeh et al. 2010;
Zhang et al. 2010) and porosity of the membrane also exhibits the quantity of the
substance that can be moved for particular pressure variation (Zhao et al. 2010).
Membrane-based technology is an appealing preference for CO2 separation due to
the very smaller molecular size of the membrane compared to other gases (Ebner
and Ritter 2009).
Comparing with other separation techniques for CO2 capture, membranes have
shown different advantages such as membranes are cheap, and there is no requirement
of regeneration, which makes the heat-exchange systems more simpler, solvents are
not required for the process, making them more eco-friendly, requires less set-up
space and shows great efficacy in separation techniques (Wilcox et al. 2014).
Membrane-based technology uses different materials for the separation process.
Polyimides, a class of polymer, is considered to have exquisite thermal and chem-
ical durability along with extensive range of CO2 porosity, good assembly variations
and efficiency in membrane development (Powell and Qiao 2006). An immobilized
liquid, i.e. poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer is considered to show extraor-
dinary CO2 and N2 selectivity at normal atmospheric pressure (Kovvali et al. 2000;
Kovvali and Sirkar 2001).
In recent times, hybrid membranes or mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are
being used in membrane technology. It is developed by mixing two different materials
with distinctive properties. And these MMMs are further divided into three other
classes based on the material filled, i.e. solid, liquid and solid–liquid (Liu et al.
2008). Facilitated transport membrane is also a different variety of membrane which
is associated with movement of gas molecules with the help of membrane through
reversible reaction and is used in membrane technology (Míguez et al. 2018). Added
to these membranes, carbon molecular sieves membranes are also gaining attention
due to its appealing performance in CO2 separation approaches (Brunetti et al. 2010).
18 N. Khurana et al.

Membranes being the most preferred material or method for CO2 separation, they
are also used in cases where absorption process could not be carried out with conven-
tional absorbers. As such ceramic membranes are used in those cases (Sreenivasulu
et al. 2015). Membrane-based absorption uses amine solutions as solvents because
the selectivity is confirmed and the capacity is not restricted by the equilibrium
(Luis et al. 2012). Other than this method, gas absorption membranes are exten-
sively studied due their applications. In this method, CO2 -laden flue gases reach one
side of the membrane and a fluid solvent (amine-based solvent) contacts the opposite
side (Folger 2013). Most of the research and patents being carried out in the field of
membrane technology are polymeric membranes, silica, metal oxides and ceramic
membranes (Quintella et al. 2011).

2.2.4 Chemical Looping

The concept of chemical-looping combustion (CLC) was first proposed by Lewis

and Gilliland in 1950s. They also gave the idea of copper oxide reacting with syngas
producing CO2 (Lewis and Gilliland 1954).
Chemical looping is a very productive clean technology that has been created for
CO2 capture where flue gas is reduced by CO2 dilution. This process consists of a
cyclic method (two steps) where flue gas such as solid/liquid/gas is burnt in the exis-
tence of metal oxides that act as oxygen bearer within the fuel reactor (FR) (Sreeni-
vasulu et al. 2015). The metals such as iron, copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese
act as oxygen bearers in the system where natural gas is used as fuel (Mattisson
and Lyngfelt 2001). Preferably, any oxygen carrier should be fast and show stable
reaction kinetics so that the redox reaction is completed to allow passage of materials
in high reactor and downstream gas separation can be avoided (Najera et al. 2011).
The performance of the metal oxides can be improved with the help of support inert
materials depending upon the type of the metal oxide used in the process (Adánez
et al. 2004). Selection of metal oxides that are thermodynamically convenient and
the reactor design play a very critical role for efficient functioning of the process
(Lee et al. 2006; Adanez et al. 2012).
The CLC system is made out of two reactors, i.e. an air and a fuel reactor
(Johansson et al. 2006). The process begins as the metal is oxidized in one of the
reactor (first) followed by reduction as it comes in contact with a fuel in the other
reactor (second). The liquid waste that comes out of the other reactor (second) is
considered as the pure mixture of CO2 and steam as well as the condensation of the
steam at high pressure, sequestration, prepared CO2 steam is achieved in the process
(Ishida and Jin 1994). The major advantage of using CLC technique is because of
its flameless nature, less NOx development even at low temperature and separation
of CO2 by the condensation of water can also be done using very minimal energy
consumption (Dennis 2009; Solunke and Veser 2011; Chiu and Ku 2012). During
the previous two decades, fundamental advancements in chemical-looping combus-
tion have occurred regarding oxygen carriers, fuels and reactor designs (Richter
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 19

and Knoche 1983; Lewis and Gilliland 1954; Ishida and Jin 1994; Jin et al. 1998;
Fan et al. 2008). Despite being so efficient technology, it has several challenges to
overcome from diverse factors that include selection of materials that possesses high
oxygen capacity, strong restoration ability and fast reactivity. Along with it, designing
improved reactor that has high efficacy, commercially practical and compatible with
different industries as well as very low failure risks which are certain challenges
faced by CLC system (Zhao 2012).
An alternative to chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is chemical-looping dry
reforming (CLDR). In this process, air or steam is not utilized but CO2 is used as
an oxidant (Najera et al. 2011). Dry reforming method is one of the more settled
pathways for CO2 use. An experiment carried out with methane and CO2 at higher
temperatures (>700 °C) in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel or a noble metal
for producing syngas gives maximum H2 or CO ratio of 1. This process was a typical
methane dry reforming method (Vernon et al. 1992; Fan et al. 2009) which shows that
dry reforming method can also be used for CO2 separation. The major fundamental
advantage of chemical-looping dry reform method is its flexibility, i.e. CO2 reduction
and fuel oxidation steps can be separated into half reactions leading to fuel flexible.
This provides us with the advantage that it can be employed with fossil and renewable
fuels and also in diluting CO2 as well as other streams. Thus, chemical-looping dry
reform method can also be considered or hypothesized that focuses on diluting CO2
streams (Najera et al. 2011).

2.3 Direct Capture from Air

The concentration of CO2 has gradually risen up to 400 ppm from 270 pm prior
industrial time (Eisenberger et al. 2009). To cope up this issue, CO2 released from
different industries is directly captured (removed) from the atmosphere and stored
in a different locations (Okesola et al. 2018). In contrast to different CCS innova-
tions, direct air capture (DAC) works differently and is not designed to capture a
specific gas stream (Chen and Tavoni 2013). In fact, it can also be compared to
sunlight-based photovoltaics, wind energy, aspiring environmental change allevia-
tion, batteries and electrolysers (Breyer et al. 2019). The CO2 captured from the air
can also be converted into a chemical yield but the marketable quantity will not be
disturbing the environment (Bhown and Freeman 2011).
Materials or methods to be used for CO2 capture play a vital role in the process. In
order to perform direct air capture at a large scale, materials should possess mainly
two different properties or capabilities such as the working capacity of the materials
must be high as well as the regeneration energies must be low. These two properties
measure values totally in divergent directions (Sculley and Zhou 2012).
Initially, an aqueous solution of NaOH was used for the air capture method
(Lackner 2003; Keith et al. 2006). But later on, another approach was developed
to capture air with the use of solid sorbents (Lackner 2009). Materials like solid
sorbents are considered to operate in minimal cost and minimal energy along with
20 N. Khurana et al.

applications in broad range of scales (Keith et al. 2018). Physical sorbents such as
activated carbons, zeolites and metal–organic frameworks (MOF) show weak binding
capacity with CO2 , low absorption capacity and low selectivity of CO2 from the air
(Bollini et al. 2011). As compared to physical sorbents, chemical sorbents which are
immobilized with amines involving support from materials like cellulose (Gebald
et al. 2011; Sehaqui et al. 2015), Al2 O3 (Sakwa-Novak et al. 2016; Potter et al.
2017), SiO2 (Belmabkhout et al. 2010; Serna-Guerrero et al. 2010) are considered to
show great endurance to atmospheric moisture (Serna-Guerrero et al. 2008), stability
(Sayari and Belmabkhou 2010) and have good CO2 selectivity (Belmabkhout et al.
2010) to carry out DAC method (Jones 2011; Didas et al. 2015). Further, permeable
metal–organic materials (MOMs) (Perry et al. 2009) and hybrid ultra-microporous
materials (HUMs) (Mohamed et al. 2012, 2013; Nugent et al. 2013; Shekhah et al.
2014, 2015; Scott et al. 2015) are newly found materials that show various eligible
properties such as storage of gas (Sumida et al. 2012; Suh et al. 2012; He et al. 2014),
separation of small molecules (Cychosz et al. 2010; Li et al. 2012; Qiu et al. 2014;
Van de Voorde et al. 2014) and purification of gas (Barea et al. 2014) to function in
direct air capture method in the form of physisorbents (Kumar et al. 2015).
Various studies and research have put forward some major techniques for direct air
capture such as carbonation (Nikulshina et al. 2016), hybrid sorbents of organic–inor-
ganic amines sustained in permeable adsorbents (Okesola et al. 2018), etc. Amine-
based adsorbents are found to be applicable for this process because amines have
good selectivity with atmospheric CO2 even at normal temperature and pressure.
Consequently, pure CO2 can also be obtained when heated to 100 °C (Choi et al.
2011). Added to it, capturing high concentration CO2 from the air is possible with
the use of amine fibre sorbents. This experiment is demonstrated by vacuum-assisted
desorption studies (Sujan et al. 2019). Another system or technique of capturing
CO2 directly from the air at low temperature and at reasonable cost is by using
temperature swing adsorption (TSA) method, which is considered to be the most
appropriate adsorbent that shows maximum fulfilment (Okesola et al. 2018). This
direct CO2 capturing method works more efficiently with a low volatility polymer,
i.e. polyethylenimine or PEI (Lively and Realff 2016).
It is very clear that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) from
the air can be minimized with use of direct air capture (DAC) technique by using
various materials such as sorbents. This method will be more beneficial if the captured
CO2 is properly stored in specific location for long term so that it is available to us
for future use. More research and experimental studies are required to carry out in
this field (Sanz-Perez et al. 2016).

2.3.1 Hybrid Capture Technology

To enhance the CO2 capture performance, a different type of approach, i.e. hybrid
capture, is used which combines two different methods of separation, e.g. a very
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 21

productive method for CO2 capture is by combining membrane and cryogenic sepa-
ration methods in post-combustion step to form a hybrid technology. In this process,
CO2 pre-concentration of the beginning step is combined with a membrane process
and then CO2 concentration as well as compression of the next step is combined with
the cryogenic process, thus forming a hybrid process (Belaissaoui et al. 2012). Added
to it, different experiments were carried out with respect to hybrid capture technology
for CO2 capture by combining oxygen-enriched air combustion and membrane tech-
nology which was performed on dry flue gas. The results obtained from the fusion of
oxygen combustion and post-combustion capture were very interesting, and in order
to analyse the whole process, the utmost thing to do is to distinguish the linkage of
oxygen mole fraction on the feed side with CO2 mole fraction of the dry flue gas
present in the downstream area (Favre et al. 2009).
Thus, the hybrid technology is a very promising technology that needs to be
explored more to be very productive in the field of fossil fuels and natural gas as well
as to know its capabilities of using this technique with different methods and areas.
Two different methods combined for a single operation can really be an advantage
to the whole process, and it would be beneficial in different aspects also.

2.3.2 Methods of Carbon Capture

Emission of CO2 is generally through oil refineries, fossil fuel power plants and
production of biogas, ethylene oxide, cement, iron and steel industry. As the sources
for CO2 emission are diverse, therefore, only one technology would not be feasible
for capturing CO2 emitted from different sources. The options for capturing CO2 are
broadly classified as follows: pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture and
oxy-fuel combustion (Leung et al. 2014).

2.3.2.1 Pre-combustion Capture

It is the technologies in which natural gas or syngas is used and solid waste is
converted into gaseous fuel, i.e. hydrogen and carbon monoxide at high pressure
and heat in the presence of oxygen and steam. The syngas thus produced is used
as a fuel to generate electricity. The capture of carbon is done before the syngas is
combusted in the gas turbine. For increasing the hydrogen production and to facilitate
carbon capture, the syngas is passed through water gas shift reaction to produce more
hydrogen and for converting carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.
For the conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, pre-combustion capture
emphasizes advanced solvents, membrane systems and solid sorbents under high
temperature and pressure.
In a solvent-based system, the CO2 is chemically or physically adsorbed into a
liquid carrier and the adsorbed liquid is regenerated by increasing the temperature or
reducing the pressure to break the CO2 and the adsorbent bond. The sorbent-based
22 N. Khurana et al.

system is still under development (Theo et al. 2016), and the major aim of this tech-
nology is to maintain high adsorption loading and show resistance to multiple regen-
eration cycles and to develop a system which removes the need of reheating of syngas.
For membrane systems, organic and porous membranes are being developed having
high CO2 selectivity and uptake (Khaisri et al. 2009; Ismail and Mansourizadeh
2010; Mansourizadeh et al. 2010; Zhang et al. 2012).

2.3.2.2 Post-Combustion Capture

The efficiency of capturing CO2 depends on the concentration of carbon dioxide

within the flue gases of a power plant. Post-combustion capture involves removal
of CO2 from flue gases emitted from power plants and other sources. In a distinc-
tive coal-fired boiler, the concentration ranges between 12 and 14% of the flue gas by
volume. At this concentration, the most efficient way of entrapping carbon dioxide is
to use a reagent that chemically bonds with the gas containing carbon. The chemical
solvent eliminates a large portion of CO2 as the bond between the absorbent and the
gas is strong, releasing the gas again is a tedious task. In situations where the carbon
dioxide is in much higher concentration, it is possible to employ a physical solvent
into which the carbon dioxide simply dissolves. Post-combustion capture can be
considered as an extension for the treatment of flue gas for removal of SOx and NOx .
Although many methods have been deployed for the post-combustion capture but
chemical absorption is the most widely used technology (Gruenewald and Radnjanski
2016). In this, reagents capable of capturing CO2 are used (Breeze 2015). The most
widely used liquid sorbent for capturing CO2 is MEA (Monoethanolamine) (Sodiq
et al. 2014). The chemical absorbent is made to react with CO2 . In a counter current
manner, the absorbent receives the CO2 -loaded flue gas from the bottom and aqueous
or non-aqueous liquid absorbent solution from above. The absorbent forms a bond
with CO2 releasing the streams free of CO2 in the atmosphere. The CO2 -enriched
sorbent is exposed to high temperature by which the bond between the sorbent and
CO2 is broken and CO2 free of absorbent is collected. The absorbent is recycled. The
desorbed CO2 is compressed for easy transportation. For post-combustion capture,
the commonly accepted liquid absorbent system application is 30 wt% MEA in water
(Abu-Zahra et al. 2016). Post-combustion capture is a process which is capable of
removing about 90% of CO2 present in the exhaust gases (Breeze 2015).

2.3.2.3 Oxy-Fuel Combustion

Traditionally in coal combustion air was used in which 79% of the nitrogen diluted
the concentration of CO2 present in the flue gas (Buhre et al. 2005). The main idea
for using oxy-fuel combustion in a coal-fired power plant is to produce flue gas with
very elevated concentrations of CO2 and water vapour, to separate the CO2 from the
flue gas under low temperature.This method of capturing CO2 from diluted mixture
using amines is a costly method. In oxy-fuel combustion, a combination of 95%
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 23

pure oxygen and recycled flue gas is used for combustion of the fuel. Gas consisting
mainly of CO2 and water is generated, after recycling of flue gas which is now ready
for confiscation without removal of the CO2 from the gas stream.

2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Carbon Capture

Techniques

The whole progression of capturing carbon from different sources, processing the
captured carbon and then transporting it to the storage site has been cited as an answer
to decrease the carbon outflows from fossil fuel-based power plants and other related
activities. CCS is instituting a significant change that will outline the climate change
with the reduction in greenhouse gases. CCS technology may sound easy to capture
carbon, transport and storage, but actually, it involves commonsensical realization
and flavours of diverse technologies. CCS has been positioned as a greener solution
that can reduce carbon emissions from 50 to 85% and can be easily accustomed to
existing plants (Viebahn 2014).
Apart from bridging the gap between emissions and low carbon economy, CCS
technology requires additional energy (around 25%) for capturing carbon, which
adds additional cost for the owner/operators of the fossil fuel plants. Apart from this,
the technology has some safety concerns over the storing of captured CO2. There
is a risk of leakages and environmental contamination (microbial contamination).
Natural calamities (like an earthquake) or man-induced activities always risk the
leakage from underground reservoirs.
Though CCS technology is few years old but is not mature enough as it is
not capable of handling emissions from agricultural activities, transportation, other
heating and power generation methods (Wang et al. 2017; Porter et al. 2017).

2.5 Barriers

Human beings are contributing constantly towards the emission of GHGs in the atmo-
sphere. Power sector, petrochemical industries, refineries, oil and gas processing
industries, iron and steel industries and cement production are among the major
troupe in CO2 emission (Metz et al. 2012). The IPCC has cited in its third assess-
ment report that no sole technology will be able to provide way out to the overall
emission reduction (IPCC 2001). Different countries, in order to achieve the GHG
emission reduction target, are implementing numbers of technologies (as shown
in Table 2.1) which include use of clean and green fuels, improving energy effi-
ciency and conservation and implementation of the technology according to their
state of affairs. Among different technologies, the capture technologies are growing
exponentially every year.
24 N. Khurana et al.

Table 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of different carbon reduction methods

S. Method Advantages Disadvantages
No.
1 Use of clean fuel Natural gas emits around Higher fuel cost for
40–50% less carbon dioxide conventional natural gas
and efficiency is also higher.
Amount of other emissions
is also reduced
2 Use of clean coal Lower emissions Higher fuel cost is involved
technologies
3 Use of renewable energy No GHG and other toxic Depends on the local
gases in emissions resources available and
high cost is involved
4 Development of nuclear No emissions Restricted usage, handling
power is also critical, and high
cost is involved
5 Afforestation and Simple approach to create Restricts usage of land for
reforestation natural carbon sinks other activities
6 Enhancing energy Saves energy CCS technology is not fully
efficiency and conservation mature
of energy
7 Carbon capture and storage Vast reduction in the CO2 Involves high capital
emissions investment in installation of
energy-saving devices

Carbon capture and storage are budding technology, which is deficient of R and
D. It has been observed that CCS requires some energy input externally and in
country like India which is struggling for fulfilling its own power need, and extra
power/energy is a burden. Setting additionally separate plant will add to the cost of
energy and lead to political instability also. International aid in terms of finance may
play an important role (Sood and Vyas 2017).

2.6 Conclusions

CCS is a complex process and requires expertise from different discipline. Many
institutions are also doing research on this technology to reduce the GHG emissions
but anticipation of private sectors can be a game changer. CCS is a well-known
process but its demonstration and commercialization still need to be explored. The
evaluation of point sources of emission and storage capacity is essential. Apart from
various technological, environmental and economical aspects, we need to focus on
safety and sustainability of the technology also.
Utilization of captured carbon in a more sustainable way is one of the challenges.
It can be converted to biofuel that, in turn, reduces the dependence on fossil fuels. So
2 Carbon Capture: Innovation for a Green Environment 25

the combination of technologies can lead to more sustainable solution with reduced
GHGs emission and accelerate the rate of industrialization, without pollution.

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Chapter 3
Geological Carbon Capture and Storage
as a Climate-Change Mitigation
Technology

Riju, Anurag Linda, and H. P. Singh

3.1 Introduction

The most important greenhouse gas (GHG) is CO2 , and it is the vital component of
fossil fuels on which the world economy depends. Global cycling of carbon dioxide
gives the overall index of health of the biosphere that makes it an essential attribute of
life. Carbon dioxide is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas. CO2 emissions
from fossil fuels and industry power generate around 36.2 gigatons of CO2 per
year (IPCC 2018). Interchange of C (carbon) occurs in the middle of mainly four
reservoirs, i.e., terrestrial biosphere, atmosphere, sediments, and oceans which are
involve in the global carbon cycle. Knowledge of various biological processes that
regulate the movement of carbon from one reservoir to another is important and
central to control the methane (CH4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, required
for mitigating climate change. Also C budget accounts the balance of exchange of C
among the various reservoirs. This checks the amount of C coming in and going out
from different reservoirs at a particular time. When the input (source) exceeds the
output (sink), there is increase in the amount of reservoir. Also the C cycle determines
the overall budget which is observed at a particular time. But currently, there is an
imbalance of global C budget with more accumulation of C in the atmosphere in
the form of carbon dioxide and methane since the beginning of the industrialization.
Due to anthropogenic interventions, earth is getting warmer than ever. An imbalance
has been caused in the natural C cycle due to human activities that has resulted into
greenhouse effect thus global warming. Burning of fossil fuels for power generation,
transportation, manufacturing, etc., results in emission of more carbon dioxide than it

Riju (B) · H. P. Singh

Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India
A. Linda
Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamsala,
India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 33
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_3
34 Riju et al.

is being removed naturally in the atmosphere resulting in global warming and climate
change (Giri and Pant 2018, 2019). It is a global threat that needs an urgent action
around the global community. It has been found that earth’s average temperature
has increased by 1.4 °F over the past century, and it is projected that it will further
likely to increase another 2–11.5 °F over next century (NCAR). Methane (CH4 ) and
nitrous oxide (N2 O) concentrations have also increased steadily over the period of
time (Prather et al. 2001), which are potent greenhouse gases. Since industrialization,
the radiative forcing has increased by 1.94 W m−2 (NOAA 2015).
Stabilization of abundant atmospheric CO2 and other GHG is of strong interest
in order to mitigate the risks of global warming (Walsh 2007). Various strategies can
be used for lowering the CO2 emissions for mitigating climate change which are
reduction of global energy usage, development of less-carbon fuel, and sequestering
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or point source through engineered and natural
processes.

3.1.1 The Global Carbon Cycle

Global carbon cycle delineates the interchange of C between fossil fuels, land, oceans,
and earth’s atmosphere where both the sources of sink and emission contain carbon
and movement of carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans with numbers of
anthropogenic inputs and natural fluxes of carbon in gigatons per year.
Sink of carbon and its source on the earth’s surface results from direct human
impact including deforestation from grazing, agriculture, forestry, etc., and changes
in environment. As global warming is changing landscapes, it is still unclear how
much these changes are going to affect global carbon budget. C (carbon) cycle plays
a vital role in functioning and wellbeing of earth. Earth’s climate is being controlled
by concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere where carbon cycle plays a crucial role
globally. It is also essential as it contributes to greenhouse effect where there is
generation of heat from solar energy at surface of earth. Heat is then trapped by certain
gases which in turn prevent it to escape through atmosphere. Greenhouse naturally
is a perfect phenomenon, and without it, earth would have been a colder place. But
an unnatural buildup of greenhouse gases (GHGs) leads to increase the temperature
of the planet unnaturally. After water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane are the
second and third most important greenhouse gases. These have a strong influence on
radiative forcing. A concentration of carbon dioxide and methane has increased over
the period 1880–2014. Due to this, the average ocean and land surface temperature
has increased by 0.85 ± 0.21 °C (IPCC 2014). This has been shown by various
scientists that the increase in GHGs is a result of anthropogenic activities including
the deforestation and overexploitation of fossil fuels. As carbon dioxide is a GHG,
the increase in its concentration is believed to be a main factor of causing a rise in
global temperatures. This is the main reason for increasing interest in the carbon
cycle as it is a primary cause of global warming. Earth’s soil, atmosphere, crust, and
oceans consist of carbon. These components are referred to as carbon pools when
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 35

considered earth as a system. These act as storage houses for large amounts of carbon
thus are sometimes called as reservoirs and stocks. Carbon movement between these
reservoirs is called a flux. These fluxes connect different reservoirs all together to
create cycles in an integrated system.
Globally, these processes transfer huge amounts of C from one pool to another
pool, e.g., in terrestrial ecosystem, there is transfer of carbon from one pool, i.e.,
the atmosphere, to another pool, i.e., plants. With the passage of time, these plants
become dead and decay which are then burned either for wildfires or energy or
harvested by humans. These all processes are fluxes where C is cycled in various pools
within an ecosystem and in due course releases back into the atmosphere. Likewise,
these cycles are linked to various other ecosystems, i.e., rocks, oceans, etc. (DOE,
Department of energy, USA, 1995). Plants take C from the atmosphere through
photosynthesis and release it back to the atmosphere by respiration. This process
occurs in shortest time scale, i.e., seconds to minutes. But on a larger time scales,
carbon from dead and decayed plant materials is incorporated in the soils where it
might live in for centuries, decades, and years. There is a continuous movement of
carbon between plants, soil, and atmosphere through decomposition, harvesting, fire,
photosynthesis, and respiration. Organic matters which are protected from decay are
buried into deep sediments, slowly altered into deposits of oil, coal and natural gas
(fossil fuels which are being used today). After burning these substances, carbon is
released that has been stored for millions of years again into to the atmosphere in the
form of CO2 . Earth’s carbon reservoirs naturally act as both sinks and sources where
there is addition of carbon and removal of carbon from the atmosphere.
A carbon cycle is said to be in equilibrium when all sources are equal to all sinks
and there is no change in the size of the pools over time. A steady amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere helps in maintaining stable average temperatures globally.
Due to deforestation and overexploitation of fossil fuels, the increased carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere have caused the size of atmospheric carbon pool to increase. This is
what has been responsible for the present buildup of carbon dioxide and is believed to
cause the observed trend of increasing global temperatures. Energy-supply systems
would be replaced by additional point sources that would be amenable to capture.

3.1.2 Source of Carbon

More than 40% of energy-related CO2 emission is accounted by coal, and also it
accounts for almost 40% of electricity generation (IEA, International energy agency
2019). Major portion of carbon dioxide emission results from oxidation of carbon
when fossil fuels are burnt. Global coal demand was highest in 2018 although esti-
mated coal power generation was declined in the year 2019. Coal is currently a
dominant fuel in various power sectors. Almost 38% of coal was accounted in power
generation in the year 2000, with natural gas 17.3%, hydro power for 17.5%, non-
hydro renewable 1.6%, and nuclear for 16.8% (IPCC 2001). After two decades, coal
still remains the dominant fuel in the power generation sector which is around 36%
36 Riju et al.

where natural gas surpassed hydro power that has become the second-largest source
(IEA 2019). But biomass as a fuel is still limited in the power sector.
In India, coal trade on international desk central government suggests the zero-
import policy for thermal coal. But even if government retains the policy, still India
will need import of 50 metric tons of steam coal because of its demands from the
import-based power plants. Tables 3.1 and 3.2 represent the estimated coal imports
and production under 2 °C scenarios. The scenario suggests that by the year 2050
renewable energy could potentially provide as much as half of the world’s energy
needs. Mainly, the target is to decrease global carbon dioxide release to around 10
gigatons per year in 2050 which shall limit the rise in global average temperature
to 2 °C that can avoid menacing interference through anthropogenic inputs with
climate system (Krewitt et al. 2007). The overall demand of coal shall reduce by 8%
because of cut down of overall demand of steam coal in 2 °C conventional and 59%
in 2 °C_sustainable scenario over INDC scenario (Garg et al. 2018).
There are sector-specific fuel selection in the industries, like in steel and iron
sector, coke and coal are primarily used in blast furnaces for primary steel produc-
tion (IPCC 2001; IEA GHG 2000), whereas gas and oil are primary fuels for chemical
and refining sectors. In cement industries, all fuels are used but with dominance of
coal usage in many countries like India, China, and USA (IEA GHG 1999). And

Table 3.1 Coal production and import estimates (conventional scenario)

Production Import
Year Cooking* Non-cooking** (steam coal) Cooking* Non-cooking** (steam coal)
2020 18 684–734 62 50–100
2030 20 584–634 64 50–100
2040 23 770–820 71 50–100
2050 25 771–821 97 50–100
Source Garg et al. (2018)
*Estimated numbers, **Assumed numbers

Table 3.2 Coal production and import estimates (sustainable scenario)

Production Import
Year Cooking* Non-cooking** (steam coal) Cooking* Non-cooking** (steam coal)
2020 18 673–723 62 50–100
2030 20 709–759 64 50–100
2040 23 376–426# 72 0
2050 25 365–415# 80 0
Source Garg et al. (2018)
**Estimated numbers, *Assumed numbers
#Domestic producers may try to maintain the current large production levels, but due to global
climate pressure, it would be difficult to find export markets on coal phase out; thus, domiciliary
demand of coal is projected to go down in such scenario
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 37

countries like Mexico, gas and oil are in dominant usage (Sheinbaum and Ozawa
1998). Trend in European countries for cement manufacturing is to use non-fossil
fuels. Mostly chemical waste mixtures, tires, and sewage sludge are being used (IEA
GHG 1999). Globally, biomass is not a significant source of fuel in manufacturing
industries in large scale. But certain countries like Brazil and Scandinavia acknowl-
edged that biomass can be significant (Möllersten et al. 2003). Reduction of CO2 not
associated with combustion is released from a variety of production from various
industries which transform materials biologically, physically and chemically. The
process includes:
• Usage of C as a reducing agent in the metal production (commercially) from ores
(IPCC 2001; IEA GHG 2000).
• Thermal decomposition/calcination of dolomite and limestone in lime or cement
production (IPCC 2001; IEA GHG 1999).
• Fermentation of biomass. For example, converting sugar to alcohol. Use of fuels as
feedstocks in petrochemical processes (Christensen and Primdahl 1994; Chauvel
and Lefebvre 1989).
Storage and assessment of carbon dioxide require extensive depiction of carbon
dioxide sources. Source of carbon dioxide for capture basically depends on partial
pressure, volume, aspects of integrated systems, suitable reservoir proximity, and its
concentration (IPCC 2005). Carbon dioxide emission occurs from different sources
where fossil fuel is the main source in industries, power plant generation, transport,
and domestic sectors. Industrial and power generation sector produces huge emission
volumes that make them acquiescent to incorporate carbon capture technology. It is
less acquiescent for small point sources and mobile sources like transport and other
sectors to capture carbon at present. However, many advancements in technologies
in production of fuels have allowed the carbon capture from energy used in these
sectors. More than one metric tons of carbon dioxide from over seventy-five hundred
large carbon dioxide sources has been identified which are geographically distributed
around the world (IEA 2019). Indian sub-continent (Southern Asia), eastern coast
(South East Asia), North West Europe, and North America particularly Midwest and
free board of USA are four clusters among the global carbon emission. According to
International energy agency report 2019, it has been projected that emission sources
from South East and Southern Asia are likely to increase, whereas emission from
regions like Europe may slightly decrease by 2050. It appears that there is an efficient
link between opportunities and sources if compared with geographical dispersal of
emission from sources with geological storage opportunity. But a detailed study is
required to confirm the suitability of such geographical sites for carbon storage.
Research suggests that in ocean storage, only a small percentage of large source
emission has the ocean storage potential, because maximum proportion of emission
source has carbon dioxide concentration less than fifteen percent with a very little
proportion which is less than two percent has concentration more than ninety five
percent (IEA 2019). This means more proportion of carbon emission from sources
is more suitable for carbon dioxide capture as compared with less carbon emission
source which are less suitable. This in turn has the cost effectiveness on various
38 Riju et al.

carbon capture techniques. Similarly, high content carbon source has a chance of low
capture cost as compare to low content carbon source because only compression and
dehydration are required for high content carbon source, whereas low content carbon
source largely depends on rate of instigation of biofuels, hydrogen liquefaction,
and gasification of fossil fuels for future development in carbon capture plant size.
At present, technologies have been changed which allow carbon capture from low
emission sources. This include centralized manufacture of gaseous and liquid energy
carriers like ethanol or hydrogen, methanol, etc., from fossil fuels, also production of
energy carriers or electricity from biomass. This advancement in technologies allows
carbon capture and storage.

3.1.3 Impacts of Changing Global Carbon Cycle

After water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane are the second and third most impor-
tant greenhouse gases. Radiative properties of the atmosphere are strongly influenced
by these greenhouse gases resulting in an increase of CO2 and CH4 concentrations.
There is a serious concern about the imbalance in the carbon cycle and its implica-
tions. This is due to a large increase in atmospheric CO2 over a short time relative
to historical variations and likely to continue for foreseeable future, and therefore, it
is a growing concern that this increase in atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations
can cause significant global warming and other changes in the global climate by
altering the water and heat a balance of earth’s atmosphere and surface. As water
vapor precipitates and condenses from the atmosphere, it is not considered the most
important climate relevant greenhouse gas in the earth’s atmosphere, but CO2 and
CH4 . Many physical evidences have shown this as well.
Formation of (UNFCCC) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change in 1992 is a consequence of link between climate change and CO2 emission.
It is an international recognition that deals with the vulnerability of global climate
to human actions. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established
by the United Nations acts as a tool for synthesizing scientific information which
has released five comprehensive assessments on scientific basis of climate change.
International Council for Science Unions (ICSU) has also proposed several projects
which are devoted to global carbon budget. It is a matter of concern which has
become a challenge for controlling the increase in the CO2 concentration in the
atmosphere that has attracted many international as well as national attentions. The
overall objective of research in global carbon cycle has been taken into account
for complete mass balance of the CO2 production which is caused by anthropogenic
activities which include its processes and sources that remove it from the atmosphere
(sink) and reservoirs where carbon is stored.
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 39

3.2 Global Carbon Budget

The global carbon budget is important for understanding the global carbon cycle
in a better way. It gives the precise assessment of anthropogenic CO2 emissions
and their redistribution among the terrestrial biosphere, oceans, atmosphere, land
use change drivers, and permissible emission of a given climate stabilization target
that is important in support of different development of climate projects and future
climate-change policies.
A very important initiative in this is the “Global Carbon Project.” It is an interna-
tional research project within the Future Earth research initiative on global sustain-
ability. It is also a research partner of the World Climate Research Program. The
main aim of the project is to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle,
including both human and biophysical dimensions with the interactions and feed-
backs between them. The latest update of global carbon budget was published in
the year 2019 which was the 14th edition of the annual update which started in the
year 2006. Key points of global carbon budget are based on the data published by
Friedlingstein et al. (2019).
• Slow growth in fossil carbon dioxide emissions is projected for 2019, at +0.6%
(range: −0.2 to +1.5%). The 2019 growth is slower than over the past two years,
with +1.5% in 2017 and +2.1% in 2018.
• CO2 emissions from oil use are expected to grow at +0.9% in 2019 (range: +0.3
to +1.6%), driven by growth in China (+6.9%), but with weaker growth in India
(+1.5%), EU28 (+0.5%), and a decline in the US (−0.5%). The last decade saw
CO2 emissions from oil grow steadily at +1.4%.
• Coal is still the main source of CO2 emissions, but its emissions are expected to
decline—0.9% in 2019 (range: −2.0 to +0.2%). This global decline in coal is
due to big drops in the USA (−10.5%) and EU28 (−10%) and weak growth in
China (0.8%) and India (2%). The last decade (2009–2018) saw CO2 emissions
from coal grow at only +0.6%.
• Climate and energy policies are emerging but are still insufficient to reverse trends
in global. CO2 emissions need to decrease to net zero globally to stop further
warming of the planet. Deforestation fires also drive CO2 emissions up in 2019.
• Land and ocean carbon sinks continue to increase in line with emissions, absorbing
about 55% of the total anthropogenic emissions. There is no sign of either land
or ocean carbon sinks reaching saturation.
• Atmospheric CO2 concentration continues to grow by more than 2 ppm per year
and is projected to reach 410 ppm averaged over the year in 2019.
• Natural gas continues to grow strongly in 2019, with natural gas being the fastest
growing source of emissions and projected to grow +2.6% in 2019 (range: +1.3
to +3.9%), driven by growth in all regions, including the USA (+3.5%), EU28
(+3.0%), China(+9.1%), and India (+2.5%). The last decade saw CO2 emissions
from natural gas grow steadily at +2.3%. Natural gas was the biggest contributor
to the growth in fossil emissions in recent years.
40 Riju et al.

• In 2019, there were more fires in deforestation zones than most recent years.
Preliminary estimate of fire emissions in deforestation areas indicate that emis-
sions from the Amazon will be higher in 2019 than in recent years, but lower than
in the 1990s and early 2000s. The atmospheric CO2 concentration and the land
and ocean carbon sinks continue to grow.

3.3 Capture and Storage of Carbon Dioxide

The capture and storage of carbon dioxide is mostly relevant for centralized large
carbon sources like large industries and power plants. The main purpose of carbon
capture is to generate stream which can readily fetch to a carbon storage site. Energy
required for operating the carbon capture systems decreases the comprehensive effi-
ciency of power generation and other processes. This leads to increase in environment
impact, fuel requirement, and solid wastes which is similar to the base plant without
carbon capture. Although more structured plants are available that can replaces the
in efficiency ones. Net impact of these structured plants is congruent with clean and
safe emission fuels with low carbon for transportation and also for small-scale appli-
cations. For future development in carbon capture techniques, energy minimization
is required in order to improve the efficiency of energy conservation process which is
highest in priority for future technology. This will minimize the overall cost and envi-
ronment impacts. Presently, industrial plants such as ammonia production facilities
and natural gas processing are separating carbon dioxide routinely. But these plants
are removing carbon in order to meet the demands but not for storage. Various small
power plants has also been applied for carbon capture, but power plants at larger
scale which produces hundreds megawatts of electricity which are major source of
carbon dioxide emission have shown no application.

3.3.1 Importance of Carbon Sequestration Processes

• Carbon dioxide capture and sequestration can play a crucial role in reducing GHG
emission into the atmosphere.
• It enables low-carbon electricity generation from power plants.
• As reported in Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) report,
Indian agriculture has a prospect of removing 85.5 metric tons of CO2 per year
out of which 80% is delivered by cost-effective options (Sapkota et al. 2019).
• An emission in India is done from electric power generation. This carbon share
can be reduced by using carbon sequestration technologies.
• Carbon sequestration technologies can dramatically reduce CO2 emissions by
80–90% from power plants that burn fossil fuels.
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 41

3.3.2 Carbon Sequestration

The process of removal of carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in the reser-
voir is called as carbon sequestration, or it is the process of capturing and then storing
of atmospheric carbon dioxide to mitigate the climate change and global warming.
Carbon pool is the term used for carbon storage. It refers to a mechanism that has
the capacity to release or accumulate. This can be human or natural induced, e.g.,
atmosphere, soils, wood products, forest biomass, etc. There is a complex mixture
of dead and live organic minerals and matter in a forest carbon pool. Carbon dioxide
stored in geological pool falls under human induced carbon pools. CO2 from indus-
trial sources can be captured at the source and re-injected into spent oil fields to
enhance recovery or be injected into geologically stable formations for sequestra-
tion. If not captured at the source, CO2 can be partially removed from the atmosphere
by terrestrial sequestration (vegetation regrowth).
Carbon sequestration also refers to the long-term carbon dioxide storage to reduce
its emissions in the atmosphere which should implement the following principles that
are the environmental impact should be minimal, storage must be verifiable, safe,
and indefinite (Lackner and Brennan 2009).

3.3.2.1 CO2 Capture Systems

For 80 years, C has been captured from industrial process streams (Kohl and Nielsen
1997). Most of carbon dioxide captured is emitted into the atmosphere because earlier
there was no incentive to store it. Presently, carbon dioxide captures from process
streams are natural gas purification and synthesis gas production which has hydrogen
in it. The gas is used for production of alcohols, synthetic liquid fuel, and ammonia.
Also presently, there are four basic systems for capturing CO2 from use of fossil
fuels and/or biomass:
• Capture from industrial process streams,
• Post-combustion capture,
• Oxy-fuel combustion capture,
• Pre-combustion capture (Fig. 3.1).
• Pre-combustion:
As the name suggests, this process is performed before the combustion process
is completed. This is the process where fossil fuel is obtained without carbon. In
this technique firstly, the coal is oxidized in steam. It is then combined with air.
The mixture prepared then forms synthesis gas at very high temperature which
is referred to as syngas. Syngas basically is a mixture of CO (carbon monoxide),
CO2 (carbon dioxide), H (hydrogen), and a small amount of CH4 (methane). The
entire process is known as gasification. Next step in his process is shift reaction
where CO (carbon monoxide) and H2 O (water) are converted to H2 (hydrogen)
and CO2 (carbon dioxide). Here, the range of carbon dioxide is 15–50%. Carbon
dioxide is then captured, transferred, and sequestered.
42 Riju et al.

Fig. 3.1 Schematic diagram of carbon sequestration process. Reproduced after GIEC (2005)

This process is also used to remove dilute carbon dioxide at a low pressure
because rich carbon dioxide is removed at a high pressure even before hydrogen
is combusted on water gas shift reaction. This technique is very efficient as it
provides availability of concentrated carbon dioxide but is also highly expensive
for base gasification process.
• Post-combustion:
Carbon dioxide removal from the flue gases is done in this process. This tech-
nique uses the chemical absorption processes with solvents of monoethanolamine
(MEA), and the process is termed as amine separation process. MEA solution is
added in an absorber. This solution is basically used to obtain the carbon dioxide
by selectively absorbing from the overall carbon dioxide (Pant et al. 2017). The
selected carbon dioxide is then sent to the stripper. Pure carbon dioxide is prepared
by heating the carbon-dioxide-rich monoethanolamine solution in the stripper, and
then, generated carbon dioxide incline with monethanolamine solution comes out
of the stripper. The obtained gas is again then sent to the absorber for recycling.
Steam is generated in the power generation system where coal is burnt with the
help of air in the boiler. Prepared stem is then used to operate the turbine which
generates electricity. N2 and CO2 are present in the exhaust from the flue gases.
This technology is basically used to scour the solvents with the help of amine.
Scrubbing depends upon the reaction of chemicals with CO2 to produce high
temperature of carbon dioxide that is appropriate for the compression and storage
of gas. Scrubbing plants can be used to reduce the amount of acid gasses such as
NO2 and SO2 (Giri and Pant 2018).
In this technique, main benefit of amine scrubbing in this technique is that it
can be added with the existing power plants and industries in a befitted location.
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 43

Commercially, it is used in the small-scale industries. Carbon dioxide separation

from the flue gas is a challenging task. Carbon dioxide with high volume, dilute
concentrations and low pressure separation is treated.
Corrosion occurs with the impurities of flue gases that degrade the solvents. Also,
carbon dioxide capture through solvent scrubbing has a limited experience so far
for the large-scale operations.
• Oxy-fuel combustion:
Here, in this technique, fuel present in air is removed with oxygen. The maximum
percentage of gas in the atmosphere is nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%). and
the remaining percentage of inert gases. In oxy-fuel combustion, fuel is appended
with the existing atmospheric air for combustion. There is incomplete combustion
as gases in the atmosphere do not react with inert gases. But a high temperature
is obtained by using oxygen instead of air, overcoming incomplete combustion.
Thus, we can say that this method is burning of fuel with pure oxygen. The
technique acts in the air as primary oxidant air.
Other than above techniques which were already discussed, there were distinct
techniques which are based on the geology which are as follows:

3.3.2.2 Ocean Sequestration

Oceans are one of the most favorable places to sequester carbon. Oceans take up
almost a third of carbon emitted by anthropogenic activities. Ocean sequestration
involves storage of C in oceans through direct injection. In this, liquefied carbon
dioxide is directly injected into a thousand meters deep, either directly from tankers
or from shore stations through long pipes at sea. At this depth, carbon dioxide is
denser than sea water which might be possible to store on the bottom as liquid or
deposits of icy hydrates.

3.3.2.3 Geologic Sequestration

Here, natural pore spaces in geologic formations serve as reservoirs for long-term
CO2 storage. In this, carbon dioxide is usually pressurized till CO2 becomes liquefied.
It then is injected into geological basins and porous rock formations. Geological
sequestration sometimes is also called as tertiary recovery or enhanced oil recovery
because later it can be used later in producing oil wells. In enhanced oil recovery,
liquid carbon dioxide injected into oil-bearing geological formation to reduce the
viscosity of oil allows the oil to flow more easily into the oil well.

3.3.2.4 Terrestrial/Biological Sequestration

In this, a generous amount of C is stored in natural carbon sinks like vegetation and
soils. In natural sinks, usage of photosynthesis for increasing the C fixation, changing
44 Riju et al.

land use practices, and reducing the decomposition of organic matter can enhance
carbon uptake. It also refers to storage of atmospheric C in soils, aquatic environment,
woody plants, and vegetation. Growing plants, particularly larger plants like trees
can enhance the potential of biologic sequestration.
For near-term application, geologic sequestration is thought to have the largest
potential. Similar to natural weathering, there are processes that convert CO2 to
solid inorganic carbonates using chemical reactions, and also the process offers an
opportunity of safe and permanent storage of carbon dioxide during a long period
(Allen and Brent 2010). But the main disadvantage in this process is its high cost. The
largest storage of CO2 is the ocean. It consists of carbon dioxide, injected deep down
the oceanic surface where it forms hydrates or dissolved plumes that are heavier than
water which sinks at the bottom of the ocean. Natural estimated rate through the
process that accelerates the transfer of carbon dioxide into the ocean is 2 Gton/year
(Khoo and Tan 2006). Other various techniques were also tested to perform the
transfer of carbon dioxide into the ocean, e.g., inclined pipe, pipe towed by dry ice
and ship, and vertical injection. With the advantage increase of CO2 concentration in
the ocean through various processes, there can be a serious consequences in marine
ecosystem as well as this shall affect the growth of corals and also increase ocean
acidification. Thus, the geological sequestration of C is considered the most viable
one (Yang et al. 2010).
Unlikeable coal seams, enhanced gas or oil recovery (EGR or EOR), depleted
oil and gas fields, and deep saline formations are the most used sites for geological
storage of carbon that are based on the economic point of view (Solomon et al. 2008),
and adequate storage capacity, porosity, and permeability are required for geologic
storage. A stable geological environment and a satisfactory sealing cap rocks are
also required. With all its merits, the main concern of carbon storage is its leakage
into the atmosphere that can render this process as ineffective in global warming
reduction. The study of these aspects was reported by Mathias et al. (2008). There
are several consequences of carbon dioxide leakage, i.e., death of small and low-lying
animals living in enclosed low level areas where the accumulation of carbon dioxide
is maximum as it is heavier than air. Asphyxiation is another consequence where
carbon dioxide is harmful for health of the human beings when the concentration is
greater than 0.5–1.5% compared with atmospheric concentration which is 0.038%
(Allen and Brent 2010). Also, the acidification of portable ground water presented
nearby is a consequence of injection of carbon dioxide in geological formations.
Hydrodynamic trapping and a combination of two is the most effective method of
CO2 storage in the subsurface of the earth. Several other improved technologies are
being developed for C sequestration to overcome the challenges being made by the
older techniques. But it is important to choose one or a combination of several other
technologies for formulating the energy policies at global and national level for future
economic growth. Following options can be grouped into two broad categories, i.e.,
abiotic and biotic sequestration.
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 45

3.3.3 Abiotic Sequestration

This strategy of C sequestration has received a considerable attention; it has a larger

sink capacity than biotic sequestration in theoretical terms. Abiotic sequestration
involves engineered techniques as well as chemical and physical reactions without
the involvement of living organisms. The technique involves: in the oceanic injection
method, a pure carbon dioxide stream and a liquefied carbon dioxide that is separated
from the industrial sources are injected deep into the ocean. The technique involves:
1. Formation of CO2 lake by pumping it into a depression at the bottom of the
ocean floor.
2. Injection of CO2 below 1000 m through a multitudinous at the ocean floor.
3. It then rises to 1000 m approx. depth forming a droplet plume as it is being
lighter than the water.
4. Sink of mixture in the deep ocean as it is injected as a denser sea water–carbon
dioxide mixture at approximately 500–1000 m.
5. Discharge of carbon dioxide through a large pipe that is towed behind a ship.
However, injection of carbon dioxide can also possess many adverse effects on
the biota of deep sea ocean (Seibel and Walsh 2001).
The other abiotic method is geological injection; in this technique, carbon dioxide
is injected into oil wells that are old so as to increase the yield, coal seams, saline
aquifers, and stable rock strata (Baines and Worden 2004). This technique also
involves injection, liquefaction, capture, and transport of industrial carbon dioxide
into deeper geological strata. Carbon dioxide from the industries can be injected into
aquifers where it reacts with various other dissolved salts that form carbonates, and
also there is hydrodynamic sequestration. In its supercritical state, CO2 has a much
lower viscosity and density than the liquid brine. At this state, carbon dioxide is
injected into the geological strata.
A multiphase environment occurs in situ where there is formation of gas like
phase, and also it dissolves in aqueous phase. There could be an economic strategy
of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) where carbon dioxide is injected into the reservoirs
where it displaces gas/oil. It has raised production from oil and gas fields which
has been a decline through carbon-dioxide-enhanced recovery. Carbon dioxide can
be injected into unminable coal seams where methane is observed, and further, it
absorbs on the coal twice as much as methane. This process has enhanced the gas
recovery of coalbed methane (CBM).
However, principal concerns about geological sequestration, similar to that of the
oceanic, are (Kintisch 2007), i.e., reliability of storage of vast quantities of CO2 in
geological strata and the cost, which need to be resolved.

3.3.3.1 Scrubbing and Mineral Carbonation

The technique involves the conversion of industrial emitted carbon dioxide into
calcium carbonate (CaCO3) , magnesium carbonate (MgCO3 ), and other mineral
46 Riju et al.

carbonates that are thermodynamically and geologically stable. Mimicry of natural

inorganic chemical conversion of carbon dioxide is used to achieve mineral
carbonation (Fan and Park 2004; Giri et al. 2018).
In scrubbing, a carbonate solvent or amine is used to chemically absorb the
carbon dioxide. This is the most widely used method of C capture. Solvents like
lithium silicate (Li2 SiO3 ), potassium carbonate (K2 CO3 ), nickel, and ceramic-based
compounds are used to purify carbon dioxide by passing it through an absorption
column that contains the solvents. By heating the carbon-dioxide-rich amine and then
re-precipitated through mineral carbonation, pure carbon dioxide gas can be recov-
ered. Stable rocks are thus formed as carbonated where carbon dioxide is sequestered
perpetually.

3.3.4 Biotic Sequestration

In this technique, higher plants and micro-organisms remove carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere. The process differs from management options that lower the offset
emission. It further involves:

3.3.4.1 Oceanic Biotic Sequestration

This involves various biological processes that lead to carbon sequestration via photo-
synthesis. Photosynthesis by phytoplankton is one of the method that fixes approx.
45 Pg C yr−1 (Falkowski et al. 2000). Phytoplankton deposited on the floor of the
ocean forms some particulate organic matter that helps in sequestration. Iron (Fe)
is one of the limiting factors for the growth of phytoplankton in the ocean; thus, it
is an important fertilization on biotic carbon dioxide sequestration in the oceanic
ecosystem (Boyd et al. 2004), but ocean fertilization can also hamper the ocean
ecology, and currently, with the state of knowledge, ocean fertilization is still a
debatable issue (Johnson and Karl 2002).

3.3.4.2 Terrestrial Biotic Sequestration

It consists of a major carbon sink due to photosynthesis and carbon dioxide storage
in living and dead organic matter. Terrestrial sequestration is also transfer of atmo-
spheric carbon dioxide into pedologic and biotic carbon pools. It is also considered as
no-regret strategy as it owes to many auxiliary advantages like improved water quality
and soil quality, increased crop yield and degraded ecosystems restoration (Lal et al.
2003). Also there are multiple benefits associated with it even without threat to
climate change globally. Three principle components are there for terrestrial carbon
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 47

sequestration, i.e., soils, wetlands, and forests. Carbon is stored as resistant poly-
meric carbon compounds and as lignin by the forest ecosystem. Carbon sequestered
in forests then can be harvested through woody debris, woody plants and products,
and timber.
Net primary productivity of forest ecosystem is not saturated on a present carbon
dioxide concentration which may rise with rise in the concentration of atmospheric
carbon dioxide through the effect of carbon fertilization. One of the viable options for
carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystem is afforestation, and also refurbishment
of debased tropical forest is another useful option (Lamb et al. 2005). By improving
the management of regrowth of degraded tropical landscapes, the potential for carbon
sequestration can be enhanced.

3.4 Barriers to Implement CCS

There are many barriers associated with the carbon sequestration process, which are:
technical barrier, institutional barrier, financial barrier, and other barriers. Technical
barrier includes commercial demonstration of high point sources of carbon dioxide
which is used for capturing technologies but is not standard for high point source.
Also it has some stability issues as many parts of India are seismically active. Cost and
potential of depleted oil and gas are determined using technical barriers. However,
institutional barriers do not meet overall development goals as it does not contribute
to the sustainable development. High energy penalty and high capital are involved in
financial barrier. Other barriers involve regulatory, acceptance, and storage. Presently,
carbon capture and storage (CCS) is in demonstration phase that is gaining a single
degree of technology confidence via the large-scale development. In India, it has a
major barrier in CCS establishment. CCS lacks capture of geological storage side
data and technology that can be installed in power plants whose sources are location,
capacity, and permeability. The implementation of this technique has some another
issues like increasing the cost of power output and electricity. The major barrier which
has come so far in CCS in India is the deficit of electricity and electrification in India.
However, in other developed nations, the C storage uses enhance oil recovery which
is one of the best and most effective options for this technique.

3.5 Recent Developments on Carbon Capture and Storage

It is very important to differentiate between a mobile source and stationary source.

Mobile source includes automobiles, airplanes, etc., whereas stationary sources
include factories, power plants, etc. (Wilcox 2012). Capturing carbon dioxide directly
from the mobile source is not possible at present, and thus, work is more focused on
capturing carbon dioxide from the stationary sources. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) assumes increase in average global temperature association
48 Riju et al.

with the warming of the climate system from increasing anthropogenic greenhouse
gases concentrations in the atmosphere. About 80% of the contribution is from fossil
fuels with 10% from renewable energy (International Energy Agency (IEA) 2013).
Basically, this is because of the over dependency on non-renewable energy
resources as renewable energy resources are able to keep up with the increasing
energy demand associated with a growing world population. Thus, carbon dioxide
utilization next to storage can be an integral component of carbon management.

3.5.1 Coal Fires Power Plants

It is an old technology from which gases emitted from stationary sources. Natural
gases are used as it contains more carbon dioxide which is placed inside the pipelines.
Amine scrubbing process is used by gas companies for this task. The process was
discovered by Bottoms in 1930 which was used to separate out carbon dioxide from
methane. Similar kind of process can also be used for removal of carbon dioxide
from flu gas. But the disadvantage with this process is that subsequent compression
of carbon dioxide with regeneration of amine solution for geological storage and
transport requires extensive amount of energy. Thus, a carbon capture power plant
becomes more expensive with reduction in efficiency as high as thirty five percent
(Herzog and Golomb 2004). Although nowadays various research is focussed on
finding alternative for coal fires plant pant, like, membrane or solid absorption that
can increase the efficiency of absorption process.
Another alternative to it is adding carbon capture at the very beginning, so that it
can give more possibilities to optimize the efficiency of carbon capture and combined
power generation. Oxy-combustion is one such example. In this, coal is burned with
pure oxygen, and carbon dioxide is capture by condensing the water.
In this process, oxygen should be separated from air which is also an energy-
intense process. For this, alternative can be IGCC, i.e., integrated gasification
combined cycle, chemical looping where coal is being converted into syngas and
CO2 capture process involves separation from H2 . Carbon dioxide is considered as
a waste product in context with flu gas. But there are many applications where it can
be considered as an essential and valuable commodity.

3.5.2 Dilute Source Carbon Dioxide Capture

Recent advances in separation material include carbon selective absorbents, solvents,

and membranes. These are used for post-combustion CO2 capture. The membranes
are based on supported amine material, polymeric membrane, mixed matrix
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 49

membranes, amine materials, metal organic framework material, etc. The most rele-
vant one for post-combustion carbon capture is aqueous amine absorption process.
Although research on membrane materials, solvents and adsorbents has not been
sufficiently considered the long-term stability of these materials in the presence of
flu gas particulates like SOx , NOx , H2 O, O2 , Hg and particulates for carbon capture
(Jones and Maginn 2010).

3.5.3 Enhances Oil Recovery

Figure 3.2 represents the various methods of EOR which is mainly categorized
into four groups. Chemical methods are constructed on injecting different chem-
ical reagents or their mixtures with water through projection wells or injections in
the reservoir so as to clean the wellbore perforation zone such as matrix acidization
or to enhance sweep effectiveness of displace in fluids (Abramova et al. 2014).
In thermal EOR, there is change in chemical and physical parameters oil. In this
method, crude oil is heated in situ so as to decrease the viscosity and thus mobility
ratio. This method changes the properties of oil instead of the reservoir such as in
hydraulic fracturing which is creating or increasing artificial permeability (Santos
et al. 2014). Thermal EOR can cover about 30–58% of oil (Abramova et al. 2014).
Different thermal EORs vary in terms of recovery factor of oil which depends upon
heterogeneity and type of formation. Recovery from SAGD and stream flooding is
around 40–60%, whereas from cyclic steam injection is 10–30% (Alvarez and Han
2013; Jiang et al. 2010).
The most common EOR method used at present is miscible flooding or gas injec-
tion. In this method, miscible gas is introduced into the reservoir for reducing the

Adapted and modified after Patel et al., 2018

Fig. 3.2 Conventional EOR classification and its type Adapted and modified after Patel et al.
(2018)
50 Riju et al.

interfacial tension among water and oil. This improves the oil displacement (Fath
and Pouranfard 2014). Carbon dioxide and nitrogen are released is produced in this
method. Gas method has the capability to increase the oil production around 5–19%
which is more if compared to ordinary flooding method during secondary recovery
(Davarpanah 2016).
Polymers and surfactants change the surface and interfacial tensions, reduce the
viscosity, and increase the mobility of oil in respect of water which increases the
recovery rate. Chemical EOR method can recover about 35% of reserves (Raffa
et al. 2016).
In physical EOR method, geophysical fields are used to affect the reservoir instead
of matter which is chemicals, gas, streams, etc. This method is developing over past
few years and is still low as compared to other methods. The fields used in this
method vary from electromagnetic to acoustical (Abramova et al. 2014). This is
comparatively less expensive as these are non-invasive, but still there is lack of
information available for this method, and satisfactory results are yet to obtain from
this method.
CO2 is considered as a valuable commodity for enhanced oil recovery. One of the
best options for carbon storage is depleted oil fields. There is a huge market for carbon
dioxide where it can become an important stimulus for developing more efficient
carbon capture technique, for example, man-made carbon dioxide can compete with
carbon from natural reservoirs (ARI, advance resource international 2010).

3.5.4 Carbon Dioxide to Chemicals and Fuels

Presently, chemical industries are utilizing around 7% of all oil as feed stock for
carbon. This can range from plastic industry to soap industry. But there is long-
term challenge for various chemical industries to replace oil by a renewable feed
stock. Practicality of carbon dioxide usage as a chemical feedstock can substantially
be improved if the cost of C is adequately high, so that oil can be replaced by
CO2 . But carbon-free resources like wind and solar are still expensive for such
carbon utilization schemes. Upgrading carbon dioxide to fuel is a challenge as it
requires energy. Fossil fuel as an alternative makes no sense; here, it can be used as
energy source. Only advantage of fossil fuels is their high energy density, whereas
for renewable energies like solar and wind, energy storage at a large scale is required
so as to ensure production of electrical power at times when there is no wind or sun.
3 Geological Carbon Capture and Storage as a Climate-Change … 51

3.5.5 CO2 Incorporation into Building Material

and Construction

Cement industries are the second-largest emitter of CO2 that produces around 7% of
carbon dioxide (International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Program (IEA-
GHG 2002). Around 1.6 Gigatons per year of CO2 emission can be reduced if 10%
of building materials can be replaced with carbonate minerals (Agarwal et al. 2016).
However, to reduce issues related to mechanical strength of materials, the correct
composition of carbonate mineral is important.

3.6 Carbon Capture and Storage Structure in India

In India, around 53.7% of electricity are being produced by coal which directly
emits carbon into the atmosphere (Sood and Vyas 2017). About 40% emission is
from power generation, and transportation and industries emission is 32 and 15%,
respectively. 11% of carbon emission is from commercial and residential sectors
(Sood and Vyas 2017). All the percentage of carbon emission is not viable for carbon
sequestration. The techniques for carbon capture and storage is mostly applicable
in power plants, stationary sources, and large industries because of high capital
and economic costs. But the advancements in CCS technologies due to storage and
transportation of carbon dioxide will help in controlling the evaded cost of carbon
capture.
In India during 2007 and 2008, a certain care was taken to capture carbon or
for carbon sequestration. Nearly 30 projects were sponsored by researchers across
the country during the financial year which depends upon carbon storage (Viebahn
et al. 2014). India’s action on research and development approach is very low due to
not having any particular policy on carbon capture and storage. Absence of carbon
capture and sequestration will cause the increase in cost around 70% by 2050 due
to the emission of carbon (Rao and Kumar 2014). CCS in India is at an initial stage
only. Four initiating key points are followed in India which are:
Capture of pure CO2 streams in industry. This process is easy to generate pure
stream of CO2 .
Examples are gas industries and fertilizers.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) offshore and onshore. Indian government has
already initiated a plan from the offshore sour gas at Hazira in Gujarat. The
recovery from this technique is done almost 70 km away from the onshore, and
almost 1200 tons of received carbon dioxide is transported to the oil field each
day (Sood and Vyas 2017). This reduces oil viscosity and maintains the pressure.
New power plant designs in India are there like UMPPs (unimpaired performance
and less upfront costs). This new technique starts with technology generation such as
52 Riju et al.

advanced supercritical steam conditions. It also exports carbon dioxide for foreign
EOR activities.
The UMPP project is mainly formed by shipping terminals, and it is design
for imported coal such as Mundra. The Department of Science and Technology
(DST) started the Indian CO2 sequestration Applied Research (ICOSAR) for carbon
capture and storage. The CCS projects are always carried out in three steps which
are absorbing, pre-combustion, and post-combustion.

3.7 Conclusion

Carbon sequestration is important for maintaining the natural carbon cycle which is
most affected by human activities. Thus, there is a need to imply these technologies
effectively. Also there is a need to conserve existing forests with a great requirement
of reforestation. This can be achieved by adopting natural sequestration first and then
installing various improved CCS technologies that can manage carbon emission and
its corresponding effects at its point source. Then, only carbon emission and poten-
tial harmful impacts can be reduced. Natural ocean and terrestrial sinks are presently
absorbing approximately 60% of the 8.6 Pg C per year (Lal 2008). But the capacity
of natural sinks is not enough to take in all the carbon dioxide induced by human
activities until the carbon neutral energy sources take effect. Carbon management
and sequestration presents an opportunity for us to address climate change concerns
while still enjoying the benefits of fossil fuels. Basically, C sequestration should be
seen as a part of an overall scheme that involves non-carbon sources and improved
efficiency. Presently, we need many mitigation options which are cost effective to
address the climate-change issues. A progressive approach in C storage and utiliza-
tion research will enhance and improve our understanding of the long-term effects of
large-scale injection of carbon dioxide in various geological formations. This further
will empower us to evolve substitutes for geological storage like carbon mineraliza-
tion and will enhance the development of the innovative chemistry to convert carbon
dioxide into synthetic chemicals and fuels.

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Chapter 4
Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil
Quality Improvement and Climate
Change Mitigation

Ruma Das, Avijit Ghosh, Shrila Das, Nirmalendu Basak, Renu Singh,
Priyanka, and Ashim Datta

4.1 Introduction

The word ‘climate change’ is a very important and burning issue for recent time.
According to National Geographic Society (2019), climate change is the long-term
alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a particular location or the
planet as a whole. Thus, the weather pattern becomes less predictable which can make
it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that depend on farming. The most
important effect of climate change is global warming which is due to the increase
in greenhouse gas emissions. The atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) level has been
increasing day by day, and within last ten years it has increased to 413 ppm on 2020
from 388 ppm on 2010 (Global climate change NASA 2020). The increasing level
of CO2 is the major contributor of temperature rise on earth surface (Ekwurzel et al.
2017). After ocean and geological C (C) pool, terrestrial ecosystems are the largest
C pool which is approximately 3170 Pg(Pg; petagram = 1015 g) (Ahirwal and Maiti
2018; Ontl and Schulte 2012), and soil is the biggest terrestrial C sink, which stores

R. Das (B) · S. Das

Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research
Institute, New Delhi, India
A. Ghosh
ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
N. Basak · Priyanka · A. Datta
Division of Soil and Crop Management, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal,
Haryana, India
R. Singh
Centre for Environment Science and Climate Resilient Agriculture , ICAR-Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, New Delhi, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 57
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_4
58 R. Das et al.

nearly 2157–2293 pg of C to 1 m depth (Batjes 2014). According to Lal (2008),

approximately 80% of the terrestrial C pool is stored into the soil. Therefore, any
change in soil C level significantly influences the CO2 concentration in atmosphere
(Ontl and Schulte 2012).
With the changing climate, people nowadays realized the importance of sustain-
ability. Here lies the importance of the term soil quality as it is considered as a
conceptual translation of the sustainability concept towards the soil. Soil organic C
(SOC) is a key indicator of soil quality. Because, in soil, C is mainly present in organic
form and contributed 58% of soil organic matter (SOM) which affects the physical,
chemical and biological properties of soil, and different soil processes are affected
by soil microorganisms and eventually maintain the soil quality (Vasu et al. 2020;
Ontl and Schulte 2012). Karlen et al. (2003) stated that though soil quality includes
both inherent and dynamic properties of soil, but it mostly focusses on the dynamic
properties that can be modified by different management practices and is mainly
monitored in the soil surface (0–20 or 30 cm depth). According to the United States
Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDANRCS),
‘Soil quality is the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or
managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain
or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation’ (Karlen
et al. 1997). Therefore, maintaining soil quality is very important for sustainable
agriculture (Bünemann et al. 2018).
The climate change and soil quality are strongly interdependent to each other,
thus are greatly affected by soil C sequestration. The C sequestration is the process
by which atmospheric C is removed and locked into soil for a longer period of
time (Lal 2008). As, SOC is considered as an important part of global C cycle,
therefore, any soil and climatic factors which affect the C cycle subsequently affect
the C sequestration in soil and vice versa. Therefore, we start our discussion by
explaining the C cycle in soil–plant–atmosphere continuum, understanding different
mechanisms of C sequestration in soil along with dynamics and pools of SOC.
We critically discuss various factors affecting the soil C sequestration especially
the interaction of SOC with clay minerals and how it varies with the clay type,
management practices, changes in land use system especially in salt-affected soil,
organic matter quality and abundance of soil microorganisms. We then discuss how
the C sequestration is related to soil quality and climate change. Lastly, we conclude
by briefly discussing the important findings for better understanding the relations
among C sequestration, climate change and soil quality.

4.2 C Cycle in Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Continuum

Soil should be considered as a four-dimensional body (length, width, depth and

time) when studying C cycle as progressive environmental process may alter SOC
concentration. Theoretically, SOC should increase over time, and it would attain
maxima after certain period of time. We may define SOC status as
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 59

SOC concentration = (parent material, soil properties,

climate, landscape position and slope aspect)

However, globally soils contain ~1500 Pg to 1 m depth (Batjes 1996) and 2344
Pg to 2 m depth (Jobbágy and Jackson 2000) of organic C, while soil inorganic C
(SIC) stock is ~720 Pg and 950 Pg up to 1 and 2 m depths, respectively (Batjes
1996). However, presently CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is mounting from
an average 1.5 ppm per year, i.e. 3.3 Pg C per year during the decade of 1990s (Batjes
1996) to 2.3 ppm during the last decade (Lindsey 2020). Researchers forecasted that
CO2 concentration may increase from 800 to 1000 ppm by the end of twenty-first
century, unless immediate management options are adopted. Globally, crop land
covers ~20% of the earth surface and thus farming practices have a major influence
on C exchange between soil and atmosphere. The rate of SOC accumulation depends
on the size and capacity of the soil reservoir. The positive impact of SOC in crop
land is far beyond the soil quality and fertility and extended to the protection of
pollution of surface and ground water, minimization of greenhouse gases (GHGs)
emission from terrestrial ecosystems (Swarup et al. 2000; Manna et al. 2018). Thus,
stabilization mechanism, of C, SOC dynamics and total C stocks, has been discussed
here.

4.2.1 Mechanism of C Stabilization in Soil

Stabilization of C is mainly mediated by three mechanisms, i.e. chemical, physical

and biochemical processes. (a) Chemical stabilization by organo-mineral complex
formation through chemical or physiochemical bindings with minerals is present
in silt and clays. Chemical stabilization protects SOC from microbial disintegra-
tion through physico-chemical association between SOM and soil matrix (e.g. soil
clay and silt particles). Clay and silt in soil may facilitate formation of micro- and
macroaggregates and safeguard SOM. But cultivation would tend to break this down
and release C as CO2 . In addition to the clay content, clay types (e.g. 2:1 versus
1:1 versus allophonic clay minerals) influence the stabilization of organic matter.
(b) Physical stabilization protects SOM from microbial decomposition by occluding
within macro- and/or microaggregates and adsorption onto minerals (Tisdall and
Oades 1982). The occlusion would result in accessibility of SOM to microbes through
organo-minerals and organo-metal interaction (Ghosh et al. 2019a; Ghosh et al.
2016). Organo-minerals and organo-metal interaction involve various phenomena
such as adsorption on mineral surfaces, complexation and precipitation. These
complex phenomena promote SOM stabilization primarily (Ghosh et al. 2016).
However, tillage breaks up soil aggregates, thereby increasing the availability of
60 R. Das et al.

organic C for soil microorganisms (Modak et al. 2019). (c) Biochemical stabiliza-
tion of SOM involves complex chemical transformation reaction of organic matter
to recalcitrant compounds to prevent microbial attack resulting in stability (Ghosh
et al. 2019b).

4.2.2 Soil Organic Carbon Pools and Dynamics

As the global soil C pool is greater than the atmospheric and biotic pool combined,
therefore, the atmospheric CO2 concentration will be affected by the changes in
SOM content. It is imperative to comprehend SOC dynamics which is essential
for mitigating the harmful effects of climate change as there are evidences about
the significant potential of salt-affected soils for C sequestration (Lal 2004a, b; Setia
et al. 2013).The SOC consists of several pools, namely active, slow and passive, with
differential turnover rate ranging from months to over several hundred to thousands
years. The transformational relationships among these pools have been depicted in
Fig. 4.1.
(a) Structural litter fraction: This consists of straw, wood, stems and related
plant parts. The C:N ratio varies around 150:1. These are high in lignin.
(b) Metabolic pool fraction: It comprises plant leaves, bark, flower, fruits and
animal manure. The C: N ratio ranges from 10 to 25. This fraction contributes
mineral nitrogen when it is decomposed.
(c) Active SOC pool: It is a labile form of C, comprising fresh plant and animal
residues. This pool is linked to soil biological processes.
(d) Slow SOC pool: It is the intermediate phase between active and passive C pool,
comprising detritus. This is associated with soil physical process and chemical
activity.
Passive SOC pool: This pool comprises humus or non-labile form of C and is not
biologically active. It is related to C sequestration and climate change.

4.2.3 Potential of C Sequestration

The amount of C present in the soil is the function of land use change, soil type,
climate (rainfall and temperature) and management practices. As (a) soil factors
govern physically protected, i.e. potential C, (b) climate determines the net primary
productivity, i.e. attainable C and c) management practices fix actual C (Fig. 4.2).
These three terminologies are used in soil C sequestration study. They are SOCpotential ,
SOCattainable and SOCactual . SOCpotential is the SOC level that could be achieved if there
were no limitations on the system except soil type. The value of SOCattainable is the
realistically best case scenario for any production system. To achieve SOCattainable ,
no constraints to productivity (e.g. low nutrient availability, weed growth, disease,
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 61

Fig. 4.1 Soil organic pool and dynamics in century model. Modified from Parton et al. (1987)

subsoil constraints, etc.) must be present. Decreased productivity, induced by the

reducing factors, leads to lower returns of organic C to soil and lower actual organic
C contents (SOCactual ) (Ingram and Fernandes 2001).
The potential of SOC sequestration is enormous. World’s degraded soils
(1216 Mha) and agricultural soils (4961 Mha) are capable of sequestering C (Lal
2004a, b). As high as 66–90 pg, C can be sequestered over 25–50 years in these soils
(Lal 2004a, b). There is also a large potential of grassland for soil C sequestration.

4.3 Factors Affecting C Sequestration in Soil

Soil C per se soil C sequestration is the fundamental of sustainability as well as

soil quality. The C sequestration in soil depends on various factors like soil clay
62 R. Das et al.

Fig. 4.2 Relationship between C sequestration situation and soil organic C (SOC) level. Modified
from Ingram and Fernandes (2001)

content and its mineralogy, different management practices such as fertilizer and
tillage, nature of organic matter in soil, changes in land use system especially in
salt-affected soil and abundance of soil microorganisms. Moreover, the SOC content
of top soil is mainly affected by climate and cultivation, whereas at deeper horizons
by pedological traits such as clay content and mineralogical make up of soil (Rao
et al. 2019).

4.3.1 Content and Type of Clay Minerals

Clay minerals are the diverse group of hydrous layer alumino silicates, and most
active soil particle due to their small size (<2 µm) and large specific surface area
(SSA) (Huggett 2015). Both the crystalline and amorphous clay minerals interact
with organic matter (OM) in soil through different mechanisms, i.e. van der Waals
attraction, hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen (H)-bonding, electrostatic attraction
and ligand exchange (Kleber et al. 2015) and chemically protect SOC (Barre et al.
2014) by forming clay-organic complex (COC). The COC is the basic building block
of soil aggregates where individual soil particles especially the clay minerals bind
together by SOM and physically protect SOC (Six et al. 2002). The organic C (OC)
in COC is not easily accessible to soil microorganisms, thus resistant to microbial
degradation and provides biological protection to the SOC (Six et al. 2002). It was
found that more than 90% of SOC is in close association with clay minerals which
significantly reduce the availability of organic matter to the microorganisms and
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 63

Fig. 4.3 Processes of C stabilization by clay minerals. Modified from Singh et al. (2018)

eventually reduce its mineralization rate (Conant et al. 2011), thus protect SOM from
degradation in soil even redox-active environments (Schrumpf et al. 2013; Zeng et al.
2016). Thus, the clay mineral contributes physical, chemical and biological protection
to OC (Singh et al. 2018) for long-term C sequestration in soil (Fig. 4.3).
According to some researchers, a linear correlation exists between SOC and clay
content in soil (Johannes et al. 2017, Zhong et al. 2018), and the content of SOC
increases with changes in soil texture from coarse sand to clay loam where clay
content is relatively higher (Schjonning et al. 2018). Clay mineral also plays very
important role in preserving large amount of organic matter in anoxic environment
by adsorbing it on to the surface and reducing the oxygen exposure times (Chen
et al. 2018). Therefore, clay can be used as an amendment in sandy soil, especially
addition of clay in the subsoil region, significantly increased the OC stocks in soil
(Schapel et al. 2018). Recently, the ratio of soil clay to SOC is emerging as a very
important indicator for determining the soil structural quality and also for describing
the critical threshold values in clay dispersibility (Czyz et al. 2017; Dexter et al.2008;
Getahun et al. 2016; Johannes et al. 2017). The clay dispersibility in soil aggregates
is influenced by the degree of clay saturation with C and determines the strength
of soil aggregates, which is very important to manage the structural quality of soil
(Johannes et al. 2017; Getahun et al. 2016).
The type of clay minerals significantly affects the C stability which is prerequisite
for long-term C sequestration in soil (Singh et al. 2016). The stability of C is always
higher in smectite-dominating soil compared to the other soil orders, i.e. Inceptisol,
Mollisol and Alfisol (Das et al. 2019a, b). On mass basis, smectite has the capacity
to absorb maximum amount of dissolve organic C followed by illite and kaolinite,
respectively (Saidy et al. 2013). Smectite has higher internal surface area and greater
64 R. Das et al.

number of interaction sites which can bind organic matter effectively and increase its
stability (Chotzen et al. 2016). On the other hand, lower stability of organic matter in
illite is due to the fact that most of the interaction sites are on the edge in illite rather
than the internal surface area (in smectite) (Chen et al. 2018). However, illite has
relatively higher SSA and cation exchange capacity and can hold relatively higher
amount of OM than kaolinite (Wiseman and Puttmann 2006). Poorly crystalline
amorphous minerals are also very important for stabilizing the OC due to their
large surface area and smaller particle size compared to the crystalline clay minerals
(Chatterjee et al. 2013; Zhao et al. 2017). Therefore, poorly crystalline allophone
mineral can adsorb higher amount of dissolve organic C than smectite and kaolinite–
illite soil clay fraction (Singh et al. 2016). The amorphous Fe and Al oxides increase
the stability of OC by forming stable complex basically the inner sphere complex
which is resistant to microbial degradation (Schneider et al. 2010), hence increasing
the mean residence time of OC in soils (Bolan et al. 2012). Amorphous Fe oxides
are most important for stabilization of OC in soils compared to the other oxides,
hydroxides and phyllosilicates (Chatterjee et al. 2013; Zhao et al. 2017). The poorly
crystalline Fe minerals bind the aromatic functional group of SOC (Wen et al. 2019)
and increase the soil aggregation especially the formation of soil macroaggregates
and subsequently improve the C stability in soil (Wang et al. 2019).

4.3.2 Nature of Organic Matter

Soil C sequestration is also influenced by quality of organic matter rather than its
quantity. The different mineralization rate owing to different biochemical composi-
tion of organic matter (Mohanty et al. 2013) leads to different rate of C build up and
subsequent storage of C in soils (Yadav et al. 2017; Purakayastha et al. 2019) and
those indicate different pools of C (already discussed in 2.2) depending upon their
lability towards microbial decomposition. Therefore, the biochemical composition
of SOM varies depending on the organic fraction of soil, including plant, animal
and microbial residues and their various stages of decomposition and the relatively
resistant ‘humus’ (alkaline extractable organic matter). The same organic compound
could be labile and recalcitrant at the same time and, in the same soil, simply based on
the oxygen availability within a given microenvironment (Rao et al. 2019). Besides,
carbon and nitrogen ratio (C:N) of organics also plays important role in the miner-
alization process from recalcitrant to labile pool of C. It is the mineralization rate
which determines the amount of C added to soil per unit availability of N. Organic
materials with a high C:N ratio(cereal crop residues, etc.) reduce the available N
in the soil due to N immobilization, whereas residues with high N contents narrow
C:N ratio indicates higher availability of N per unit of C to the soil microbes, which
increases its mineralization rate (Dannehl et al. 2017) and eventually greater addi-
tion of substrate C leads to higher C stability (Das et al. 2019a, b) for its subsequent
retention in soils. The C:N ratio also determines the mean residence time (MRT)
of organic matter in soil and controls its decomposition rate and eventually the C
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 65

Table 4.1 Soil organic matter and relative stability in soil environment
Source of soil carbon Decomposability Mean residence time (MRT) C:N ratio
Soil organic matter Decomposable (active pool) <2 years 15–30
Resistant (slow pool) 15–100 years 10–25
Highly stable (passive pool) 500–10,000 years 7–10
Source Adapted from Stevenson (1994) and Dungait et al. (2012)

stability in soil (Dungait et al. 2012). The relationship between MRT of SOM and
C:N ratio is presented in Table 4.1.

4.3.3 Management Practices

The SOC content of a soil is also regarded as a function of soil management system.
Therefore, any change in management system can alter nutrients and microbial trans-
formation, and SOM decomposition eventually affects its SOC content vis a vis
soil quality. Rather, it can be said that the SOC content in soil depends on several
interacting mechanisms; however, we only discuss about the crop rotation, fertilizer
management and tillage practices which are directly related to the alteration of soil
environment.

4.3.3.1 Crop Rotation

Proper crop rotation itself is an effective strategy to improve soil quality and its
sustainability by proper and effective utilization of soil resources. It is well estab-
lished that high risk of failure is associated with monoculture practices; whereas,
multiple cropping system with proper crop rotation is a feasible and more practical
option for reducing these risk factors. Further, proper crop rotation with the legume
inclusion is not only the viable option for disrupting the weed, disease and insect
cycles in cereal crops but also it helps in enhancing nutrient use efficiency, improving
water use efficiency, improved soil quality (including SOC, soil structure, aggre-
gation, bulk density, water infiltration and retention, soil erodibility) and reduced
allelopathy (Nath et al. 2019; Karlen et al. 1994). Rotation can reduce the residual
soil nitrate available for leaching and/or immobilization losses. Moreover, legume
provides N credit to the subsequent cereal crop and reduces the need for exogenous
application of fertilizer N, thereby increases nitrogen use efficiency components for
the crop.
66 R. Das et al.

4.3.3.2 Fertilizer Management Practices

Management of fertilizer sources for long-term intensive cultivation greatly influ-

ences the C stability and its subsequent sequestration in soil. It has been well estab-
lished that continuous cultivation with only organic sources or inorganic fertilizer
is not sustainable for Indian agriculture (Pathak et al. 2011). The sole application
of inorganic fertilizer improves the yield of crops but declines the SOC content,
whereas the application of organic fertilizer alone is not feasible and also the crop
yield becomes compromised sometimes. Further, soil N-mineralization was favoured
with the addition of NPK but attained the peak values when the NPK was integrated
with organic amendments (Basak et al. 2017a, b) and leads to better C sequestration in
soil. Thereby, the common recommended management practices leading to improve
soil C sequestration under fertilizer management are integrated nutrient management
(INM) which include use of fertilizer nutrients (synthetic fertilizers) coupled with
manures, compost, crop residues, bio-solids, mulch farming, conversation tillage,
agroforestry, diverse cropping systems and cover crops (Lal 2004a, b). Thus, the
INM system improves soil quality by regulating the soil reaction, building up SOC,
improving soil physical properties and improving nutrient solubility/mobility. By
integrating organic and inorganic sources, the added SOC can aid in the sustenance of
agriculture for a longer period than inorganic sources alone, especially in the tropical
climate of the Indian subcontinent where the temperature remains high and organic
matter decomposition is rapid. INM is the key to sustaining our soils for improving
productivity and preserving soil quality and environmental sustainability (Singh et al.
2010a, b). Das et al. (2019b) found that combined application of organic and inor-
ganic sources of nutrients not only increased the SOC content but also improved
NPK status in soil along with the growth and yield parameters of soybean. Similarly,
Waqas et al. (2020) reported that the highest SOC sequestration rate of 0.43 Mg
C ha−1 yr−1 with combined application of balanced mineral and organic fertilizers
(BMOF) rather than the sole application of unbalanced mineral fertilizer, or balanced
mineral fertilizer or organic fertilizers or combined unbalanced mineral and organic
fertilizers application over a time period of more than 10 years, and BMOF can not
only maintain and improve the soil quality but also can produce high and stable crop
yields.

4.3.3.3 Tillage Practices

It is already well established that conventional tillage (CT) system has also potential
to sequester C in soil by altering C dynamics, its aggregation pattern and ultimately
modifying its soil structure. On the other hand, recent approach of conservation agri-
culture (CA) with alterations in tillage, residue recycling and crop rotation practices
significantly affects SOC pools and supplies quantity and quality of plant residue
with seasonal variability which affects nutrient dynamics, soil microorganisms and
soil microbial processes (Bongiorno et al. 2019; Choudhary et al. 2018a, b; Jat et al.
2018, 2020) and eventually affects the C sequestration in soil. This practice also
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 67

supports conservation of time, fuel, soil water, soil structure and nutrients. More-
over, CA was not initially conceived as a practice to sequester soil C, and it is now
considered as a potential technology to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and has
become a focus of C research. Several workers have reported the beneficial effects
of the different component practices of CA on soil C stocks compared to conven-
tional practices (Bhattacharyya et al. 2015; Parihar et al. 2016; Jat et al. 2019a).
It is already established that CA practices play significant role in soil aggregation
pattern, especially, in terms of formation of intra-aggregate particulate organic matter
(iPOM) which promotes C stability due to reduction in tillage intensity and contin-
uous input of fresh organic matter which promotes less disruption of soil aggregates
and consequently greater physical protection of SOC inside macroaggregates (Six
et al. 2000; Bhattacharyya et al. 2015; Jat et al. 2019b; Modak et al. 2019). Therefore,
the SOM dynamics is highly affected by macroaggregate turnover and microaggre-
gate formation, thereby affecting C stabilization within microaggregates. Mondal
et al. (2019) reported that CA resulted in 27–35% higher aggregate-associated OC
content and 11% increase in OC stock at 0–30 cm soil depth after 5 years of prac-
tice (Fig. 4.4.). Furthermore, a switchover from conventional to conservation tillage
reduces C oxidation and thus emissions of CO2 and conversion of CT to no till have
the C sequestration potential of 44.1 Mt. C under rice–wheat systems of India over
20 years (Grace et al. 2011). Therefore, long-term use of zero tillage improves the
C sequestration in soil.

Total SOC (Mg /ha) stock at 0-30 cm depth

22
a
21

ab
20 b
b
19

18
TA pCA1 fCA pCA2

Fig. 4.4 Soil organic carbon (SOC) stock at 0–30 cm depth in a rice–wheat rotation after 5 years of
conservation agriculture practice in the Indo-Gangetic plains of Bihar. TA—traditional agriculture;
pCA—partial conservation agriculture; fCA—full conservation agriculture. Source Adapted from
Mondal et al. (2019)
68 R. Das et al.

4.3.4 Land Use Change

Land use and management practices are considered as net sink, rather than sources
of GHG emissions (Lal et al. 2007) and have significant effect on C sequestration
in soil. SOC in soils of the tropics is still poorly known despite its importance, size
and dynamics (Batjes 1996). Many biological and chemical processes of terrestrial
ecosystems are influenced by land use change, and the most prominent of these
changes is the modification of global terrestrial C cycling (Li and Mathews 2010).
One-third of the global SOC pool is stored in soils of the tropics with about 128, 151,
136 and 56 Pg C stored in tropical wet, moist, dry and mountain regions, respectively
(Hiederer and Köchy 2011). Anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and land
use change significantly modified the SOC stock (Scharlemann et al. 2014). SOC is
highly sensitive to land use change as demonstrated by several studies (Smith 2008;
Parras-Alcántara et al. 2013). Globally estimated net emissions of 1.1 ± 0.7 Pg C
year−1 are caused by land use change during the first decade of the 2000s. Deforesta-
tion and the conversion of natural vegetation into cropland in the tropics are the main
reason for this emission (Don et al. 2011; Houghton 2003). Tropical ecosystems are
characterized by high biodiversity and for important effects on global climate and
biogeochemical cycles, especially on C turnover and sequestration (Katovai et al.
2012; Malhi and Phillips 2004). Higher turnover rates of SOC are observed in trop-
ical soils than in colder climates due to faster transformation processes during litter
decomposition (Zech et al. 1997). Average SOC stocks decrease was 25–30% due
to conversion from natural to agricultural ecosystems (Don et al. 2011; Houghton
and Goodale 2004). To mitigate climate change, land use changes are recognized as
a measure if the depleted pools of cropland are refilled with C (Terrestrial Carbon
Group 2010). However, loss of C from soils due to land use change is still continuing.
Recently, Ledo et al. (2020) showed that land uses using perennial crops have the
potential to sequester C resulting in a negative C balance system and thus reducing
atmospheric CO2 concentration.

4.3.4.1 Changes in Land Use in Salt-Affected Soils

Salt-affected soils are impediments to successful crop production and sustainability

of the production system due to its harmful effect on plant growth. In India, salt-
affected lands comprise about 6.73 million (M) ha area, covering sodic soils of
3.78 Mha and saline soils of 2.95 Mha posing a serious threat to food production
of the country. This huge salt-affected area results in the losses of about 230 billion
INR every year which is expected to rise with further increase in salt-affected area to
16.2 M ha by 2050 (CSSRI 2015). Both salinity and sodicity are having significant
impact on SOM turnover, thereby playing a key role in mitigation of greenhouse gas
emission. Cultivation of appropriate crops, shrubs and trees, i.e. acacia [A. nilotica
(L.)], shisham [D. sissoo], mesquite [P. juliflora] and arjuna [T. Arjuna] in sodic and
saline–sodic soils may increase soil C through biomass production as revealed by
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 69

10
9
8
Soil organic carbon (g kg-1)

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Acacia niloƟca Eucalyptus Prosopis Terminalia Albizia IniƟal Soil
tereƟcornis juliflora arjuna lebbeck

Fig. 4.5 Ameliorative effect of 20-year-old tree plantations on soil organic carbon enrichment at
0–15 cm of an alkali soil (Singh and Gill 1990). Adopted from Datta et al. (2019)

previous studies (Garg 1998; Kaur et al. 2002; Datta et al. 2015a, b).The SOC build
up in an alkali soil under shisham and mesquite is due to higher microbial activity
in upper 0.6 m soil depth resulting from lower Na+ levels in soil, thereby facilitating
decomposition of leaf litter and root decay leading to accumulation of humus (Garg
1998). Singh and Gill (1990) reported that the C sequestration rate was 0.2–0.8 Mg
C ha−1 yr−1 after 20 years of planting of different trees species in an alkali soil with
maximum C sequestration under Prosopis juliflora (9.3 g kg−1 ) (Fig. 4.5).
Datta et al. (2015a, b) showed that the highest SOC storage (133 Mg C ha−1 )
and passive pool C (76 Mg C ha−1 ) at 2.0 m soil depth were observed under guava
plantation. Adoption of improved management practices not only rehabilitates the
salt-affected soils but also serves many ecosystem functions such as atmospheric
CO2 sequestration at the same time helping in livelihood security of the resource
poor farmers. Saha et al. (2014) reported that the highest (83.5 Mg ha−1 ) and the
lowest (55.6 Mg ha−1 ) SOC stocks were observed in soil profile under forest and
eroded lands, respectively, (up to depth of 1.05 m) in the degraded Shiwaliks of the
lower Himalayas. Recently, Datta et al. (2019) reviewed the C dynamics in salt-
affected soils and concluded that salt-affected soils have tremendous potential to
sequester C which not only improved the soil quality of those soils at the same time
but served many ecosystem functions.

4.3.5 Importance of Soil Microbes in C Sequestration

Soil microorganisms (MO) are the inevitable component of global C cycle, thus
play a significant role in maintaining the atmospheric C concentration (Singh et al.
70 R. Das et al.

2010a, b). The autotrophic MO converts atmospheric C into organic form in soil by
‘C fixing mechanisms’, while, on the other hand, this SOC gets oxidized by both the
autotrophic and heterotrophic MO and gets released into the atmosphere by ‘respira-
tion process’ (Gougoulias et al. 2014). Therefore, use of efficient C sequestering MO
is an important sustainable biological method to improve the capability of agricul-
tural land to store C which eventually mitigates the effect of climate change (Ahmed
et al. 2019; Sundquist et al. 2008). The activity of MO in C cycle does not solely
depend on C but also on other essential elements which are required for microbial
metabolism and also on soil factors such as pH, texture, mineralogy, moisture content
and temperature (Schmidt et al. 2011). The heterotrophic MO plays integral role in
the decomposition of biomass by utilizing the C from organic substrate (e.g. plant,
animal or other microbes) for its metabolism and releases a substantial portion of
C to atmosphere and eventually leads to C drain from soil. Soil bacteria can be
categorized as oligotrophs and copiotrophs on the basis of growth rates and C miner-
alization potential (Trivedi et al. 2013). Soil having higher population density of
oligotrophs (phyla Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria and class Deltaproteobacteria)
shows less C turnover, thus less CO2 emission and eventually greater C sequestration
(Yao et al. 2017). Soil microorganisms have the merits of CO2 sequestration with
high photosynthetic conversion rate, capacity of wide variety of additive production
and bioremediation capabilities (Gougoulias et al. 2014). In the dryland ecosystems,
filamentous network formed by exopolysaccharide secretions by dominant microor-
ganism such as cyanobacteria in the soil crust plays important role in C sequestration
(Singh et al. 2010a, b). The enhanced water retention capacity, stability, porosity
and filtration increase the soil fertility that helps biomass production and eventually
escalates C storage potential (Singh et al. 2010a, b). Biotechnology-based biocrust
having inoculation-based bacteria and cyanobacteria which can contribute the enrich-
ment of soil with short- and long-term vegetation cover (Santos-Merino et al. 2019)
and eventually help to sequester C in soil. Archaea, the prokaryotic single-celled
microorganism, are mostly extremophiles as they are usually grown under extreme
environmental conditions such as high salinity, sodicity, extreme temperatures and
anaerobic conditions. Under anaerobic conditions, archaea (Methanobrevibactera-
boriphilus, Methanothermobacterthermautotrophicus, Methanosarcinabarkeri, and
Methanothermobactermarburgensis) produce methane by using CO2 as C source,
and the production of methane depends on the relative activity of methanogens,
i.e. methane producer over the activity of methanotrophs, i.e. methane oxidizer
(Gougoulias et al. 2014). Few methanogens can sequester CO2 and biologically
solve the waste problems simultaneously. Methanogens such as Methanobacteri-
aceae, Methanospirrillaceae and Methanosarcinaceae spp. show the potential of
wastewater treatment and methane production (Mohd Yasin et al. 2015). Autotrophic
archaea such as Metallosphaera, Sulfolobus, Archaeoglobus and Cenarchaeumspp
can sequester CO2 through the 3-hydroxypropionate-4-hydroxybutyrate cycle (Berg
et al. 2007). Clostridia are important in C cycle having the property of being Gram
positive bacteria and obligate anaerobes. Clostridium autoethanogenum fixes CO2
and CO into central metabolite acetyl-CoA via the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway in the
presence of hydrogen (Singh et al. 2010a, b). Clostridium spp. has the ability to
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 71

use CO2 , CO and carbohydrates which makes it useful in C management, whereas

Proteobacteria, a Gram negative bacteria, has the capability of sequestering CO2
by different metabolic pathways. The α-Proteobacteria such as Xanthobacterflavus,
Oligotrophacarboxidovorans, Rhodobactercapsulatus and Rhodobactersphaeroides
sequesters CO2 by Calvin cycle (Meijer 1994). Fungi and bacteria contribute differ-
ently in soil C sequestration (Ahmed et al. 2019). Fungi generally assimilate higher C
compared to bacteria and increase C sequestration in soil; therefore, higher biomass
ratio of fungi: bacteria indicates greater amount of stable C in soil (Six et al. 2006).
Fungi also synthesize biomolecules that enhance aggregate stability which eventu-
ally increase C accumulation in soil (Govindarajulu et al. 2005). Both the mycor-
rhizal fungi, i.e. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), an obligate symbionts that can
obtain C only from host plants and the ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM), a facultative
symbionts that can also mineralize OC, play significant role in C cycle (Gougoulias
et al. 2014).

4.4 Soil Quality and C Sequestration

Soil quality is defined as the fitness of soil to provide safe and nutritious food for
habitation, ensure human and animal health, check degradative processes and support
ecological functions. Concisely, it is defined as the capacity of the soil to function, and
reduction of soil quality is the early indication of soil degradation. Intensive agri-
cultural practices, over exploitation of natural resources, imbalanced fertilization,
minimum addition of organic inputs, monocropping, non-replacement of depleted
micro and secondary nutrients over the years, less interest to introduce legume in rota-
tion have resulted in nutrient deficiencies and decrease in soil fertility in some parts
of the country (Basak and Mandal 2019). Soil quality is the integrated expression
of large number of physical, chemical and biological attributes (Mandal et al. 2016)
those are relevant to performing soil functions. These soil attributes are the founda-
tion for the assessment of soil quality; therefore, selection of those attributes needs
utmost care and intelligence. In soil quality assessment, each category of attributes,
namely physical: bulk density, maximum water-holding capacity, penetration resis-
tance saturated hydraulic conductivity/infiltration, soil aggregation, etc.; similarly
under chemical: pH, EC, cation exchange capacity, organic C, available N, P, K and
S micronutrients, heavy metals load, etc., and under biological: microbial biomass
C and N, soil enzymes, mineralizable C and N, soil biodiversity, soil fauna, etc, is
considered.
Soil physical properties have played significant role to provide favourable growth
medium to establish crop plant, but the formidable challenge is the long gestation
period to recover and gain soil physical productivity under intensive cultivation where
soil is fatigue due to perturbation. Balanced fertilization and organic inputs, viz.
manure (green or farmyard), crop residue and composts increase the SOC content
(Basak et al. 2017a, b; Sharma et al. 2015), which affect various physical proper-
ties of soil like lowering soil bulk density, increasing porosity and water conductivity
72 R. Das et al.

lowing soil penetration resistance, increasing aggregate stability and improving infil-
tration (Bhaduri et al. 2018). Soil aggregates are the sites for SOC retention against
oxidative loss and provide biological protection. Therefore, organic amendments
have distinguishing capacity against external high temperature at tropical summer
and facilitate aggregation and subsequent stabilization of SOC in aggregate size
fractions (Bandyopadhyay et al. 2011) which could be a possible way to counteract
organic matter depletion and may prevent the rapid deterioration of soil physical
properties. In soil chemical properties, SOC and its different pools are the sensitive
indicators to represent the impact of management practices on soil. The labile pools
of soil C contain microbial biomass and are closely associated with nutrient miner-
alization and reflect organic input management over the past several years. These
pools also fuel the soil food web and, thereby, greatly influence nutrient cycles for
maintaining the soil quality (Deb et al. 2018) and are considered sensitive indicators
to detect any change in soil quality (Datta et al. 2018). Soil organic matter has both
direct and indirect effects on availability of nutrients for plant growth. Majority of
researchers throughout the globe including India have shown that SOC is one of the
key parameters for assessing soil quality. Therefore, maintenance of SOC at a reason-
able level is essential for upkeeping soil quality and sustaining ecological functions
(Mandal et al. 2016).Therefore, enriching soil with SOC through sequestration of
atmospheric C will help to sustain food security and to manage global warming and
climate change abetment significantly. According to Mandal (2011), the optimum
and threshold values of SOC are (8.0 and 4.7 g kg−1 , respectively) almost similar (8.9
and 5.7 g kg−1 , respectively) when relative soil quality is considered as the output
for rice–potato–sesame in Inceptisols. Similarly, those critical values (optimum and
threshold values) for SOC act as a key indicator for soil quality in different inten-
sively cultivated systems, and it is advocated for the first-hand assessment of soil
quality and prescribed to recommend for corrective measures for its restoration, if
required (Mandal 2011; Rai et al. 2020).
Soil biological indicators are more sensitive indicator to detect the changes in
soil health compared to chemical and physical ones as they manifest themselves over
shorter timescales and are crucial to the ecological function of a soil. Soil microbial
biomass represents the living component of organic matter in soil, excluding animals
and plant roots and acts as both source and sinks for nutrients and participates in the
C, N, P and S transformations (Basak et al. 2017a, b). Soil enzymes activities also
describe organic matter decomposition, C-release and sequestration, nutrient cycling
and microbial activity and also are used as discriminatory indicators for a wide range
of soil management practices (Nannipieri et al. 2012). External C inputs, viz. farm-
yard/green manure, crop residue„ composts and bio-fertilizer improve soil biological
and metabolic activity due to the presence of steady source of readily metabolizable
C and N in the organic supplement applied (Basak et al. 2017a, b). Disruption of soil
aggregates, depletion of nutrients and devoid or imbalanced fertilization in inten-
sively tilled soil result in net decrease in soil microbial biomass and reduce the
amount of SOC. Soil respiration or C mineralization is an index of total soil biolog-
ical activity and reflects the overall activity or energy spent by the indigenous soil
microbial pool. Mineralizable C is one of the most important parameters to monitor
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 73

the microbial-mediated processes like decomposition of organic matter in soil and

is the index of total C availability (Biswas et al. 2017).

4.5 C Sequestration and Climate Change

Temperature directly influences SOC decomposition (Wankhede et al. 2020). Hence,

SOC decomposition is faster in tropics than temperate regions (Dalal and Chan
2001). However, two hypotheses exist based on the amount of OM present in soil.
In soil with high OM, with increasing temperature, microbial activity increases,
resulting in acceleration of chemical transformation reaction of organic matter to
recalcitrant compounds and thus recalcitrant pools increase; whereas in soil with
low OM, with increasing temperature microbial activity increases, resulting in accel-
eration of microbial decomposition of added residues and labile C pools increase.
Overall, increased temperature can be linked with increased soil respiration, as a
global average temperature increase of 2 °C is predicted to increase soil C-release by
10 Pg, chiefly due to increases in microbial activity (Davidson and Janssens 2006).
Thereby, the climatic variabilities that directly affect the soil microorganisms eventu-
ally alter their potential in C sequestration. However, this temperature response will
be moderated if moisture becomes limiting. However, warm, moist environments can
support high levels of microbial activity, thus leading to a high decomposition rate
(Biswas et al. 2018). Soils in colder climates may accumulate C more than soils in
warmer climates. Soil moisture affects microbial activity as it controls movement and
gas and solute diffusion. The increase in SOC with precipitation reflects increases in
plant productivity, hence C inputs (Ghosh et al. 2020).
As management practices can improve SOM in agricultural soils, question arises
‘how much?’—how much C can actually be added to soils so that it is large enough
to maintain the changing climate. Despite working on different scope, i.e. land
and assumptions, i.e. management, several researchers suggested technically soil
C sequestration potential is 2–5 Gt (gigatons) CO2 per year. However, these rates of
C sequestration could be sustained for a limited period, as long as soil C approaches a
new equilibrium (Paustian et al. 2019). Let us assume, SOC pool may be boosted by
10% on over next 50–100 yr at 1 m soil depth. It would be equal to reducing atmo-
spheric CO2 concentration ~118 ppm. If the process can be accomplished, atmo-
spheric CO2 concentration could be drawn down from 410 to 292 ppm, which is
close to pre-industrial concentration. Thus, C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems
is the only cost-efficient process of reducing the atmospheric abundance of CO2 .
Hence, a 10–13% increase in SOC pool would drop down atmospheric CO2 concen-
tration by 118–152 ppm. The attainable and actual potentials are much lower, hence
C sequestration could significantly mitigate climate change.
74 R. Das et al.

4.6 Conclusions

Atmospheric CO2 concentration is increasing at a rate of 2.3 ppm per year aggra-
vating the risks of global warming, soil degradation and desertification and environ-
mental pollution. Different C pools and C stabilization mechanisms in soil are greatly
affected by various climatic and soil factors which control the global C cycle. The
amount of C present in the soil is the function of land use change, soil type, climate
(rainfall and temperature) and management practices where soil factors govern poten-
tial C; climate determines the attainable C and management practices fix actual C.
All these together determine C sequestration, C stock, CO2 emissions and overall net
C balance in soil. Among the different factors, the content and type of clay minerals
affect the C stabilization by forming clay–organic complex in soil which is very
crucial for C sequestration. Recommended management practices such as conserva-
tion tillage, application of residue and manures, proper crop rotation with inclusion
of legumes, long-term application of inorganic fertilizers along with organic manures
in integrated manner, etc., play a vital role in sustaining soil quality and sequestering
high amounts of SOC in the long run. In the present context of climate change,
proper land use management has tremendous potential to sequester SOC and miti-
gate the harmful effects of extreme climate even in the degraded land of India, where
rehabilitation through suitable tolerant tree species may not only increase the area
under forest but also subsequently fix atmospheric CO2 into soil. The temperature and
moisture content in soil affect the microbial abundance and activity which eventually
affects the C stabilization and subsequent sequestration in soil. The SOC plays an
incomparable role for upkeeping and restoring soil quality and sustaining ecological
functions, which are very vital for agricultural sustainability and thereby, it has been
prescribed as one of the key parameters for assessing soil quality. Besides seques-
tration of C in soils and vegetation is a cost-effective option with ample number
of co-benefits especially better soil quality and the attendant increase in agronomic
production. Therefore, sequestration of C in soil is very crucial to mitigate the effect
of climate change by reducing the greenhouse gases emission and also to improve
the soil quality for better crop productivity in sustainable manner.
Further, to mitigate climate change, there should be policy reforms to encourage
C trading, as farming C and trading of C credits sequestered in soils and trees, similar
to trading of any other farm produce, can create another income stream for farmers.
In comparison with engineering technologies, C sequestration in soils and vegetation
is a cost-effective option. It is a win-win strategy, a low hanging fruit and an essential
development option regardless of the debate on climate change. The prospects for C
sequestration are promising because enhancing SOC brings multiple benefits; there
are opportunities to incentivize action beyond formal carbon markets. Policies in
both the climate sector (with a focus on mitigation) and the agriculture sector (with a
focus on soil quality enhancement) are needed to achieve substantial, cost-effective
SOC protection and enhancement to meet climate targets and improve resilience.
4 Soil Carbon Sequestration for Soil Quality Improvement … 75

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 Part III
Advance Carbon Management Techniques
Chapter 5
Post-combustion of Carbon Capture
Technologies: Advancements
in Absorbents and Nanoparticles

Ravinder Kumar, Mohammad HosseinAhmadi, Anand Bewoor, Reza Alayi,

Pawan Kumar, and Venkata Manikanta Medisetty

5.1 Introduction

Rapid population growth is been the trending problem and which is being highlighted
around the globe for a few decades. Specifically, the twentieth century brought a
huge growth rate of the population. Correspondingly, energy and industrial demand
coupled to the population growth putting massive urge. Therefore, the establish-
ment of new industries is being done to meet the surplus energy demand using
conventional methods. So far, this energy demand was compensated using limited
conventional resources like coal, natural gas, and fossil fuels maintaining sustain-
able production. But, as far as the environment is concerned, these conventional
ways of energy production are stripping the quality of the earth and the environ-
ment drastically. This rate of degradation is substantially doubled and its severity
was first noted in 1980 (Tan et al. 2012). Conventional combustion of fossil fuels
and coal is releasing 41% of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide,

R. Kumar (B) · V. M. Medisetty

Departmant of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab
144411, India
e-mail: [email protected]
M. HosseinAhmadi
Departmant of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
A. Bewoor
Mechanical Engineering Departments, Cummins College of Engineering for Women, Pune,
Maharashtra 411052, India
R. Alayi
Department of Mechanics, Germi Branch, Islamic Azad University, Germi, Iran
P. Kumar
Department of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of
Science and Technology, Murthal, Haryana 131039, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 85
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_5
86 R. Kumar et al.

methane, and ozone to the environment (Damiani et al. 2012; Pant et al. 2017).
Out of which major contribution is observed to be CO2 holding not less than 77%
of greenhouse gases followed by nitrous oxide (Hemmati et al. 2019; Abdul et al.
2017). Moreover, the total capacity of these power plants which uses fossil fuels
are increasing rapidly and reached 3500 GW by 2016 (Amin and Rahman 2019).
Among all the natural resources, coal is termed as the prominent reason for the
production of greenhouse gases upon its combustion and thereby putting mankind in
danger (Chakroun and Ghoniem 2015; Smith et al. 2019). The cause of greenhouse
gases primarily due to human activities particularly from the coal-fired power plants
which a usage of outdated technologies. Moreover, according to the International
Energy Agency (IEA), the overall CO2 emission from 1990 to 2006 increased from
21,000 Mt to 28,000 Mt, respectively. IEA recently projected that the CO2 emission
would be doubled by 2020 largely because of using fossil fuels and its conventional
processes. Power plants solely contributing more than one-third percent of the world-
wide carbon dioxide emissions annually (Zhao et al. 2008). The unified approach of
all the countries with cost-effective technologies could balance the domestic demands
and environmental issues simultaneously. However, many alternative technologies
are being implemented to tackle this warm situation; none was successful so far in
eliminating the alarming situation. To control carbon emissions and meet surplus
energy demand, four reasonable approaches can be derived. Firstly, to reduce the
carbon intensity; Secondly, replacing the conventional power plant industries with
the efficient and advances power production technologies. Increasing the efficiency
of the power generation cycles would be the third approach which is followed by the
application of advanced carbon capture techniques.
Hence, the carbon capture technique and the sequestration were introduced to
provide better gas streams to the environment. With this application, huge consid-
erable amounts of carbon dioxide are tend to be captured from large hotspot areas
(Klara et al. 2003). This approach is expected to lock down the CO2 emission to a
greater extent for thousands of years. Absorbing the carbon dioxide may be done
before the combustion process from the exhaust gases which are technically named as
pre-combustion and post-combustion processes, respectively. Oxy-fuel combustion
is extensive technology that regenerates the fuel gas before the combustion thereby
condensing the water and CO2 content. The selection of the capture system to any
plant should be determined by the three important factors, namely the pressure of the
flue gas stream, the concentration of the carbon dioxide in the stream, and the fuel
used for the combustion in the plant. In its early times, coupling carbon sequestration
equipment to the power plants which are then having outmost 33% efficiency was
found the downfall of one-third of its efficiency (Figueroa et al. 2008). Chemical
absorption techniques using alkaline amines are being used for the sequestration of
carbon dioxide industrially despite their several disadvantages like high regeneration
costs, leakage of amines, and corrosive nature of the solvents.
In this study, we brought up all the possible capturing techniques and seriously
investigated post-combustion technologies in particular in a wide range of aspects.
Different alkaline amines and their conventional processes are proposed. Putting no
end to this, advanced blends of aqueous MEA, nanomembranes, and nanoparticles
5 Post-Combustion of Carbon Capture Technologies: Advancements … 87

are showcased along with their performance discriminations. Industrial discomforts

with the current capturing techniques are identified and concerned possible measures
for future applications are proposed.

5.2 Post-combustion Technologies

Post-combustion technology involves eliminating the carbon dioxide from the flue
gas before releasing it to the atmosphere. The incredible advantage of this tech-
nology suits the application in existing coal-fired power plants. As this setup is
made to install at the tail end of the plant, any emergency shutdown of the carbon-
capturing setup can still allow the concerned plant to operate uninterruptedly. The
other two combustion technologies are incapable of doing so. Out of these avail-
able CO2 removal processes, amine-based chemical absorption attained significant
importance which functions with amine-based aqueous alkanolamine solutions (Rao
and Rubin 2002). Amongst the most developed solvents, monoethanolamine (MEA)
is proved to be the widely used industrial solvent in the chemical absorption process
(Dave et al. 2009; Giri and Pant 2018). Present power plants use air which consists
of four–fifth of nitrogen to process the combustion and it typically releases the flue
gas of 15% CO2 at atmospheric pressure (Figueroa et al. 2008). If the gas stream
has lower carbon concentrations which are typically less than 14%, it would take
higher operating costs as the system is constructed to handle larger gas streams
(Olajire 2010). Another disadvantage of handling lower concentration flue gas is it
has to be used with highly reactive solvents. Separation of carbon dioxide through
post-combustion includes several processes like adsorption, absorption, membrane
technology, and cryogenic fraction for the efficient operation (Li et al. 2011).

5.2.1 Adsorption

This process deals with the adhesion of carbon particles or the molecules present in
the flue gas to a solid surface. The selection of the adsorption material depends on
its properties of carbon capture relative to the stream of flue gas emitting from the
plant. After all the conventional designs, metal–organic frameworks (MOF) attained
rapid growth and currently acting as the most advanced material in the adsorption
technologies (Allendorf et al. 2009; Lee et al. 2009; Wang and Cohen 2009). Enor-
mous research in recent times in the designing of such crystalline materials which
are more stable in filtering the guest particles brought the metal-organic frameworks
(MOF) to the workbench (Yaghi et al. 2003). MOF’s comprises a structure that has
several well-designed nodes and bonds making strong bridges linked with organic
ligands which offer the material more stability and porosity throughout the process
(Li et al. 2011). Porous material will fall between both organic and inorganic mate-
rials (Kuppler et al. 2009). Tuning of these MOF’s makes the suitable adsorption
88 R. Kumar et al.

material for the required application. Aluminophosphates, carbon nanotubes, poly-

meric resins, aluminosilicate zeolites, pillared clays, etc., are recognized as porous
adsorbent materials and some of them are in current applications (Li et al. 2009;
Giri and Pant 2019). MOFs are known for higher thermal stability and lower energy
requirement (Figueroa et al. 2008). It has gone through a tough path from adsorption
of single component gas to the adsorption of mixture of multiple gases.

5.2.2 Membrane Technology

The novel technology consists of a semi-permeable structure that helps in sepa-

rating required gas from the mixed gas stream. Pre-combustion that separates CO2
from H2 , oxy-fuel that separates O2 from N2 , post-combustion that separates CO2
from flue gas can all three are capable enough to employ membrane separation tech-
nology. The rate of separation simply relies on the physical and/or chemical reactions
between the material properties of both gas and the membrane. Various compositions
and structures of semi-permeable membranes are available to tune according to the
requirement and many of them are potentially applied in carbon capture applica-
tions. The material of the membranes would be organic (Polymeric) and inorganic
(ceramic) which started developing from the 1940s for the use in defensive services
(Shekhawat 2003). It is necessary to admit that, the material of the membrane found to
be degraded with the contact of solvents used for the capturing process and not always
considered as the issue. However, if the solvent being used is not set to be compatible
with the chosen membrane material, several changes like structure, porosity, perme-
ability, and affect in mass transfer in the membrane are noticed (Favre and Svendsen
2012). At times, the membrane contactor is shown the outstanding performance of
195 kg/h carbon capture where the exhausted flue gas rate was 2610 kg/h (Zhao et al.
2016). A clear path and various trails of membrane contactors are precisely summa-
rized (Zhao et al. 2016). E. Favre (Favre and Svendsen 2012) suggested the latest
incredible fluorinated polymer polytetrafluorethylene be used with amine solvents to
maintain the chemical and physical stability of the membrane. David Luebke et al.
concluded in his intensive research as lower membrane fabrication temperatures help
in the greater passage of solvent through the pores of the membrane which results in
greater mass transfer (Luebke et al. 2006). In any post-combustion technology, loss
of heat and rate of mass transfer seriously affect the performance of the system. To
attain optimum mass transfer and efficient heat control, Shuaifei Zhao et al. experi-
mented membrane evaporation technique and succeeded in recovering the 32 MJ m−2
h−1 of heat flux and therefore conclude that the membrane evaporation system has
tremendous potential in energy saving (Zhao et al. 2015). Extension to the efficiency
of this membrane technology, nanomembranes are being introduced as it was found
to be consuming only 8% of the total energy produced by the plant (Cuffe et al.
2006).
5 Post-Combustion of Carbon Capture Technologies: Advancements … 89

5.2.3 Cryogenic Separation

Among all other processes, cryogenic separation of CO2 from the flue gas attains a
unique separation process. Compression and expansion of the flue gas at cryogenic
temperatures act as the basic principle of this separation. Cryogenic temperature
is the point where CO2 becomes solid from liquid or gaseous phase. The process
starts with the cooling of the flue dry gas slightly above the cryogenic temperature
by compressing the stream of gasses. Expansion devices are used to further expand
the flue gases. The exit temperature of the flue gas after the expansion derives the
amount of CO2 precipitated from the flue gas. The remaining flue gas is sent to
process the cycle again from the compression. The resultant would be the CO2 in the
liquid stage and nitrogen in gaseous streams. The entire cryogenic process is proved
to be done at 30% less energy consumption at average end temperatures ranges
from −120 to −135 °C with 90% and 99% purity, respectively (Baxter et al. 2011).
However, ammonia whose boiling point is −33 °C is not suitable for the cryogenic
operation as it requires additional energy to cool down the flue gas temperatures to
−33 °C before the process (Sharma and Azzi 2014). Two-stage compressors and
expanders are suggested to be used to acquire more efficiency and purity (Zhang
et al. 2014). The same cryogenic process is carried out using packed beds resulting
in inadequate simulations eliminating pressure drop problems generally occurred
with the conventional process (Tuinier et al. 2010).

5.2.4 Absorption

Post-combustion technology of carbon capture has been the subject of many studies
in which the absorption technique was the dominant one in recent times. Treating
the exhausted flue gas with suitable sorbents tends to be a more effective one in
absorbing carbon percentile to a larger extent. Flue gas emitting from the coal-fired
power plants may contain several contaminating gases (Namely CO, HCL, SOx , NOx ,
N2 O, PM10, Ni, Co, Mn, Pb, CH4 ) that cause a corrosive effect on the equipment of
the post-combustion process (Sharma and Azzi 2014; Giri et al. 2018). Therefore,
the foremost step to execute the post-combustion process is to exhale these gases by
water scrubbing before letting the flue gas enter into the main process (Zhou et al.
2012). Even membrane technology was suggested in early times, and researchers
have accepted later that the improved membrane designs would not be competent
with the amine absorption technologies (Cornell 1991). But, reports recorded that
the concerned power plant should lose 30% energy of its production to bear amine
absorption systems (Merkel et al. 2010). However that 30% loss is never been the
issue as the amine solvents are rich enough to absorb 90% of the carbon present
in the flue gas. Applicability of any solvent is determined by its resistant power to
degradation in the presence of O2 and CO2 . Aqueous alkanolamine solvent is the
latest substitution for several falls back solutions like NH3 . Among all the reviewed
90 R. Kumar et al.

solvents, aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) with 30 wt% is the foremost molecule

to capture CO2 in terms of low operating cost and high absorption capacity (Zhou et al.
2012). H. Lepaumier et al. given a detailed review of the degradation possibilities
of MEA in presence of O2 , CO2, and air and conclude that the NH3 is found to
be more stable compared to the MEA despite its disadvantages in other aspects
(Erga et al. 1995; Lepaumier et al. 2009). NH3 -based post-combustion technology
plants have also developed parallel to the MEA pilot plants to test efficiency and
economic feasibility comparatively (McLarnon and Duncan 2009; Yu et al. 2011).
Contradicting to the statements of aqueous MEA, MEA-methanol is considered as
the optimum absorbent in the view of its lower regeneration temperature (Jie et al.
2016).

5.2.5 Experimental Exploration

Experiments and pilot projects on capturing carbon dioxide using monoethanolamine

have set enough benchmarks in each aspect. Reviewing the possible number of
advancements proved that the energy consumption rate is making the technology
unexplored commercially. Keeping this aspect in the center of attention, a system
was developed minimizing or eliminating the possible number of energy-consuming
devices making the system simpler without compromising the net efficiency stan-
dards. The entire process is made on the basic regenerative principle of stripping and
absorbing method as shown in the schematic view in Fig. 5.1
The setup starts with the mixing of carbon dioxide coming from the store cylinder
and the atmospheric air pressurized with the help of the blower. The pressure at
which the carbon dioxide is being delivered from the cylinder is noted with the
pressure gauge. As the rate of flow of flue gases to the system seriously affects

Fig. 5.1 Schematic diagram of the experimental setup

5 Post-Combustion of Carbon Capture Technologies: Advancements … 91

Table 5.1 Technical

Parameter Description
description of
post-combustion system Source of flue gas Artificial cylinder (99% purity)
Packing material Ceramic rings
Size of packing 3–4 inches at two stages
Place of packing Both in absorber column and
stripper column
Size of rings 8–10 mm
Inlet solvent temperature 30–40 °C
Inlet flue gas temperature 40–50 °C
Absorption column 1 m height, 10 cm diameter
Stripper column 1 m height, 10 cm diameter
Solvent composition 30 wt%
Solvent used Monoethanolamine (MEA)
Reboiler type Electric heating mantle

the performance, gases are made to pass through the flow meter. There the stripper
column of 1000 mm height and 10 cm diameter is installed which is structured with
air filter at the top which is followed by ceramic rings (8–10 mm diameter) at two
stages. Similarly, the absorber column is fitted with the same dimensions structured
with the oil filter at the top which is followed by the two stages of ceramic rings.
Between these two columns, a tank with a rich absorbent is placed. MEA of 30% is
dissolved in the distilled water making the solution aqueous. Technical description
of the whole setup is tabulated in Table 5.1. Pure CO2 gas is made to tunnel through
the stripper column to remove the impure particles if any. The filtered CO2 then
enters from the bottom of the solvent tank to mix up with MEA. For the heating and
regeneration process, a customized system was developed using the electric heating
mantle and the condenser system.
While the gas exits from the bottom of the absorber column, it must have stripped
from any impurities and mixed up with aqueous MEA in the path. Therefore, the
two-stage filtered rich absorbent is emitted from the absorber column at a regulated
pressure and flow rate. Next to this, the rich solvent is heated to 130 °C bringing
the solution to its evaporation state. The liquid solution is now formed into vapor
and passed through the condenser which has external continuous coolant flow. The
system is arranged in such a way that the condensed MEA is regenerated to the lean
solvent tank and the vapor exhibited is the required carbon dioxide. The commercial
gas analyzer is put in to test the carbon percentage present in the emitted gas. The
difference between the percentage of composition of the carbon dioxide between the
flue gas which was entered into the stripper column and the gas which was delivered
from the condenser accomplishes the objective.
To balance the thrust on the heating mantle in raising aqueous MEA solution from
room temperature to 130 °C instantly, pre-heater was installed to raise the temperature
to 40–50 °C before entering the absorber column. In the real-time application with
92 R. Kumar et al.

the power plants, the exhaust gasses would be more than 50 °C and in that case,
subsequent coolers should be used to bring down the temperature of the flue gas
before entering the absorber column. The regenerating temperature of the lean solvent
would be around 40–50 °C entering the lean solvent tank. The flow rate of the rich
solvent is to be determined based upon the stream length of the flue gas.

5.3 Role of Nanotechnology in Post-Combustion Carbon

Capture

It is believed that even after the advancements in the type of absorbents and its
compositions, still there is a hope to enhance the rate of carbon capture. In this
scenario, nanotechnology is continuously proving as a solution to take the absorption
techniques to the next level. Various nanoparticles like graphene oxide (Song et al.
2017), CuO (Kim et al. 2006; Ashley et al. n.d.), SiO2 (Tao et al. 2012; Lee et al. 2015;
Jiang et al. 2014), Al2 O3 (Wang et al. 2012; Kim et al. 2014; Lee et al. 2015; Jiang
et al. 2014), MgO (Jiang et al. 2014), and TiO2 (Jiang et al. 2014) came under the light.
Nanoparticles made my breaking basic structures of oxides tend to be more reactive
with carbon dioxide giving sophisticated results. In this context, these are acting
as any other catalyst increasing the reactive nature of the conventional absorbents
over separation of the carbon dioxide. Lack of the desired efficiency in conventional
processes lies in the minimal rate of mass transfer and subsequent researches proved
that the mass transfer rate could be increased by introducing nano-sized particles
into the absorbent (Ruthiya et al. 2003; Keblinski et al. 2005; Olle et al. 2006).
However, inadequate and uncontrolled usage of nanoparticles may become toxic to
the environment. Jin-Kyeong Kim et al. investigated the effect of Cu, CuO, and Al2 O3
with ammonia and described Cu as the efficient reactive catalyst over the other two
(Kim et al. 2006). Nevertheless CuO is also proven as the performance-enhanced
nanoparticle due to its electron-donating nature while carbon is the well-known
electron acceptors (Ashley et al., n.d.). Silica nanoparticles have also contributed its
hand in increasing the mass transfer rate of 21% (Keshishian et al. 2013). Besides
all these, reported that the total absorption rate in accordance to TiO2 -MEA made an
enhancement of 0.7% while Al2 O3 -MEA made 0.02% (Jiang et al. 2014). In other
words, performance of TiO2 and Al2 O3 is not making significant difference in the
enhancement of carbon absorption with MEA and that can be neglected. Strangely,
SiO2 particles had more disruptive performance hindering the basic absorption rate
(Keshishian et al. 2013). In the close investigation of Al2 O3 and SiO2 , usage of tray-
column absorber has reported highest absorption rate than that of bubble absorber
and the properties of the process are shown in Table 5.2.
5 Post-Combustion of Carbon Capture Technologies: Advancements … 93

Table 5.2 Comparision of Al2 O3 and SiO2 with different absorber columns
Bubble absorber (Lee et al. 2011) Tray-column absorber (Torres Pineda
et al. 2012)
Nanoparticle Al2 O3 SiO2 Al2 O3 SiO2
Base solution Deionized water Methanol
Vol. concentration 0.01 0.01 0.005–0.1 0.005–0.1
Particle size 45 nm 15 nm 40–50 nm 10–20 nm
Temperature 20 °C −20 °C 20 °C −20 °C
Absorption rate 4.5% 5.6% 9.4% 9.7%

5.4 Challenges and Future Scenario

Global CCS Institute released a survey stating that only 73 power plants are working
with CCS technology capturing 35.4 Mt CO2 per annum and out of which 15 of them
are operational (Leung et al. 2014). Previously, conventional processes of MEA and
other solutions might not give satisfying absorption rates. However, nanoparticles,
nanomembranes, and nanosolutions made the reaction quicker in sucking the carbon
comparatively. MEA is facing serious issues like a larger equipped requirement,
corrosive issues, and lower CO2 loading capacity at certain temperatures. As compen-
sation of this, ionized liquids are being introduced as the outstanding absorbents
by overcoming some disadvantages arising with the alkaline amines (Akbari and
Valeh-e-Sheyda 2019). No serious mechanism or interest was found in the market
that encourages the industries to install this technology. Unfair freedom in releasing
toxic gases into the environment is not supposed to be supportive to increase the
installation number of CCS technology. It has been analyzed that the average power
production cost for any power plant would increase by 70% on the usage of post-
combustion technology (Leung et al. 2014). The inadequate forecast was made to run
the technology for longer periods. To the best of our knowledge, these major causes
are restricting carbon-capturing techniques to take over the disastrous environment
challenge. As long as the optimized energy systems, lower installation costs, and
sorted storage issues not comes on the screen, carbon-capturing systems would be
limited to the numbers.

5.5 Conclusion

As further restriction of emission of gases into the atmosphere, post-combustion

technology appeared as the glowing global solution with its wide range of possi-
bilities. After the evolvement of various absorbents and blends, MEA-methanol
and aqueous MEA attained the best results so far. In general, the viscosity of the
absorbent tends to increase after the CO2 absorption and this can be occurred due
to higher temperatures. In this experiment, we pre-heated the flue gas to minimize
94 R. Kumar et al.

the time at the heating mantle. Whereas, it was suggested that carbon loading shall
take place at lower temperatures that mean to be at less viscosity. So, a certain
strategic approach must be designed to reduce the elapsing time required in raising
the absorbent temperature to 130 °C and the loading temperature of the absorbent.
The usage of pre-heaters shall not be the mandatory concept in this application. Thus,
the main intention is to maintain the flue gas temperature between 40 and 50 °C to
avoid solvent loss and to increase the rate of absorption. In the closer observation
of various nanoparticles, they are offering different absorption rates; some are lower
and some are better. We analyzed those same nanoparticles of similar properties are
exhibiting different performances relative to the applied absorption technologies.
However, post-combustion technology has not reached an exciting point and thus
thorough research is yet to be done.

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02214y
Chapter 6
Carbon Bio-capturing System
for Environment Conservation

Vishal Ahuja

6.1 Introduction

Global warming has become exasperation of late and causing climatic change at an
alarming rate which is further questioning the endurance of the human race. Global
warming is fundamentally the consequence of greenhouse (GH) gases among which
CO2 contributes a momentous to climatic change. A relentless rise in the atmo-
spheric carbon-di-oxide has been recorded since the ice ages and hit the highest CO2
concentration, e.g., 407.4 parts per million (ppm) in 2018 (Lindsey 2018; Kumar et al.
2019; Sharma et al. 2020). This high amount of carbon dioxide has been attributed to
increasing human activities such as globalization and rapid industrialization, which
in turn amplifies the earth’s natural greenhouse effect. This release of the abnormal
amount of CO2 insists on extraordinary measures to be taken to curtail emissions as
well as utilize the CO2 already present. Combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and
petroleum has been well accounted for this unchecked rise in CO2 (Sakai et al. 1995;
Gielen 2003). Since the energy production and consumption would grossly upset
the economy of the country, we should look for alternative sources of energy with
admissible or no CO2 emission and also dwindle the CO2 level already available in
the atmosphere (Yadav and Sen 2017).
To reduce the carbon-di-oxide generated by conventional sources, renewable
sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and biomass have taken over the energy sector up
to a major extent which is carbon-neutral energy sources and thus do not contribute
to global warming. It is widely known that plants use carbon dioxide for photo-
synthesis. Thus, increasing the number of plants (or crops) would eventually lead
to the decreased carbon-di-oxide level in the environment, but in the long term, it
has various negative side effects such as disturbed plant-food web, foods with low

V. Ahuja (B)
Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 99
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_6
100 V. Ahuja

nutritional values, and reduced nitrogen content of plants, which would further rattle
the balance of nature (Beedlow et al. 2004; Dahlman and Jacobs 2001).
Capturing atmospheric carbon and transform them into forms that will render
themselves useless to global warming is termed as ‘carbon sequestration.’ Carbon
sequestration and their eventual storage implicitly result in containing the atmo-
spheric carbon-di-oxide to a threshold level. Carbon sequestration demands thorough
analysis for efficiency, eco-friendly process, cost, stability of restored carbon form,
limiting factors, and the time frame needed for sequestration (Nogia et al. 2013).
Keeping in mind the above factors it has been proved that carbon bio-capturing is the
most efficient strategy to curtail atmospheric CO2 . Carbon bio-capturing refers to the
photosynthetic uptake of CO2 by microbes, algae, and genetically engineered plants
for rapid uptake and utilization in the form of biogas slurry, biochar, etc. Microalgae
are known for their excellent carbon fixation capability, high specific growth rate, and
adaptation potential toward diverse environmental conditions. Therefore, culturing
microalgae in the form of biogas slurry is an inexpensive yet efficient alternative to
conventional biogas utilization as an energy source (Guo et al. 2018).
The global carbon cycle depends primarily on the photosynthetic uptake by
producers. Annual anthropogenic carbon emission is estimated to be nearly 9 giga-
tons (GT) out of which mere 3 and 2 GT carbon is absorbed by terrestrial and oceanic
primary producers, respectively. The remaining 4 GT of excess carbon needs to be
absorbed for which advanced genetic approaches need to be explored to enhance Net
Biome Productivity (NBP) (Jansson et al. 2010).

6.1.1 Net Biome Productivity

Gross primary productivity (GPP) defines the amount of carbon fixed through photo-
synthesis in an ecosystem. Net primary productivity (NPP) defines the total organic
matter left in the ecosystem which is calculated as the amount of carbon left in plants
after respiration, i.e., NPP = GPP − Rp (Rp is plant respiration). NPP is the amount
of energy that is passed on to the next species in the food chain hierarchy (primarily
herbivores). Net ecosystem productivity (NEP) or refers to the amount of carbon
remained after microbial respiration from NPP. NEP = GPP − (Rp + Rm ) where Rm
refers to the amount of carbon lost to the atmosphere through cellular respiration in
microbes. NEP consists of complete microbial biomass both above and below the
ground, detritus, the inorganic and organic carbon in the soil. Net Biome Productivity
(NBP) refers to the amount of carbon left from NEP after losing some of it to the
environment through fires, erosion, etc.
Both autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms ameliorate global warming by
fixing carbon-di-oxide to generate various commodity and value-added products such
as biofertilizers, biofuels, and bioactive compounds. CO2 fixation can be improved
by modulating the CO2 fixation pathways, develop competent energy-harvesting
systems to reform the reducing power and supply of ATP, and standardize the carbon
flux distribution (Hu et al. 2018).
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 101

In this chapter, efforts have been made to define different manmade, natural,
biological and non-biological systems which are being used or holds a promise to
scale down the huge level of carbon dioxide responsible for global warming and thus
an imminent threat to mankind.

6.2 Carbon Capture and Storage

Fossil fuel on earth alone represents around 6000 gigatonnes of carbon (Gt-C)
sequestered via various geological and biological processes took place during million
of years. However, various physical, chemical, and biological reactions captured the
atmospheric carbon, but due to change in resource utilization pattern and destruc-
tive anthropogenic activities the captured carbon added to atmosphere back, as a
result, the CO2 level in the atmosphere increases continuously. In comparison with
the 1750s (280 ppm), the carbon-di-oxide content in the environment has raised to
388 ppm in 2010 (Giri and Pant 2018).
The industrial revolution is one of the most significant ages of human civiliza-
tion. During this, the carbon has been captured in different forms including fuels and
released it back to the environment as carbon-di-oxide. For example, after the intro-
duction of an internal combustion engine, around 5% of fuel resources have been
consumed in respect of volumes and released approximately 280 Gt-C CO2 . Simi-
larly, due to changes in land applications, soil carbon disrupted and added around
150 Gt-C as CO2 . Although this emission is quite small in comparison with natural
carbon fluxes which are due to photosynthesis and respiration, etc., the addition due
to anthropogenic activities is 100 times more rapid than expected. This sudden and
rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is responsible for:
• Destabilized carbon inventories,
• Disrupted the inward and outward flow of energy and its balance in the earth
atmosphere system,
• The rapid increase in global average surface temperatures,
• Reduced the potential of climate feedback mechanisms which stabilizes the
environment as well as ecosystem.
As per modern economics, the energy demand for the society gets doubled by
2050 while in the current scenario fossil fuels can satisfy up to 85% of global energy
demand. The situation becomes much critical in the absence of mitigation strategy.
Therefore, the strategy of ‘CCSU’ has been proposed for sustainable future which
encompasses:
• Capturing CO2 directly from the anthropogenic emissions before introduction to
the atmosphere
• Reduction of the atmospheric carbon inventory and rise influxes.
102 V. Ahuja

The concept involves the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide by using

biological and non-biological methods, its storage, and then its application by various
means.

6.3 Methods of Carbon Generation from Industrial

Processes

Methods followed for capturing carbon depend upon the source, nature, and form
of emission. In other terms, the methods can vary with concerned industries and
operational procedures.
Fossil fuel-based power generation plants: Based on the collection point, three
types of carbon capture processes have been established after thorough research
which is discussed below:
• Pre-combustion capture system
• Post-combustion system
• Oxy-fuel combustion systems.
For power generation, fossil/biomass fuels burnt in the presence of air/pure oxygen
depending upon the selected process. In the case of pre-combustion carbon capture,
fuel burnt in the presence of air which generates syngas (a mixture of CO, CO2, and
hydrogen). In the first phase, sulfur content was removed from the gaseous mixture.
In the next step, H2 content was removed from syngas and added to the remaining
fuel for power generation, while CO2 is captured and transferred to the storage unit.
 y y
Cx H y + x + O2 = xCO2 + H2 O + Heat
4 2
Oxy-fuel combustion (OFC) and pre-combustion (PC) systems are similar in
process and only differ in the burning mixture. In contrast to PC, air/mixture of
different gases is replaced by pure oxygen in OFC for fuel burning and therefore
generates comparatively clean CO2 which can be captured and stored. The advantage
of the process is the reduction of treatment steps to remove unwanted products.
In contrast to the above methods, CO2 is captured after the burning of fuels
in the case of post-combustion capture. Here, CO2 is removed from the gaseous
mixture (flue gas) generated after the burning of fuels. Flue gas stream was treated
to remove oxides of nitrogen and sulfur (NOx and SOx ), which is not only necessary
but also a cost-intensive step. Later CO2 from the treated gas stream was collected
and transferred to storage (Fig. 6.1).
Besides power generation and natural gas reservoirs, carbon-di-oxide is also
produced in a significant amount from some other industries including cement, steel,
and oil refining plants. In steel plants, CO2 is produced in a 1.4:1 ratio (CO2 : steel).
The steelmaking process completed in multiple steps in which fuel is combusted to
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 103

Fig. 6.1 Carbon capture from fossil fuel-based power generation sectors

generate CO2 further produces CO in the presence of carbon and heat. In succes-
sive reaction, CO captures oxygen from hematite to form CO2 and pig iron. Thus,
during steel production CO2 is produced twice which can be captured. Natural gas
and oil refining involve the processing of hydrocarbons by distillation, heating, and
fractionation. The concentration of CO2 in natural gas fields may range between 20
and 50% but may rise to 70% while oil refining generated CO2 may range up to 5%
of total anthropogenic activity. During processing, CO2 is produced and captured but
only after the elimination of sulfur and nitrogen oxides (Fig. 6.2).
The cement production process also contributes a significant amount of CO2 which
may range up to 7% of total anthropogenic emissions. The major CO2 emission from
cement industries comprised of calcination process which accounts for up to 52% of
total emission followed by fuel combustion (48%).

6.3.1 CO2 Capture Methods

CCSU is one of such promising strategies that is working for environment restoration
by mitigating CO2 emission from different sources by capturing and storing it for
future applications. The strategy not only focuses to reduce the emission but also
104 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.2 CO2 generation and capture from different industries

generating revenue by participating in commercial applications. CO2 capture and

storage enable the reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 80% (Song et al. 2019)
(Fig. 6.3).
However, the efficiency depends upon the method followed for CO2 capture. Some
of the major methods followed for CO2 capturing are discussed in Table 6.1.

Fig. 6.3 Carbon/CO2 capture method

6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 105

Table 6.1 Carbon capture methods

Methods Description References
Adsorption
Physical 1. Need low-cost raw material Yu et al. (2012), Chaffee
(sorbent) et al. (2007)
2. Sorbate binds to the surface of
sorbents by physical interactions
3. The heat of adsorption is low
e.g., activated charcoal, alumina, silica
gel, ion exchange resins
Chemical 1. The process is similar to the
physical adsorption except
interaction which is a chemical type
e.g., metal oxides, sodium carbonate,
solid amines
Absorption
Physical 1. Instead of chemically reacting with Song and Lee (1998), Vega
CO2 , solvents absorb it from the gas et al. (2018)
stream
e.g., propylene carbonate (C4 H6 O3 ):
Fluor process, dimethoxyethane
(CH3 (CH2 CH2 O)n CH3 ): Selexol
process; Methanol: Rectisol process
Chemical 1. At low temperatures, it is an
exothermic reaction between
sorbent and CO2
2. At higher temperatures, the
chemical absorption process
operates in the reverse mode called
stripping/regeneration
3. At low partial pressure, absorption
predominates in an amine/carbonate
solutions
E.g., Amines, carbonates, aqueous
ammonia-based system, and
NaOH-based system

(continued)
106 V. Ahuja

Table 6.1 (continued)

Methods Description References
Membrane separation 1. Design a system that works on low Roussanaly et al. (2014),
energy investment Momeni et al. (2019)
2. Permeability and selectivity are the
key factors for CO2 capture
3. As a recent advancement, hybrid
membranes are prepared
4. Integration of inorganic salts in
membrane preparation increase
permeability and selectivity
Cryogenic 1. Cryogenic CO2 capture (CCC) Keshavarz et al. (2019)
needs approximately one-third of
energy and money in comparison
with other processes
2. Lower the temperature of CO2 -laden
flue/other gas (−100 to −135 °C)
3. Cooled and compressed air mixture
operated through heat exchangers
4. Solid CO2 separates from other
lighter components of flue gas
5. Finally, CO2 obtained as a liquid
6. Efficiently remove most of the
pollutants (Hg, SOx , NO2 , HCl, etc.)
Mineral carbonation 1. Metal oxide reacts with CO2 form Baena-Moreno et al. (2019)
metal carbonates
2. Comparatively more stable form to
store and transport
E.g.: calcite and magnetite

6.3.2 Carbon Storage

A proper storage strategy is necessary to keep captured carbon until further use.
However, the strategy is selected based on the economy, site of storage, source of
carbon. Some of the storage strategies are discussed in the upcoming section.

6.3.3 Geological Storage

This is the only and the most common method for geological storage used by oil and
gas industries globally but with slight adaptation, and modifications as per the require-
ment. For geographic storage of CO2, only permeable rocks can be utilized. The rock
is formed after several years of deposition of sediments followed by compression.
In due course of time, numerous pores are formed due to irregular deposition and
entrapment of air and gases. In post-depositional processes, some of the pores close
by deposition, while some of the space remained open, and thus formed rock is
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 107

porous. However, in some cases, these pores remain interconnected. Such rocks
allow the fluid to pass. Due to shear forces and thermal variation, some hydrocar-
bons are generated as by-products. Buoyancy forces facilitate fluid moment until the
path is obstructed by some fault or impermeable blockage (Celia 2017).

6.3.4 Ocean Storage

Water bodies especially ocean represents comparatively large storage area for
CO2 /carbon capture. Even with the ocean, two alternatives are possible:
(i) Surface/low depth storage
(ii) Deep storage.
Surface/low depth storage also defined as natural phenomena in which environ-
mental gases dissolved in water as per their solubilities. Among common atmospheric
gases, CO2 has the highest solubility 1437 cm3 l−1 at 0 °C while at a higher temper-
ature (24 °C) the solubility is 666 cm3 l−1 . However, this cannot be considered as a
long-term storage house for CO2 due to physical and biological activities (Fig. 6.4;
Chester 1990; Rackley 2010).
Microalgae and sediments are the prime reservoirs for carbon storage. Microalgae
transformed the available CO2 into organic carbon and make it available for other
organisms as food. The same concept of biological storage has been exploited by

Fig. 6.4 Various physical and biological activities in the ocean that determine the fate of stored
carbon
108 V. Ahuja

Ocean Nourishment and Ocean Iron Fertilization. In Ocean nourishment, nutrients

are added to the ocean surface that raises the biological activities and marine food
chain and subsequently carbon dioxide sequestration. The method primarily targets
phytoplanktons and algae for sequestration. Similarly, artificial iron fertilizers are
added to the sea to promote phytoplanktons.
In terms of biological activities, phytoplankton and algae consume the nutrients
and CO2 to sustain life and transform the inorganic carbon into organic carbon. In
a later stage, dead phytoplankton and algae degraded by microbes and retransform
the organic carbon to inorganic.
Natural sediments stored the carbon as carbonates and other carbon-containing
compounds which, will form rocks in due course of time. In chemical perspec-
tive, CO2 forms carbon-di-oxide in the presence of water that forms carbonate
salts like calcium and magnesium carbonates in the presence of metal ions and
salt (Mariyamma et al. 2015) (Fig. 6.5).
The process is natural and non-human driven but governed by various phys-
ical, chemical, and biological activities; therefore, the stability of and self-life of
available/stored carbon is questionable.
Besides, CO2 can also be stored in deep seawater for the long term either by direct
dissolution or inform of CO2 lakes. For direct dissolution, venting was provided by a
fixed pipeline from a storage tank of movable one that trailed behind a ship carrying
CO2 and transferred the content at sufficient depth. Using negative buoyancy for
CO2 storage is also an alternative method. However, for the construction of CO2
lakes, depth must be below 3 km so that CO2 becomes negative buoyant to seawater
(Rackley 2010).
Direct injection of CO2 is the most prominent method used to accelerate artificial
sequestration of carbon-di-oxide. CO2 can be injected in solid, liquid, or gaseous
form depending upon the depth. For depth of 500 m or below, gaseous CO2 can be

Fig. 6.5 Carbonation

process in seawater
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 109

Fig. 6.6 CO2 storage methods

used while a depth ranging from 500 to 2500 m liquid CO2 is injected. At higher
depth, solid CO2 is preferred as it will sink and dissolve in the seawater (Mariyamma
et al. 2015).

6.4 Exploiting the Natural Phenomena for Carbon Storage

Besides supercritical fluids and porous rocks, nature itself suggests the most effi-
cient methods of carbon storage ‘photosynthesis.’ Naturally, carbon stored from the
environment in plants in the chemical form (carbohydrate), which is the most stable
and reliable storage in comparison with other methods; however, some of the stored
carbon also lost as CO2 through respiration. In the last few decades, net productivity
of terrestrial storage is greatly affected due to anthropogenic interferences, change
in land-management practices, particularly relating to soil disturbance, soil type,
fertility and irrigation, type of plants, and cropping systems, the composition of the
microbial community (Fig. 6.6).

6.5 Bio-Inspired Systems for CCSU

Every physical and chemical method for carbon capture have their pros and cons;
however, some biological systems and enzymes have been reported that utilize avail-
able CO2 in the surroundings. With the help of these enzymes/whole cells, a new and
110 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.7 Bio-inspired

carbon capture system

eco-friendly system has been proposed that work on cellular-physiology/enzyme-

reaction/bio-molecular-induced bases for capturing carbon. The main advantages
of such a system are easy disposability, low-corrosion, and the presence of natu-
rally synthesized components, biodegradability, and tunability for CO2 -incorporation
capacity as per requirement (Fig. 6.7).
Based on the process followed for carbon capture, bio-inspired systems are
classified into the following categories.

6.6 Microbial

In comparison with enzymes and biomolecules, microorganisms are common modes

for constructing a CO2 capture, sequestration, and/or utilization system. As microbes
can synthesis multiple enzymes that compensate for the need for consortia and
capture CO2 via multiple metabolic pathways. Later the fixed/captured carbon can
be exploited for the generation of various commodity products. These microbes can
include bacterial or algae or fungi. Based on the applications, diverse concepts have
been evolved such as.
1. Microbial electro-synthesis: For the CO2 transformation to some value-added
products, the required electrons are provided by cathode as electric current (Patil
et al. 2015).
2. Microbial carbon capture cell: The purpose of ‘microbial carbon capture cell’
is similar to microbial electro-synthesis except for its construction. For CO2
capture and transformation, electrons and protons are provided by microbes
themselves. Both the electrodes are kept apart by the ion exchange membrane.
At the anode, organic compounds of wastewater degraded by microbes which
generated protons, electrons, and CO2 . Among them, electrons are supplied to
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 111

the cathode and utilized by microorganisms, for the conversion of CO2 into
commodity products (Hu et al. 2016).
3. Microbial electrolytic carbon capture: This is somewhat alike to microbial
electro-synthesis but in a real manner it is a hybrid form of both the above-
described models. In ‘microbial electrolytic carbon capture’ electron are gener-
ated by the degradation of waste organic compounds at anode but the generated
potential is further increased by using an external power source. H2 and OH− ,
generated from hydrogen carbonate on reaction with CO2 .
Other systems also include photo-reactors, in which photo-autotrophic microbes
are used to synthesize value-added compounds from CO2 .

6.7 Bio-Molecular

The bio-molecular carbon capture system encompasses the molecules that can
capture CO2 and store it for further application. Such molecules include amino
acids and saccharides utilized for different reaction mechanisms for CO2 capture
and sequestration.
Amino acids: Amino acids are bifunctional biomolecules carry amino and
carboxylic functional group, which may or may not accompanied by other func-
tional groups. At different pH, amino acids exist either in cationic or anionic form.
Besides, amino acids also exist in the anionic form in the presence of inorganic
cations including sodium or potassium. In comparison with other chemical systems
(alkanol-amines), amino acid-based systems offer advantages due to their high reac-
tivity with CO2 but higher stability toward oxidation, high surface tension, and low
vapor pressures which is one of the basic requirement or design a membranes (Wang
et al. 2016; Carrera et al. 2017). Usually, amino acids capture CO2 with the formation
of carbamate or bicarbonate or hydrogen carbamate depending upon the amino acid
system.
Saccharides and related biopolymers: Likewise amino acids, carbohydrates,
chitin, chitosan, alginic acid are also well-known carbon-rich biomolecules that can
be used for CO2 capture by chemisorption and adsorption. Chitin, chitosan, and
saccharides-based system rely on an adsorption/chemical adsorption (Carrera et al.
2017).
Enzymatic: Naturally plant cells fix environmental CO2 by a series of enzy-
matic reactions. In a similar or other manner, cells even animal cells also
exhibit the CO2 fixation mechanism due to different associated enzymatic path-
ways. Total six major CO2 fixation pathways are known, i.e., reductive citric
acid cycle, 3-hydroxy propionate (3HP) bicycle, Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle,
di-carboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate (DC/4HB) cycle, reductive acetyl-CoA (Wood–
Ljungdahl) pathway, and 3-hydroxy propionate/4-hydroxybutyrate (3HP/4HB)
cycle. To exploit the similar mechanism of CO2 fixation, some major CO2 fixation
routes have been identified:
112 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.8 CO2 fixation by in Calvin cycle

1. Calvin cycle: Calvin cycle is known for photosynthesis and CO2 fixation by
plants. It is one of the most important natural metabolic pathways for carbon
dioxide fixation which comprised of 13 reactions governed by 11 enzymes
(Fridlyand and Scheibe 1999) (Fig. 6.8).
In one of the reactions, CO2 is captured by ribulose phosphate to form ribulose
biphosphate in the presence of ribulose 1,5 biphosphate carboxylase. In further
reaction ribulose biphosphate form 3 phosphoglyceraldehyde via phosphoglyc-
eric acid. In the reduction phase of the Calvin cycle, a fraction of phospho-
glyceraldehyde fixed into the saccharide molecule while rest participates in the
regeneration phase of the Calvin cycle.
2. Reductive citric acid cycle: Tri-carboxylic acid cycle (TCA) is a common
and primary metabolic pathway in all aerobically respiring cells. It encom-
passes a series of reactions catalyzed by eight different enzymes. Overall
TCA is defined as the process that generated CO2 and water molecules
by the oxidation of carbon/organic molecules. However, in the reductive
phase, the reverse order is followed which means carbon molecules are
produced from CO2 and water (Fig. 6.9).
The process is somewhat considered as an alternative to photosynthesis.
For CO2 fixation and generation of carbon, the process needs an electron
donor for which cells utilize hydrogen sulfide or thiosulfate. This process
is only reported from some of the prokaryotes such as Chlorobium limicola
and Chlorobium tepidum (Hügler et al. 2005).
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 113

Fig. 6.9 Reductive citric acid cycle

3. Reductive acetyl-CoA route: It is also known as the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway,

reported from bacteria, archaea, methanogens, and acetogens. In 1932, the first
time a process reported which can utilize H2 as an electron donor and CO2 as an
electron acceptor to produce acetic acid. In 1936, Clostridium aceticum was the
first acetogenic bacterium that can produce acetate (Ragsdale and Pierce 2008).
The pathway is dedicated to the survival of microorganisms in an extreme envi-
ronment where the normal process of acetyl-CoA generation is not profound. In
reductive acetyl-CoA, CO2 is reduced to CO and formate. Further, the format
molecule is reduced to methyl subsequently to acetyl-CoA on reacting with CO
(Fig. 6.10).

4. 3-hydroxypropionate cycle: 3-hydroxy propionate cycle is a unique pathway

reported from thermophilic phototrophic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus
for autotrophic CO2 fixation. The 3-hydroxypropionate cycle is reported in C.
aurantiacus only but the members of the Sulfolobaceae family also have such
mechanism but in via modified 3-hydroxy propionate pathway. Some other
thermophilic or hyperthermophilic and acidophilic members of the Crenar-
chaeota including Acidianus ambivalens, Acidianus brierleyi, Metallosphaera
sedula, Sulfolobus metallicus, and Sulfolobus sp. also have the key enzyme from
3-hydroxy propionate cycle.
The 3-hydroxy propionate cycle comprises of two subcycles interconnected via
a junction point. Acetyl-CoA condenses with HCO− 3 to form malonyl COA. The
cycle proceeds to propionyl-CoA via 3 hydroxypropionate. This is the junction
point between the subcycles:
114 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.10 Wood–Ljungdahl pathway

A. Propionyl CoA condenses with methyl malonyl CoA and proceeds to

acetyl-CoA via mesaconyl CoA, citramalate, and citramalyl CoA.
B. Mesaconyl CoA, an intermediate of subcycle A proceed to acetyl-CoA via
succinyl-CoA and malyl CoA. But before joining to subcycle at acetyl-
CoA, malyl CoA breaks into acetyl-CoA and glyoxalate (Hügler et al.
2005) (Fig. 6.11).

5. 3-hydroxy propionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle: 3-hydroxy propionate/4-

hydroxybutyrate cycle is one of six major CO2 fixation cycles which proceeds in
microbes for the production of carbon-containing chemicals. The cycle operates
in thermophilic microbes at high temperatures. However, in contrast to some
other CO2 fixation cycle, operating in the extreme environment are usually
anaerobic but 3HP/4HB cycle can function under both aerobic and anaerobic
conditions.

For better understating, 3HP/4HB cycle can be categorized into three sections:
First, carboxylation of acetyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA/propionyl-CoA carboxylase
(ACC) followed by subsequent reduction to 3HP, a stable intermediate.
In the second phase, 3HP is first ligated to coenzyme A (CoA), followed by its
reduction to propionyl-CoA, which is carboxylated to succinyl-CoA again by ACC.
In the third phase, succinyl-CoA is reduced 4HB.
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 115

Fig. 6.11 3-hydroxy propionate cycle

In the third section, 4HB is ligated to CoA to form 4-hydroxy butyryl-CoA which
further cleaved to acetyl-CoA (Loder et al. 2016) (Fig. 6.12).
6. Di-carboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle: Di-carboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate
is another CO2 fixation autotrophic pathway proceed in anaerobically, i.e.,
Ignicoccus hospitalis.

Fig. 6.12 3-hydroxy propionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle

116 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.13 Di-carboxylate/4-

hydroxybutyrate
cycle

I. hospitalis is a hyperthermophilic, found in marine hydrothermal vents and hosts

Nanoarchaeum equitans, a symbiotic/parasitic. Archaeum uses a unique pathway
‘di-carboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate’ pathway for CO2 fixation. At the beginning of
this pathway, acetyl-CoA (CoA) carboxylated to pyruvate which forms phospho-
enolpyruvate (PEP) in further steps. This is the junction point for glucogenesis as
well as the participation of oxaloacetate. In the complete pathway, CO2 acts as sole
carbon source, and acceptor molecule acetyl-CoA are regenerated via succinyl-CoA
hydroxybutyrate, hydroxy butyryl-CoA, and crotonyl-CoA as intermediate (Huber
et al. 2008) (Fig. 6.13).
Some systems are available for microbial CO2 capture but in real sense selection
of appropriate strategy and its optimization is necessary as per the need (Lu et al.
2015; Carrera et al. 2017).
The major application of captured CO2 is its possible conversion into any kind of
petroleum-based fuel but its nonreactive and stable character is the biggest bottleneck
in conversion as it needs the investment of a considerable amount of energy. To lower
down the cost of the transformation process, the target product must be selected which
needs less energy for conversion. Building materials, commodities chemicals, fuel
and energy, carbon materials like fibers, and tubes are some of such products.
In building materials, incorporation of CO2 into concrete is one of the best appli-
cations of captured CO2 by which, the net amount of generated CO2 can be reduced.
In addition to this, CO2 incorporation in building materials also increases the shelf
life of buildings, sidewalks, and walls. The second and most convenient applica-
tion of captured CO2 is the production of commodities chemicals such as solvents,
synthetic rubber, and plastics (Fig. 6.14).
As said earlier that captured carbon/CO2 can be transformed into any kind of
petroleum-based fuels and fuel additives. Besides petroleum-based fuels, it can also
be used for the generation of electricity. Further, the products also include carbon
materials such as graphene, carbon nanomaterials, nanotubes, fibers, and carbon
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 117

Fig. 6.14 Application of captured carbon

dots which further used for the manufacturing of electrical conductors, batteries,
electronics, sporting goods aerospace, energy, concrete, automobiles, and sporting
goods, etc. (Table 6.2).

Table 6.2 Products from microbial carbon capture

Products Biological agent Source References
Astaxanthin Haematococcus Agricultural Shah (2019)
pluvialis Wastewater
Biodiesel Chlorella vulgaris septic and He et al. (2013)
secondary
sedimentation tank
Animal Feed Microalgae wet-market and Maizatul et al. (2017)
slaughterhouse
wastewater
Biobutanol Neochloris swine wastewater Wang et al. (2017)
aquatica CL-M1
Bioethanol N. oculata and T. municipal Reyimu and OzcImen
suecica wastewater (2017)
Biomethane/Biogas Diplosphaera sp. dairy and winery Liu et al. (2016)
MM1 wastewater
Electricity Chlorella vulgaris Synthetic medium Liu et al. (2015)
+ activated sludge
118 V. Ahuja

6.8 Biological Carbon Capture: Waste Management

and Power Generation

Generation of CO2 , capturing from the sources is one of the best ways for waste
management. Especially in context to those industries which solely depend upon agri-
culture for their raw material or fossil fuel can be a target for mitigating CO2 from the
waste generated. As discussed earlier different types of biological agents for devel-
oping a system that can efficiently transform the captured carbon into commodity
products that can further generate revenue and process can run without or minimum
investment from an external source.
Microbes such as cyanobacteria can be used to develop microbial fuel cells based
on ‘microbial carbon capture cells’ (MCC) model. Like other cell or electric circuits,
fuel cells also contain two electrodes: anode and cathode, kept apart in their respective
chambers, separated by an ion exchange membrane in case of a fuel cell. Different
sources can be used for electron supply to facilitate CO2 fixation but for such systems
where the waste management is on priority, electrons and CO2 are generated within
the cell itself by microorganisms.
Microbial carbon capture unit can be prepared by assembling two half MFCs
by ion exchange membranes (Fig. 6.15). Both anode and cathode are filled with
effluent for the cultivation of bacteria and algal biomass, respectively. To provide
optimum growth conditions, the anode is kept in dark with the help of Al-Foil/by
some other means while the cathode is exposed to light/sunlight to support algal

Fig. 6.15 Simplified representation of microbial CO2 capture system

6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 119

photosynthesis. At anode waste effluent is degraded by bacteria and generates ions

and CO2 which may be transferred to the cathode via ion exchange membrane. At
cathode O2 generated during algal photosynthesis, CO2 from anode chamber utilized
for biomass production. Similarly, in anode also microbial biomass generated.
Besides electricity generation, generated biomass also used in further processing
to generate additional value-added products. For better understanding, some of the
models have been discussed below:

A: Microbial CO2 capture (MCC)

Model I: Pandit and colleague designed the MCCs model with two bio-electrodes.
The cathode was a dual-chambered flat platted mediator-less half cell which was
separated by anion exchange membrane from the anode. The cathode was inoculated
with cyanobacteria Anabaena PCC7120 while anode compartment with Shewanella
putrefaciens.
Anode chamber is filled with LB medium and Shewanella putrefaciens was grown
in anaerobic conditions. On the other side at the cathode, Anabaena Pcc7120 was
grown in BG11 medium under aerobic conditions. For mixing of culture at the
cathode, gas spargers were used which sparged CO2 /gas/mixture through filters.
Electricity generation was compared in each case to evaluate the optimum condition
for optimum utilization of MCC. In terms of power generation, power densities and
corresponding sparging gas composition were:

Power densities (mW/m2 ) Sparging mixture

57.8 Anabaena + CO2 –air mixture
39.2 CO2 –air mixture sparging only
29.7 Anabaena sparged with air
19.6 Air sparging only

Besides, the loss of significant voltage was also observed in the case of pH imbal-
ance. Under optimum conditions, the maximum power density of 100.1 mW/m2
when sparged with a 5% air mixture-CO2 . Further addition of nitrate in catholyte
increased power density by 31% (Pandit et al. 2012).
Model II: ‘Airlift-type microbial carbon capture cell’ (ALMCC) was constructed
with one anode and one cathode chamber joined together by a rubber gasket. Anode
chamber was cubical, filled with synthetic municipal effluent, and inoculated with
electrochemically active bacteria suspension. To prevent algal growth, the anode
chamber was covered with Al-foil and kept in dark. Similar to the anode, the cathode
chamber was also cubical in structure and filled with sterilized anode effluent and
inoculated with Chlorella vulgaris (ESP-6). Unlike anode, the cathode was exposed
to light to support algal growth. The volume ration was compensated with anode
effluent. Both half electrodes were connected and observed for power generation
in comparative evaluation between MCC and ALMCC, power generation, COD,
and nutrients removal efficiencies were higher in the case of ALMCC against equal
resistance. Cathode reaction is supported by oxygen generated by algal growth.
120 V. Ahuja

Fig. 6.16 Simplified diagram for ‘airlift-type microbial carbon capture cell’ ‘ALMCC’

CO2 fixation rate was enhanced by approximately 10 times with higher lipid
accumulation and power generation in comparison with conventional MCC and
airlift-type photo-bioreactor (ALP). In ALMCC, superior results were achieved
by fulfilling multiple objectives together by CO2 fixation, energy generation, and
wastewater treatment. Moreover, accumulated lipids can be utilized further for
biodiesel production (Hu et al. 2015) (Fig. 6.16).

B: Enzymatic CO2 capture

Previously described methods including adsorption, absorption, and microbial

carbon capture are somewhat effective but they are also associated with respec-
tive drawbacks such as limited flux and selectivities in case of membranes, high
costs of absorption systems, and selectivity and conversion rate in case of microbial
MFCs. To overcome the bottlenecks as discussed above, some alternatives must be
needed for which enzymatic CO2 capturing system has been developed. Some of the
enzymatic carbon capture models are discussed below:
Model I: Carbonic anhydrase (CA: 4.2.1.1), an enzyme with the highest turnover
number, governs the hydration of carbon-di-oxide (CO2 ) (Giri et al. 2018, 2020; Giri
and Pant 2019; Sharma and Kumar 2021). The same potential can also be used for the
sequestration of CO2 . To exploit the advantages of whole-cell catalyst and enzyme
potential, carbonic anhydrase from Neisseria gonorrhoeae (ngCA) was engineered
in the periplasm of Escherichia coli. The recombinant bacterial cell was screened
for ‘ngCA’ expression and sequestration of CO2 . As a result, new recombinant cells
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 121

Fig. 6.17 MDEA and

carbonic anhydrase-based
carbon capture system

exhibited significant ability to hydrate CO2 in comparison with its cytoplasmic coun-
terparts, which means there is a significant rise in overall mineral carbonation and
calcium carbonate (CaCO3 ) formation (Jo et al. 2013; Giri and Pant 2019).
In another work, CA is dissolved methyl di ethanolamine (MDEA) to design
rate-based CO2 capture carbon process. ‘MDEA’ itself has the potential for CO2
absorption through 3 reactions. The addition of CA further enhances the ability
of the MDEA-CA systems. This small amount of CA is dissolved in MDEA and
screened for the ability of CO2 absorption. In a trial simulation, MDEA-CA system
is applied for biogas upgrading. Biogas production is a sustainable process for the
utilization of organic wastes for the generation of renewable energy (Fosbøl et al.
2017) (Fig. 6.17).
Biogas usually contains methane as a major fraction but digester biogas is
composed of 40–60% CH4, 40–60% CO2 . Besides, it is highly saturated with water
vapor. Biogas upgrading is a process for concentrating CH4 and removal of other
impurities. MDEA-CA (30%:0.05%) simulation system was applied for the removal
of CO2 from biogas which was quite effective for the upgrading process (Fosbøl
et al. 2017).
Leimbrink and colleagues used a similar system but with the different oper-
ating environments: packed column, rotating packed beds (RPB) and membrane
contactors, and composition of MDEA-CA system. Applied systems were compared
for CO2 absorption and desorption properties with and without the addition of the
enzyme. In the presence of dissolved CA, absorption rates were high; however, the
mass absorption effect diminished in the case of membrane contactor. The results
from the prototype were promising which need further optimization at a higher scale
(Leimbrink et al. 2017).
Model II: Fu and colleagues have prepared a bio-mimetic membrane for CO2
capture and sequestration by using ultrathin hydrophilic nanoporous membrane on
the hydrophobic support. CA introduced to hydrophilic nanopores, which accom-
modate CA and water. The efficiency of a membrane system is associated with three
important factors:
I: CO2 capture,
II: HCO3 —transport, and
122 V. Ahuja

III: CO2 release.

In the case of the ultrathin membrane, the presence of CA and fabrication of the
CA-membrane system turn all three factors in favor of CO2 sequestration. In the
presence of water, CA governs the conversion of CO2 into carbonic acid (Fu et al.
2018).

6.9 Future Challenges

Although bio-inspired units including microbes, enzymes, and other biomolecules

are efficient and eco-friendly but to develop a sustainable and efficient system, it
is necessary to address the associated challenges including selectivity, optimum
operating conditions, the stability of enzymes, expression level of gene and most
importantly cost of the process.
A system ay includes microbial consortia so the compatibility of microbes must be
determined so as they don’t have any inhibitory effect on each other. The selection of
microbes depends upon the expression level of the required pathway. It is necessary
to develop cost-effective screening methods to find efficient microbes with high
expression of enzymes, tolerance to the extreme environment, and high substrate
concentration. Mild operating/growth conditions and less by-product formation also
hold substantial significance in process designing.
When it comes to enzymes, the major factors affecting the process include
selectivity of an enzyme, type of reaction catalyzed, the requirement of energy, or
other cofactors for catalysis and the stability under varied conditions. Some of the
challenges associated with bio-inspired systems are summarized (Table 6.3).

Table 6.3 Issues and challenges for bio-inspired system

Type of bio-inspired system Combinations/components Issues/challenges
Microbes Bacteria + Bacteria Inhibitory effect
Bacteria + Algae Growth conditions
Bacteria + Yeast Photosynthesis rate
Yeast + algae Elimination of toxic by-products
and excess biomass
Diffusion rate
Wide range of substrate required
Enzymes Enzymes Selectivity
Cofactors Tolerance to physical and
Immobilization carriers chemical extremities
Cost of cofactors
Carrier cost and compatibility
Biomolecules Carbohydrate/fat/proteins/other Purity of biomolecules
biomolecules Cost of cofactors
Carriers Carrier cost and compatibility
cofactors Reusability
6 Carbon Bio-capturing System for Environment Conservation 123

To overcome the challenges, deep analysis of the situation, parameter optimiza-

tion, and genetic improvement techniques may prove useful.

6.10 Conclusion

Renewable energy resources fulfill the need but cannot replace the conventional ones.
Anthropogenic interferences in the natural ecosystem have created menace and made
the survival of the upcoming generation tougher. Due to excessive exploitation of
natural resources, the environment becomes polluted day by day and global reduction
of CO2 emission becomes a big challenge for all of us. However, CO2 , a renewable
feedstock, can act as raw material for a variety of useful chemicals by carbon/CO2
capture, sequestration, and utilization (CCSU). It represents a path full of hopes for
a sustainable future by restoring the environment and reduce the damage done by
anthropogenic GHG emissions. To date, many processes have been designed for
CCSU and some of them are attractive in terms of industrial applications but most
of them also associated with a high cost of investment, water expenditure, energy
demand, and so on. In such a case, holding characteristics like abundance, biodegrad-
ability, low/non-corrosive, tunability made bio-inspired systems a good candidate.
The bio-inspired system encompasses microbes, enzymes, or biomolecules that have
made it possible to generate various products even electricity by CO2 sequestration
from wastewater.
The challenges associated with bio-inspired systems are selectivity, optimization,
and availability of required growth conditions, kinetic constraints in case of a high
viscous medium that needs to be addressed for the applied process time by time.

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Chapter 7
Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment
and Carbon Capture for Energy
Production

Priyanka Verma, Deepshikha Pandey, Usharani Krishnaswamy,

Kasturi Dutta, Achlesh Daverey, and Kusum Arunachalam

7.1 Introduction

Carbon capture and utilization technologies utilize carbon dioxide as a feedstock

and convert it into value-added products such as fuels, energy, and hydrogen gener-
ating technologies, chemicals, or building materials (EC 2018). Such sustainable
technologies reduce carbon footprint, mitigate climate change, and remediate the
environment. The overall aim of such carbon capture and utilization technologies
is to reduce the CO2 emissions to achieve the global average temperature increase
below 2 °C, as suggested in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Keeping in
mind the target of <2 °C temperature increase, it is essential to consider different
sectors for both reductions in CO2 emission (and other greenhouse gases) and CO2
capture and utilization (Giri et al. 2018; Giri and Pant 2018).
The wastewater is generated worldwide, and due to several environmental
concerns, its treatment is necessary before final discharge to the environment. The
wastewater treatment facilities also contribute to the CO2 emission (along with other
greenhouse gasses), directly as well as indirectly (Daverey et al. 2019). The global
CO2 production from the urban wastewater (severed) has been predicted to be 61.8
× 103 ton/day by 2025 (Rosso and Stenstrom 2008).

P. Verma · D. Pandey · A. Daverey (B) · K. Arunachalam

School of Environment and Natural Resources, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248012,
India
e-mail: [email protected]
U. Krishnaswamy
Department of Environmental Science, Bioremediation Technology, PSG College of Arts and
Science, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu 641014, India
K. Dutta
Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela, Odisha 769008, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 127
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_7
128 P. Verma et al.

The direct emission is from the biological treatment of wastewater, such as the
activated sludge process and sludge treatment. The indirect emission is from the
generation of electricity, which is utilized to operate the wastewater treatment plants.
The indirect emission contributes significantly to the atmospheric CO2 emission. For
example, China emits 114 million tons of indirect CO2 annually for the operation of
sewage treatment plants (Hao et al. 2015). The estimated carbon intensity of munic-
ipal wastewater treatment plants in India is 0.78 kg CO2 eq m−3 (Singh et al. 2016).
Significant developments have been made so far to address the indirect emission
of the CO2 from wastewater treatment, mainly via anaerobic treatment technology.
Energy-efficient technologies such as microbial electrolytic carbon capture, micro-
bial electro-synthesis, microalgae cultivation, and constructed wetlands target active
and direct CO2 capture making wastewater a self-energy sufficient process (Lu et al.
2018). Although such methods have advantages of a high rate of CO2 capture, organic
removal, low sludge formation, and self-sustainability, they share common limita-
tions of limited nutrient removal, high capital cost, and scalability. Each of these
technologies has its niche application areas that make it unrealistic for one process
to meet multiple objectives of wastewater treatment, carbon capture, economic feasi-
bility, and sustainability. However, integration or applications of these technologies
can open new dimensions in this area. The present chapter deals with the funda-
mental and current status of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) and algal technology
for the synchronized wastewater treatment and potential carbon capture for energy
production.

7.2 Microbial Fuel Cells

7.2.1 Fundamentals of MFC

MFC is one of the innovative electrochemical technology which employs microbial

interaction with electrodes during degradation of organic matter present in wastew-
ater for power generation and production of value-added products. This technology
initially introduced in 1911 by botany professor M. C. Potter, who refined the idea
of utilization of bacteria for obtaining energy by developing primitive MFC (Sevda
et al. 2018). MFC system consists of an anodic and cathodic chambers, separated
with the help of separating medium such as cation or proton exchange membrane.
In the anodic chamber, microbes oxidize available organic matter as substrate and
generate electrons (e− ) and protons (H+ ) with CO2 as oxidation products as per
Eq. (1) (Kumar et al. 2016). Electrons liberated during microbial degradation are
captured by solid electrodes either directly or through mediators, which facilitate the
flow of electrons toward anode. A captured electron travels from anode to cathode
through external circuit connections; the difference in H+ ion concentration in both
the chamber develops due to potential gradient, which forces the protons to migrate
through the proton exchange membrane.
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 129

In the cathodic chamber, electrons driven through external circuit recombine with
protons and oxygen present in the cathodic chamber to produce water, as shown by
Eqs. (2–3) (Palanisamy et al. 2019). MFC has potential applications in the field of
wastewater treatment, power generation, biosensors, desalination, carbon capture,
and biorecovery along with the production of value-added products.

Organic substrate + H2 O → CO2 + e− + H+ (1)

O2 + H+ + e− → H2 O (2)

Organic substrate + O2 → CO2 + H2 O (3)

7.2.2 MFC in Wastewater Treatment for Carbon Capture

In past years, to reduce the carbon footprint, various methods such as storage, imple-
mentation, capturing of carbon have been employed. CO2 utilization as a feed-
stock can be effectively achieved using microbial fuel cells without incurring addi-
tional cost (Judd et al. 2015). In general, two types of systems are employed for
capturing carbon: plant-microbial fuel cell (P-MFC) and microbial carbon-capture
cell (MCC) during energy generation from wastewater.

7.2.2.1 Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell (P-MFC)

Plants are also called primary producers as they carry out photosynthesis in the
presence of sunlight to convert atmospheric CO2 into carbohydrates. The ability of
the plant to fix atmospheric CO2 can be employed for carbon sequestration. The
in situ technology in which the integration of plants with MFC takes place is known
as P-MFC, and it can be used for different purposes such as wastewater treatment,
carbon capture, and power generation. In PMFC, different plant species are used in
anodic chamber of MFC, where they consume biodegradable components along with
toxic compounds (heavy metals) as well as nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates
present in wastewater as substrate. These plants use photosynthesis mechanisms for
capturing atmospheric CO2 in the presence of sunlight and produce rhizo-deposits,
which are storehouse products of root extrudes, as shown in Fig. 7.1 (Das et al. 2019;
Chiranjeevi et al. 2019).
The matrix supporting the living plant is placed with anode and substrate in
the anodic chamber. Rhizospheric electrogenic microbes breakdown organic matter
under anaerobic conditions and produce electrons, protons, CO2 along with root
exudates, new microbial biomass, and other by-products (Jawre et al. 2019; Kabutey
130 P. Verma et al.

Fig. 7.1 Schematic diagram of plant-microbial fuel cell

et al. 2019). The produced electrons are captured by the conductive anode and trav-
eled to the cathode through an external circuit. The flow of electrons develops elec-
tric current; at the same time, generated proton drives from anodic to the cathodic
chamber directly or through the proton exchange membrane due to the developed
potential gradient in PMFC. In cathodic chamber, terminal electron acceptor such as
oxygen combines with migrated electrons and protons to form water along with
bioelectricity (Nitisoravut and Regmi 2017). The efficiency of plants employed
in PMFC varies with growth rate, microbial community at the rhizosphere, their
tolerance, extensiveness of root system, and abundance (Nitisoravut and Regmi
2017). Various species of plant such as Glyceria maxima (Sarma and Mohanty
2019), Arundinella anomala, Spartina anglica (Wetser et al. 2015), Lolium perenne
(Habibul et al. 2016), Acorus calamus (Yan et al. 2015), etc., are tried in different
PMFC during wastewater treatment. Spartina anglica emerged as one of the species
having the highest pollutant removal rate (COD removal ~88.07% and ammonia-
N removal ~75.02%) and power output (0.2230–0.4964 W/m3 ) (Liu et al. 2020).
There are various factors on which the performance of PMFC depends such as plant
species, supporting matrix, electron transfer mechanism, substrate composition, and
conversion (Kabutey et al. 2019). Due to anaerobic conditions, CO2 gas produced in
the anodic chamber instead of methane, which reduces the overall methane produc-
tion. So, it increases its application in agricultural land such as paddy crop fields
where methane production is one of the major concerns for environmentalists. This
innovative technique of PMFC gained the attention of researches for experimenting
its application in various ways such as green rooftops (Sarma and Mohanty 2019),
marshy wetlands (Wetser et al. 2015), floating water bodies (Schievano et al. 2017),
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 131

and paddy fields (Sudirjo 2020). The main advantage of PMFC is wastewater treat-
ment, energy recovery, and production of valuable biomass during the carbon fixation
process. But the availability of sunlight is the crucial limiting factor that affects the
efficiency of PMFC.

7.2.2.2 Microbial Carbon-Capture Cell (MCC)

MCC is another modified and sustainable form of MFC in which photosynthetic

bacteria and microalgae employed, which have faster growth rates and higher CO2
fixation efficiencies (10–50 times) than plants grow on the land (Li et al. 2019).
Photosynthetic bacteria capture CO2 through two cycles: reductive tricarboxylic acid
cycle and Calvin-Benson cycle, which convert solar energy into biomass and other
valuable products. On the other hand, algal only employs Calvin-Benson cycle for the
conversion process. Recently, different species of phototrophic bacteria (oxygenic or
anoxygenic) like Cyanobacteria, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, etc., and algae like
Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella sorokinianaetc are for carbon
fixation and capture (Das et al. 2019; Gajda et al. 2015; Jadhav et al. 2017; Neethu
et al. 2018). In MCC, photosynthetic microbes are used for carbon sequestration
during wastewater treatment and power production (Fig. 7.2). In the anodic chamber,
electrogenic microbes oxidize organic matter of wastewater in anaerobic conditions
to produce CO2 , electrons, and protons, as shown in Eq. (4).

Organic substrate + nH2 O → nCO2 + H+ + e− (4)

Fig. 7.2 Schematic diagram representing working of the microbial carbon-capture cell
132 P. Verma et al.

The CO2 produced in the anodic chamber is entrapped and supplied to the cathodic
chamber for the utilization of microbes for photosynthesis. Algal in cathodic chamber
consumes CO2 and converts it into biomass in the presence of sunlight and at the
same time, it releases oxygen for acceptance of electrons for oxygen reduction reac-
tion (Jadhav et al. 2017; Lee et al. 2015; Mohamed et al. 2020) (Fig. 7.2). In this
chamber, photosynthetic microbe’s biochemical reaction produces biomass through
light-dependent and independent reactions as shown in Eqs. (5–7) (Baicha et al.
2016; Das et al. 2019):
The light-dependent reaction of the cathodic chamber:

nCO2 + nH2 O → (CH2 O)n + nO2 (5)

O2 + e− + H+ → H2 O (6)

The light-independent reaction of the cathodic chamber:

Organic + 2O2 → 2CO2 + 2H2 O (7)

During biochemical reactions in both the chambers, produced electrons at anode

travel to the cathode through the external setup in the form electric current whereas
protons drive toward cathode via separating ion exchange membrane. There are
various advantages of employing microorganisms for CO2 capture in the MCC.
These include production of value-added products (biodiesel, hydrogen or ethanol,
methane, etc.), high bioremediation, and photosynthetic conversion efficiency with
rapid microbial biomass production (Baicha et al. 2016). MCC efficiency depends
upon various physiological parameters like substrate composition and its pH, elec-
trode materials. In the cathodic chamber, growth rate and conversion capacity of
photosynthetic microorganisms are influenced by environmental conditions like
carbon source, intensity of light, etc. (Baicha et al. 2016).
Anabaena sp. is one of the widely employed species of Cyanobacteria, due to
its high growth rate and its ability to fix carbon as well as nitrogen of atmosphere
(Jadhav et al. 2017; Pant et al. 2017). According to Pandit et al. (2012), MCCs having
Anabaena sp. as photosynthesis bacteria were having higher power output than dual-
chambered MFC in the presence of flue gas comprise of CO2 and NOx . The high
concentration of CO2 in flue gas works as a buffering agent and flue gas NOx acts
as a potential electron acceptor in the cathodic chamber. Li et al. (2019) utilizes the
optimum culture medium of C. vulgaris species as photosynthetic microalgae for
better power output and CO2 sequestration during wastewater treatment.
Algal microbial fuel cell (AMFC) emerged as another promising biotechnology
for power generation and wastewater treatment through microalgae or living plants
in the MFC setup. In AMFC, photosynthetic microbes are utilized to converting solar
power into electrical power via metabolic reactions (Baicha et al. 2016), and during
this, CO2 also fixed along with the removal of nutrients from wastewater such as
nitrogen (Yang et al. 2018). The organic matter present in wastewater is oxidized by
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 133

microbes of anodic MFC system, from where electrons (e− ), proton (H+ ), and CO2
are released as shown by Eq. (8). The proton produced is traveled from anodic to
the cathodic chamber through PEM and e− are received by electron acceptor either
oxygen or ferricyanide through external circuit shown by Eqs. (9–10) (Lee et al.
2015).

At Anode : Organic matter + nH2 O → nCO2 + nH+ + e− (8)

At cathode : O2 + H+ + e− → nH2 O (9)

Organic + 2O2 → 2CO2 + 2H2 O + Energy output (10)

A unicellular chlorophyll-containing alga introduced in the cathodic chamber

utilizes CO2 in the presence of sunlight and converts it into biomass with releasing
O2 (Baicha et al. 2016; Lee et al. 2015) shown below Eq. (11):

CO2 + H2 O + hυ + Nutrients → Biomass + O2 (11)

The biomass production by algae strongly depends upon the photosynthetic period
as its concentration reaches about 180% when the period increases from 6 to 12 h
(Baicha et al. 2016). Several biophysicochemical factors such as pH, temperature,
light, nutrients, and carbon source affect the growth rate of algae among which carbon
source and light illumination also influence the efficiency of AMFC (Mata et al.
2010). Chlorella vulgaris performed much better than other algal species Chlorella
sp. in terms of the fixation rate of CO2 and biomass production when they employed
in air-lift-type microbial carbon-capture cells (ALMCCs) for treatment of synthetic
municipal wastewater. The maximum power generation rate of ALMCCs was about
972.5 mW m−3 , and the carbon fixation rate was approx. 887.8 mg L−1 d−1 when the
light intensity of 8.9 Wm2 received by the setup (Hu et al. 2016). In MFC, the power
density also associates with a higher concentration of oxygen. In contrast, it reduces
with a diffused substrate in the cathodic chamber, but both factors lead to enhance the
algal growth cathodic chamber (Neethu et al. 2018). Double-chamber algal-assisted
microbial fuel cell (AAMFC) setup also studies with Cyanobacteria (Synechococcus
sp.) and leachate of municipal solid waste. In the cathodic chamber, the oxygen
concentration rises with algal growth from 5.5 to 8.6 mg/l and generates energy
maximum up to 95.63 mW/m2 while removing COD about 76.5% (Lakshmidevi et al.
2020). MFC integrated with algal technology has originated as a potentially feasible
approach for treating wastewater as well as carbon fixation, where microalgae able to
fix carbon ~10 to 50 times more than terrestrial plants (Table 7.1). AMFC also reduces
the problem of oxygen mass transfer with higher power output as compared with MFC
alone (Lobato et al. 2013; Rosenbaum et al. 2010). So, this technology comes up
as eco-friendly, sustainable, energy, and cost-efficient (Daverey et al. 2019; Zhang
et al. 2019) for carbon capturing, wastewater treatment with electricity production.
 134

Table 7.1 Different types of algal or plant-microbial fuel cell for wastewater treatment and power production
S. No MFC type Type of wastewater Species plants-P, Energy recovery Contaminant removal Reference
microbes-M
1 PMFC NiSO4 solution Eichhornia crassipes ~170 mV Ni2+ Pamintuan (2018)
2 Single-chamber Petroleum Aglaonema 117.3 mV PAHs ~ 52%, Oil ~ Zhao et al. (2019)
P-MFC wastewater commutatum 82%
3 Dual chamber MFCs Kitchen wastewater Synechococcus sp. and 41.5 ± 1.2 mWm-2 and COD 73.5 and 68.5% Mohamed et al.
Chlorococcum sp. 30.2 ± 0.8 mWm-2 (2020)
4 Dual chamber Landfill leachate Synechococcus sp. 95.63 mWm−2 TN 73.9%, Lakshmidevi et al.
AAMFC (Cyanobacteria) phosphorus 90% (2020)
6 Dual-chambered Synthetic wastewater Chlorella vulgaris 0.05448 Wm−2 COD 75 ± 5% Yadav et al. (2020)
MFCs#
7 Photosynthetic algal Swine sewage Chlorella vulgaris 3720 mWm−3 Ammonia nitrogen Zhang et al. (2019)
MFC (PAMFC) 83.1%, total nitrogen
56.0%, total organic
carbon 87.2%
8 Air-Lift-type MCC Synthetic municipal Chlorella vulgaris 972.5 mWm−3 COD 86.69%, Hu et al. (2015)
(ALMCC) wastewater ammonium nitrogen
70.52%, phosphorus
69.24%
9 PMFC Textile effluent Chrysopogon – Scarlet RR dye Kadam et al.
zizanioides and Typha 87–89% (2018)
angustifolia
10 MCC Synthetic wastewater Chlorella pyrenoidosa, 6.4 Wm−3 COD 87.3 ± 2.6% Jadhav et al. (2017)
Anabaena ambigua
# CO fixation rate 90.9 (mg L−1 d−1 )
2
P. Verma et al.
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 135

7.2.3 Current Status of the Application of MFC for Carbon

Capture in Wastewater Treatment

The plant-integrated MFC was widely used by developing different types of ecolog-
ically engineered systems (EESs) and constructed wetland systems (CWS) for
upscaling the technology with some technical modifications. Plant-MFC or CWS-
MFC consisting various plant species has been used to generate electricity from rice
fields, green roofs, wetlands, and floating water bodies and are highly efficient to
remove COD, total suspended solids, nitrate, ammonium, heavy metals, and dyes
from different wastewaters (Table 7.1) (Chiranjeevi et al. 2013; Habibul et al. 2016;
Kabutey et al. 2019; Xu et al. 2016). Liu et al. (2020) employed different plant species
in constructed wetland setup to treat swine wastewater and Acorus calamus, Canna
indica, Ipomoea and Aquatica were able to eliminate 88.07%, 80.20%, 82.20%,
and 84.70% of COD, respectively, and ammonia removal from 49.96% to 75.02%
along voltage output ranges from 520 to 752 mV. CO2 gas released during substrate
degradation could be utilized as a buffering agent in the cathodic chamber of PMFC,
which also reduces the usage of costly chemicals. However, so far, it has not applied
for large-scale setups (Hu et al. 2015; Iasimone et al. 2017). The major problems
associated with PMFC are low power density, so research has to focus on selection
and identification of more efficient plant species, EABs strains, substrate, electrode
materials, scale-up of the configuration and design of setup for the real applications
(Nitisoravut and Regmi 2017; Kabutey et al. 2019; Zhao et al. 2019).
Recently, MFC consisting of two different microalgae species (Scenedesmus sp.
and Oscillatoria sp.) as biocathode used for carbon sequestration and treatment
of food industry wastewater. The anodic chamber supplies the CO2 to the cathode
chamber, which is consumed by algal species used for their growth and power produc-
tion (32.5 ± 0.5 and 28.5 ± 0.3 mWm-2 ) (Mohamed et al. 2019). In another study,
organic and inorganic nutrients of industrial wastewater and flue gas containing about
10% CO2 utilized by two different algal species Chlorella sp. and Chlorococcum sp.
for wastewater bioremediation and biofuel production (Yadav et al. 2019). These
algal species could efficiently remove nutrients such as COD, nitrate, phosphate, and
ammonium from the wastewater and fixes about 187.65 mg L−1 d−1 of CO2. MCC
consisting C. pyrenoidosa algae species showed various prominent features like low
internal resistance, high power and current density, economical separating medium
of clay, etc., which make it suitable for upscaling (Jadhav et al. 2017). In MFC,
the bacteria–algal combination has shown a promising ability to scale-up for the
removal of COD from a large volume of wastewater (Saba et al. 2017). However, the
availability of economical pure CO2 and production of high-density algae biomass
is the primary barrier in upscaling and commercialization of this technology (Gajda
et al. 2015). Another major challenge is to maintain the balance of generation and
utilization of biomass, oxygen, and carbon dioxide within the system (Lee et al.
2015). Therefore, future researches should focus on addressing these limitations for
the successful application of MFC for water treatment and carbon capture.
136 P. Verma et al.

7.3 Algal Technology

7.3.1 Fundamentals and Applications in Wastewater

Treatment with an Emphasis on Carbon Capture

Biological wastewater treatment using microalgae has gained enormous attention in

the last decade. The photosynthetic microalgae have the dual capability of to sequester
CO2 from the environment and remove nutrients from wastewater while converting
them into useful biomasses. Fast-growing microalgae require a large amount of CO2
for growth. They can fix up to 183 t of carbon dioxide to produce 100 t of biomass
by utilizing solar energy with an optimal tolerance level of 20% CO2 (Mann et al.
2019). Apart from the ambient CO2 , these can also assimilate CO2 from the flue and
flaring gas and chemically fixed CO2 in the form of soluble carbonates, making it
a valuable tool for CO2 mitigation (Klinthong et al. 2015). Dunaliella, a halophile
microalga, has displayed the highest ratios of the rate of CO2 absorption constant
and the constant for the CO2 desorption rate (k1 /k2 ), indicating high uptake of CO2
and high CO2 sequestration (Eloka-Eboka and Inambao 2017). Microalgae-based
wastewater treatments are employed for a range of purposes. Microalgae have a
high capacity for nutrient removal as it incorporates the nutrients present in the
wastewater such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Their small size provides a large
surface area, which increases the nutrient uptake rate in the wastewater (Chen et al.
2018; Almomani et al. 2019). Integrated wastewater treatment and microalgae can
effectively reduce the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen
demand (COD) by utilizing the organic compounds, the primary pollutants present in
wastewater (Daverey et al. 2019). Microalgae cultivation can be done in open systems
such as raceway pond, circular ponds, or in closed systems such as photobioreactors
(Abinandan et al. 2018). Microalgae-assisted secondary treatment of wastewater has
multiple advantages over conventional treatment. Microalgae utilize CO2 and release
oxygen during the photosynthetic process that is used by other microorganisms, thus
minimizing the aeration cost. The sludge production is lesser, and no use of chemicals
involved in improving the overall sustainability of the wastewater treatment process
(Foladori et al. 2018).

7.3.2 Feasibility of Algal Biomass Utilization

for the Recovery of Resources

Algae-mediated wastewater treatment has the additional advantage of the production

of biomass that can be harvested for the production of a range of biobased products
cost-effectively with reduced carbon footprints (Fig. 7.3). Algae with high lipid
concentration serve as a potential feedstock for the generation of third-generation
biofuels (Table 7.2). Rapid growth, high photosynthetic efficiency, and the capability
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 137

Fig. 7.3 Carbon capture, storage, and utilization, by microalgal biomass and biochar production
using microalgae culture technology

to grow on wastewater make it an attractive option for biofuel generation (Supar-

maniam et al. 2019). Further, these do not interfere with the food supply overruling
the feed versus feed debate. Moreover, unlike fossil fuels, these do not cause CO2
emissions and tend to cut the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of biofuels
(SundarRajan et al. 2019). Algal biomass can also be used for recovery of other
value-added compounds such as pharmaceutical, cosmetics, anti-oxidants, pigments,
sterols, proteins, and vitamins (Costa et al. 2020). Microalgae with high protein
content can serve as a source of animal feed, and microalgal biomass can be used as
a biofertilizer to improve soil health (Yang et al. 2019). Microalgal biomass grown
on wastewater can also be subjected to pyrolysis process in which it is thermally
decomposed under oxygen-limited conditions, resulting in biochar, liquid (biooil),
and gas. Algal biochar with high nitrogen content, inorganic nutrients, and high pH
is used as a soil additive in agriculture (Cole et al. 2017). Moreover, due to its excel-
lent sorption properties, it is also used as a biosorbent for the removal of organic
pollutants, inorganic pollutants, and heavy metals from wastewaters (Michalak et al.
2019; Poo et al. 2018).
Besides several advantages, microalgal technology faces challenges that limit its
large-scale application. The major challenge is the harvesting of microalgal biomass.
Different methods like centrifugation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and
ultrasonication are used commonly. However, the small size of (<20 ftm) makes
the harvesting process exhaustive, time consuming, and expensive (Fasaei et al.
138 P. Verma et al.

Table 7.2 Wastewater treatment using different microalgae and the bioproducts with lipids and
biomass productivities
Wastewater Microalgae used Biomass Lipids Pollutant References
(%) removal
efficiency
Textile Scenedesmus 4.79 gL−1 – Nitrate = Brar et al. (2019)
wastewater abundans 68.86%
Phosphate =
70.79%
COD = 86.8%
C. humicola 0.87 × 107 27.4% NH4 –N = 81% Borah et al.
cells.mL−1 day−1 COD = 37% (2019)
Chlymadomonas 2.49 gL−1 79.1% Nitrate = Behl et al. (2020)
sp. 91.75%
TN = 87.15%
Municipal Chlorella 0.35 gL−1 39.0% NH4 + .N = Zhou et al. (2020)
wastewater pyrenoidosa with 91%
bacteria
(Kluyvera sp)
S. obliquus 1.42 gL−1 36.75% 4.4 mg N/L·d Álvarez-Díaz
et al. (2017)
Domestic Chlorella 0.25 gL−1 32.7% Total N = 85% Lam et al. (2017)
wastewater vulgaris Total P = 35%
Chlorella 0.88 gL−1 – N = 97.58% Leong et al.
vulgaris (2018)
Scenedesmus sp. 1.56 gL−1 – Total N = Ren et al. (2019)
96.8%
Total P =
97.7%
Landfill Chlorella 0.95 gL−1 ~32% Nitrate = Chang et al.
leachate vulgaris 98.4% (2018)
PO4 3− P=100%
Desmodesmus sp. 1.95 gL−1 20% NH4 + .N = Hernández-García
82% PO4 3− P et al. (2019)
= 43%
Palm oil Nannochloropsis. 1.27 gL−1 – COD = 71% Emparan et al.
mill sp (2020)
effluent Chlorella 5.74 gL−1 14.43% Total N = Cheah et al.
(POME) sorokiniana 98.6% (2020)
Total P = 96%
COD = 93.7%
Brewery Scenedesmus 0.95 gL−1 – NH4 + .N = Ferreira et al.
wastewater obliquus 92.9% (2017)
treatment TKN = 88.5%
P = 40.8%
COD = 50%
(continued)
7 Simultaneous Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Capture … 139

Table 7.2 (continued)

Wastewater Microalgae used Biomass Lipids Pollutant References
(%) removal
efficiency
Scenedesmus 6.82 gL−1 44.26% Total N = > Lutzu et al. (2016)
dimorphus 99%
Total P =>99%
COD = 65%

2018). Another problem includes the presence of a large number of suspended solids
and high turbidity hinders the photosynthesis and interferes with microalgal growth.
Microalgal cultivation in open systems such as raceway ponds, which are susceptible
to external environmental conditions and prone to invasions by organisms, also pose
a challenge to growth (Banerjee and Ramaswamy 2017).

7.3.3 Pilot and Full-Scale Implementation

Microalgae cultivation has shown to be a promising choice for wastewater treat-

ment in addition to the production of other valuable products. However, most of
the research is focused on laboratory scale microalgal cultivation. Therefore, pilot-
scale and large-scale microalgal cultivation are required to maximize its commercial
benefits. Large-scale microalgal cultivation can be done in open and closed systems
(Sutherland et al. 2020). Open systems like open ponds and raceway ponds are simple
to establish but face challenges of inefficient mixing, water loses by evaporation, and
risk of contamination. Moreover, physical parameters such as temperature and light
cannot be controlled in an open system (Chisti 2016). These problems are overcome
in case of a closed system where algae are cultured in closed photobioreactors under
controlled conditions of pH, temperature, and light. Photobioreactors have the added
advantage of higher biomass concentration and reduced greenhouse emission loss.
Different closed systems such as tubular, helical, vertical, horizontal and flat panel
photobioreactor have been designed for microalgal production but high capital and
operation costs of closed photobioreactors deter their uses for microalgal cultiva-
tion (El-Baz and El Baky 2018). Large-scale production of algal biomass requires
inexpensive methods of algal cultivation. Besides the algal growth on wastewater for
nutrient recovery, flue gas from power plants and industries that consist majorly of
CO2 can be utilized by microalgae for growth (Singh et al. 2019). Other combustion
products in the flue gas such as NOx or SOx are toxic for algal growth. However, few
researchers report their utilization as a nutrient source by the microalgae depending
on the microalgal cell density, NOx /SOx concentration, gas flow rate, and species
type (Chiu et al. 2011; Vuppaladadiyam et al. 2018). Thus, directly passing CO2 -
rich gases through algal growth medium is an efficient and sustainable method of
carbon capture.
140 P. Verma et al.

Process development at the pilot scale is mainly focused on cultivation strategies.

This includes selection open or closed photobioreactors for algal growth followed by
designing of the raceway ponds or type of photobioreactor. Optimization of param-
eters such as temperature, light, mixing, pH, carbon dioxide, and nutrients is then
undertaken followed by cultivation optimization (Borowitzka and Vonshak 2017).
Downstream process development includes a selection of dewatering, drying, and
extraction instruments (Khanra et al. 2018). Scale up of the process from pilot to large
scales requires focusing on the critical operational requirements such as the selec-
tion of suitable microalgal strain, inoculum production, development of optimized
protocols for high productivity, monitoring, and maintenance to avoid contamination
and collapse (Borowitzka and Vonshak 2017). The upstream process in microalgae
production is based on pilot process parameters and process modeling. Scale-up of
raceway ponds is usually based on constant lamellar flow speed or constant culture
depth. Scale-up of photobioreactors can be performed by scale-up of an individual
photobioreactor or multiplication of single photobioreactors (Park et al. 2019). Simi-
larly, scale-up of downstream processes requires scale-up of centrifuges, dryers,
homogenizers, and pulverizers that increase the operational and maintenance cost
increasing the overall cost of scale-up. Also, in a large scale, the medium left after
harvesting has to be recycled in order to reduce water costs. Overall, all of these
factors are need to be considered to make the entire scale-up operation profitable and
to achieve the full potential of microalgae.

7.4 Conclusion

The existing wastewater treatment plants need up-gradation to make them energy
neutral or net energy producers keeping in mind to reduce the overall emission of CO2
and other greenhouse gases. The modified Plant-MFC, Algal-MFC, and MCC (MFC)
has the potential even to capture atmospheric carbon. Similarly, the CO2 sequestration
potential of algal technology has to be realized with the full potential to treat various
wastewaters. Several challenges exist for the realization of these technologies in full-
scale wastewater treatment plants for carbon capture and wastewater treatment like
scale-up issues, direct capture, and utilization of CO2 from the point sources, etc.
Therefore, further research is needed for the direct utilization of flue gas for carbon
capture with simultaneous energy recovery and wastewater treatment by MFC and
algal-based technologies.

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Chapter 8
Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids

Kailas Wasewar

8.1 Introduction

The global warming and climate change are mainly because of release of the green
house gases (GHG) (Aghaie et al. 2018; Arshad 2009; Solomon et al. 2007). The
GHG green house gases mainly constitute carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide,
and methane and these GHG entrap the heat in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2 )
is one of the major GHG gases which remain longer in the atmosphere than other
gases and it is more accountable for climate changes and global warming (Figueroa
et al. 2008). The increased concentrations of CO2 resulted in higher earth surface
temperature, climatic disturbance, and also change in ecosystem (Davis et al. 2010).
The fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, and coal) are needed for energy conversion which
releases CO2 into the earth’s atmosphere (Cui et al. 2016). The emission of CO2 is
around 30 gigatons per years from fossil fuels burning (Wilcox et al. 2014; Tlili
et al. 2014). The fossil firepower plants added ~30% emission of CO2 , and in most
of the flue gases, the concentration of carbon dioxide is ~15% (Aaron and Tsouris
2005; Li et al. 2002; Hu et al. 2014). The majority of the CO2 is emitted as post-
combustion flue gases and technology must constitute a plan for reducing the impact
of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels in industrial processes (Zhai and Rubin 2017).
The typical post-combustion flue gas consists of majorly N2 around 70–75%, CO2
around 10–15%, and remaining other gases (Bailey and Feron 2005; Ramdin et al.
2012).
The emission of CO2 from all sources is presenting the risk to the atmosphere for
increase in temperature >2 °C per year (Stocker et al. 2013). Besides, carbon dioxide
is non-toxic, cheap, and non-flammable and an appealing renewable carbon resource

K. Wasewar (B)
Advance Separation and Analytical Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Visvesvarya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur 440010, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 147
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_8
148 K. Wasewar

(He et al. 2013; De Falco et al. 2013). The capture of carbon dioxide at source (e.g.,
power plant) is the promising approach to reduce emission of CO2 and it impounding
for enduring storage in suitable geologic arrangements (Figueroa et al. 2008). Hence,
the development of economically sustainable novel material and processes with high
efficiency for CO2 capture for environmental concern is needed (Cui et al. 2016;
Albo and Irabien 2012; Zhai and Rubin 2017).
Amine absorption is the popular, well-developed mature technology which is
employed for the capture of CO2 (Thitakamol et al. 2007). The typical amines,
monoethanolamine (MEA) and methyldiethylamine (MDEA) are used for absorption
having numerous disadvantages of high cost, high volatility, extensive energy utiliza-
tion, and corrosiveness (Shao and Stangeland 2009; Shukla et al. 2009). Designing
new solvents is of key importance and ionic liquids (ILs) may fulfill this require-
ment due to their unique properties and have been considered in various applications
(Steinruck and Wasserscheid 2015). ILs posses almost no vapor pressure, relative
non-flammability, high thermal stability, designability, wide liquid range, and recy-
clability (Zeng et al. 2017). ILs consist of pyridinium, guanidinium, pyrrolidinium,
imidazolium, and amine cations, and organic/inorganic (azolate, prolinate, hexafluo-
rophosphate, phenoxide, carboxylate, thionate, halide, tetrafluoroborate, anion, etc.
(Niedermaier et al. 2014; Goodrich et al. 2011a, b; Zhang et al. 2009). The separation
and capture of carbon dioxide from various industrial CO2 gases using ILs liquids
is a promising technology and is increasingly attracting remarkable interests (Zhang
et al. 2012). ILs can reduce the thermal energy and electrical energy by 66.04%
and 42.8%, respectively, when compared with MDEA (Liu et al. 2016). Further, IL
(1-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate) is reduced the energy needed for regeneration
by 15% as compared to MEA (conventional amine) (Mumford et al. 2015).
The present chapter deals with various sections considering source and emission
of CO2 , carbon dioxide capture methods, brief on ILs, carbon dioxide capture by ILs,
various ways to use ILs for CO2 capture, biodegradation, toxicity, and discussion.
ILs for CO2 comprise conventional, functionalized, membrane supported, polymer,
solid supported phase, mixture with organic solvents, etc.

8.2 CO2 Emission

In last few decades, growing awareness has been paid toward the climate change
(Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013). There is significant growth in population every year
which need improved standards of living and expanding economies and increasing
energy demand. During 1971–2014, the worldwide gross major energy supply has
been increased by 150% (IEA 2011a, b). Hence, the CO2 generated and emitted into
the atmosphere persists to increase (Zhang et al. 2013). As a natural process, in the
carbon cycle, CO2 is produced and consumed naturally (Aghaie et al. 2018).
At the atmospheric conditions, the carbon dioxide (44.009 g/mol) is odorless and
colorless gas. Also, it is non-combustible, comparatively non-toxic, and soluble in
water. It has melting point of −56.5 °C at atmospheric pressure. Carbon dioxide
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 149

is soluble in water with solubility of 2.9 g/L at 25 °C. The miscibility of CO2 in
hydrocarbons and organic liquids is as per particular thermodynamic conditions.
Other properties such as the density, vapor pressure, viscosity, and surface tension
of CO2 are 1.976 g/l at 25 °C, 5720 kPa (56.5 atm) at 20 °C, 0.01503 cP at the
atmospheric condition, 0.0162 N/m at the melting point, respectively (Aghaie et al.
2018; Haynes 2014; Yalkowski et al. 2010; Huddleston et al. 2001; Valderrama and
Robles 2007).
CO2 is a main component of GHG and accountable for global warming and other
environmental issues (Sanz-Perez et al. 2016; Olah et al. 2018). The emission of
carbon dioxide is mainly from burning of fossil fuels: natural gas, petroleum, and coal
(Yang et al. 2011). The CO2 concentration was 400 ppm, in 2016 as per International
Energy Agency (IEA) with 2 ppm/year of an average growth rate (ESRL 2018; EPA
2017) and predicted to 40.2 Gt by 2030 (IEA 2011a, b). In addition, CO2 released
from the combustion of fossil fuels into the atmosphere has been rising exponentially
and contributing up the 86% of GHG (Metz et al. 2005). The fossil fuels contributions
are, 46% from coal, 34% from oil, 19% from gas fuels, and 1% from others including
hydro, biofuels, geothermal, wind, nuclear, solar, and waste (IEA 2011a, b).
In the atmosphere, 385 ppm (volume basis) or 582 ppm (mass basis) concentration
of CO2 making almost 3.0 × 1015 kg of CO2 in atmosphere (Zhou et al. 2014;
Valderrama et al. 2012) which changes by geographical region, season, and human
persuaded actions (EIA 2011). In many parts of the world, particularly Asia, coal is
an ideal fuel for energy production in power plants (Lin and Liu 2010). The typical
constituents of a coal-fired power plant flue gas are 13% CO2 , 68% N2 , 16% water,
3% O2 , ~200 ppm SO2 , 60 ppm NOx , and trace impurities (DOE 2010). The ocean
is a natural absorbent of carbon dioxide but not able to capture all released CO2
into the atmosphere (Bolin and Eriksson 1959). Hence, in this regard, capture CO2
is of enormous importance for eco-friendly and sustainable development of society.
Environmental and economical concerns are the main inspiration to work toward
energy efficient and eco-friendly technology for capture of carbon dioxide (Ramdin
et al. 2012). As such, energy efficient commercial way does not present for the capture
of CO2 from power plants flue gas (Kolding et al. 2012).
Presently, amine-based (MEA) technologies are dominating the industry for
capture of carbon dioxide. Amine technologies are relatively especially energy
intensive and having environmental issues of emission of volatile solvents.

8.3 CO2 Capture Methods

The use of carbon dioxide capture technology and its performance (economics) is
considered by the pathway used for the generation of electricity by burning of fossil
fuels. The uniqueness of post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxyfuel combustion
is distinctive having varying conditions for carbon dioxide capture (Fig. 8.1) (Aghaie
et al. 2018; Arshad 2009; Ramdin et al. 2012). The main CO2 removal technologies
150 K. Wasewar

Fig. 8.1 Pathways of carbon dioxide capture

from various gaseous blends are currently: absorption, adsorption, membrane, cryo-
genic, and biological methods (Fig. 8.2) (Srivastava et al. 1996; Moreno and Valiente
1999).

Fig. 8.2 Carbon dioxide capture methods

8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 151

8.3.1 CO2 Capture Pathways

8.3.1.1 Post-combustion Capture

The post-combustion process is extensively employed for the generation of elec-

tricity at conventional fossil fuel-based power plants (Bailey and Feron 2005). In
this process, the cleaned flue gas contains 10–16% CO2 in the absence of capture
of CO2 and it would be released into the atmosphere (Ramdin et al. 2012). Hence,
due to its role in the global warming and climate change, CO2 must be removed and
should have safe storage. Ramdin et al. (2012) presented few observations based on
post-combustion process for CO2 capture as: CO2 selective separation and process
for large volume of flue gases with low CO2 , Low amount of CO2 is not advantageous
for physical capture of CO2 . At present, amines with various aqueous concentrations
are used for absorption of CO2 from the flue gases through formation of carbamate
(Kolding et al. 2012). Amines are corrosive to steel hence only maximum 70% (by
wt.) is considered. The large amounts of water for continuous heating and cooling
obviously need large amounts of energy that then cannot be used for generation of
electricity. Another significant disadvantage is loss of amine due to low volatility,
loss of water to CO2 stream makes costly stripping, and degradation of amine (DOE
2010).

8.3.1.2 Pre-combustion Capture

The pre-combustion capture is related with the more complex integrated gasification
combined cycle (IGCC) (Eide and Bailey 2005). In case of pre-combustion capture
of carbon dioxide, the fossil fuels are gasified with pure oxygen and steam which
produces syn gas (mixture of carbon mono oxide and hydrogen gas) which is further
purified and supplied to the reactor for water gas shift (WGS) reaction. The gas to be
treated typically content around 37% CO2 and 55% N2 along with other gases. The
carbon dioxide is captured and the electricity is generated by combustion of H2 in gas
turbine with production of heat (Moulijn et al. 2001). The high CO2 concentration in
gas mixture by the pre-combustion process favors the separation of CO2 . Here, CO2
absorption may be taking place as physical absorption in methanol and polyethylene
glycol (DOE 2010). Further, after absorption, flash desorption units are used to
achieved the targeted CO2 separation from the flue gas (Kolding et al. 2012). The
pre-combustion capture is primarily appropriate for heat and power plants with feed
of coal and biomass as these fuels are vulnerable to gasification.

8.3.1.3 Oxyfuel Combustion

The oxyfuel combustion process, a promising concept, used concentrated oxygen in

place of air for the combustion of the fuel. The heat is released during this combustion
152 K. Wasewar

which is used to produce steam with high pressure steam. The high pressure steam
is fed to the steam turbine for the generation of electricity (Moulijn et al. 2001). The
flue gas having H2 O and CO2 is then allowed to remove the soot particles by stripping
and in part used to control the temperature of the boiler (Ramdin et al. 2012).

8.3.1.4 Natural Gas Sweetening

In natural gas sweetening, also CO2 capture has industrial relevance as important
as an environmental viewpoint (IEA 2010). Natural gas contains large amounts of
methane (CH4 ) and impurities (high content: sour gases and low content: sweet
gases, e.g., CO2 and H2 S). Mainly, the associated separation is CO2 /CH4 , but other
separation may also be needed if other sour gases (e.g., H2 S) are implicated (Ramdin
et al. 2012).

8.3.1.5 Comparison

In the first two methods, post-combustion and oxy-combustion, air and oxygen are
supplied for burning of the fuels, respectively. Burning of fuels in these pathways
releases heat which is used for the generation of electricity (Aghaie et al. 2018).
The primary variation between oxy fuel combustion and pre- and post-combustion
processes is that capture of CO2 is not involved; as an alternative, N2 /O2 is the related
separation in this process. The concentrated CO2 stream is a result of excluding
nitrogen in the burning step (Ramdin et al. 2012). Further, the composition of the flue
gas in terms of CO2 content is another major variation between the post-combustion
and oxy-combustion processes. In oxy-combustion, high concentration of CO2 in
the flue gas is obtained which contains highly concentrated CO2 , which is appro-
priate for underground storage. On the other hand, in the post-combustion, addi-
tional process/stages are needed for carbon dioxide capture from the flue gas (Chen
et al. 2012). US Department of Energy presented economic evaluation of these three
processes and suggested that the capture of carbon dioxide in pre-combustion is the
least expensive alternative provided (Ramdin et al. 2012). The investment cost is
higher for pre-combustion than the post-combustion and oxyfuel combustion CO2
capture. In reality, pre-combustion and oxy fuel combustion technology can only be
considered for new power plants only (Ramdin et al. 2012; DOE-NETL 2010).

8.3.2 Capture Methods

8.3.2.1 Absorption

Numerous carbon dioxide capture method has been under investigation, but at
present, still amine technology is most applicable feasible technology for CO2
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 153

capture from a fossil fuel combustion-based large-scale power plants (Rochelle

2009). Absorption is one of the well-matured technologies for gas removal which
occurs within the bulk or interface or film of the absorbent through physical/chemical
mechanism (depend on operating condition, type of solvent, concentration, etc.)
through the formation of covalent bonds between the molecules. The absorbent can
usually regenerated and recycled by raising temperature (heating) and lowering the
pressure and released of captured CO2 (Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013; Gui et al. 2010).
Amine absorption technology is one of the oldest technologies for the removal of
various gases which was recognized over 60 years ago in the chemical, oil, and
other related industries, for removal of CO2 and H2 S from various gaseous streams.
Commercially, amine technology is the best suited and well-established technique
available for capture of CO2 (Arshad 2009; IEA 2001). It is traditional and well-
developed conventional technology of CO2 capture. It has certain disadvantages like
high energy consumption for regeneration, corrosion, toxicity, volatility, and degrad-
ability (Lee et al. 2008; Abanades et al. 2004; Wang et al. 2017) and has certain
advantages of technology maturity, good reactivity, stable operation, low cost, high
adsorption efficiency and capacity (Oyenekan and Rochelle 2006; Alejandre et al.
2000; McCann et al. 2008; Liu et al. 1999). It is used in natural gas sweetening,
steam reforming, and ammonia process (Vaidya and Kenig 2007).
Many alkanolamines have been employed for absorption of carbon dioxide. These
alkanolamines are primary, secondary, tertiary, and hindered amines. These are
monoethanolamine (MEA) and diglycolamine (DEA); diethanolamine (DEA) and
diisopropanolamine (DIPA); methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and triethanolamine
(TEA) (Vaidya and Kenig 2007). Among these alkanolamines, MEA is mostly
employed for absorption of capture of CO2 because to high reactivity between MEA
and CO2 (Chang and Shih 2005).
In a typical post-combustion capture of CO2 from flue gas (40–60 °C) by MEA
solution (20–30 wt%), the carbon dioxide is absorbed selectively and chemically
through a mechanism of zwitterions to form the carbamates. The bounded carbon
dioxide is released by heating at 100–140 °C with steam at 1–2 bar and recycled the
regenerated MEA to the absorption column (Vaidya and Kenig 2007).

8.3.2.2 Cryogenic Separation

In cryogenic separation, cooling and condensation are employed to separate CO2

from other gases (Arshad 2009). This separation is commercially consider only for
high CO2 (>90%) in feed gases (typically >90%) (IEA 2001). The high amount of
energy requirement to provide the refrigeration is a major disadvantage of cryogenic
separation of CO2 particularly for dilute gas streams (Burt et al. 2010). An additional
disadvantage is that to avoid the blockages, water removal is must before the gas
stream is cooled. It has certain advantage of straight making of liquid form of CO2 .
Cryogenic separation is usually considered for high pressure, high concentration
gases as obtained in pre-combustion capture or oxygen combustion (Figueroa et al.
2008).
154 K. Wasewar

8.3.2.3 Soluble Carbonate-Based Systems

In this system, an aqueous carbonate is reacted with carbon dioxide to form bicar-
bonate and then releases CO2 after heating at certain temperature which further
back to a carbonate (Arshad 2009). It has significantly lower energy requirement for
regeneration as compared to amine-based absorption. Rochelle et al. (2006) investi-
gated K2 CO3 /piperazine (PZ) (5:2.5 mol basis) having carbon dioxide absorption rate
10–30% enhanced as compared to 30% aqueous MEA solution. An approximately
5% lower energy was needed when compared 40 versus 30% for MEA. Further,
structured packing shows an added 5% energy savings and also additional 5–15%
reduction in energy was obtained by multi pressure stripping (Rochelle et al. 2006).

8.3.2.4 Ammonia-Based Systems

The operation of ammonia-based system is like operation of amine-based system. In

this system, ammonia and its derivatives are used and reacted with CO2 by means
of various mechanisms (Arshad 2009). Ammonium carbonate reacted with carbon
dioxide and water to form ammonium bicarbonate. In this system, heat of reaction is
considerably lower than amine-based absorption which resulted in saving of energy
(Resnik et al. 2004, 2006). Ammonia-based system has a numerous advantages as
compared to amine systems such as: high absorption capacity, no degradation during
complete processing, low cost, tolerance to oxygen in the flue gas, and regeneration
at pressure of 20 bar. Ammonia losses during regeneration due to higher volatility
relative to MEA are the major concern (Yeh et al. 2005).

8.3.2.5 Membrane Systems

In membrane system, the best features of membranes and solvent are used to develop
the solvent supported membrane system for carbon dioxide capture (Arshad 2009)
where the flue gas passed through a bundle of membrane tubes, and an amine solu-
tion flowed through the shell side of the bundle by a physical or chemical inter-
action (Scholes et al. 2008). CO2 passed from side to side to the membrane and
amine absorbed the CO2 . At the same time, impurities are blocked from the amine
which further decreases the loss of amine (Falk Pederson et al. 2000). The variety
of membranes is used for the gas separation such as: zeolites, polymeric, and porous
inorganic membranes (Scholes et al. 2008). Typically, a single unit of membranes
may not be obtained the desired separation; hence multiple stages are needed neces-
sary which may lead to increase in complexity of system, high energy consumption,
and high costs. Hence, much development is required in this area for carbon dioxide
capture in power plants (Figueroa et al. 2008).
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 155

8.3.2.6 Enzyme-Based Systems

Generally, biologically methods involve the biological reaction occurring naturally

for CO2 with living organisms which may also employ for capture of CO2 . An
enzymatic system achieves CO2 capture and liberate by imitating the mechanism
of the mammalian respiratory arrangements (Figueroa et al. 2008). A laboratory
scale demonstration was performed using carbonic anhydrase (CA) in a hollow
fiber membrane module and observed 90% capture of CO2 . In comparison to MEA
process, enzyme-based system has a significant technical improvement (Arshad
2009).

8.3.2.7 Adsorption

Adsorption may be performed as a temperature swing (TSA) or pressure swing

adsorption (PSA). In PSA, the gas mixture passed through an adsorbent bed at
elevated pressure to reach the equilibrium. When the bed is fully saturated with
CO2 , the bed is regenerated by reduced pressure (Chaffee et al. 2007; Arshad 2009).
In TSA, the adsorbent bed is regenerated by increasing bed temperature. The working
with solids is difficult as compared to liquids, and also solids have low capacity and
selectivity; hence, it has been not commercialized (IEA 2001).
Highly porous adsorbents have been used for CO2 capture by physical adsorp-
tion. The number of materials has been employed for CO2 capture: silica, zeolites,
metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, carbonaceous materials,
etc. Hedin et al. (2013) presented critical review of different adsorbents for CO2
capture.

8.3.2.8 Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs)

Metal organic frameworks (MOF) are a novel hybrid material fabricated from metal
ions with well-defined coordination geometry and organic bridging ligands (Arshad
2009). The high storage ability and the low recovery of heat are observed in MOF.
The highest absorption capacity was obtained with MOF-177 having the highest
surface areas (Willis et al. 2006).

8.3.2.9 Supported Solid Material

Nelson et al. (2006a, b) experimented sodium carbonate (Na2 CO3 ), a supported

sorbent. This supported sorbent is less expensive and regenerable and formed sodium
bicarbonate (NaHCO3 ) by reaction with water and CO2 . The sorbent is regenerated
by temperature swing process with release of water and CO2 . Over 90% CO2 was
observed at pilot plant with lower capital costs and energy requirements as compared
to MEA system (Nelson et al. 2006a, b).
156 K. Wasewar

8.3.3 Need of ILs Relative to Amine

A variety of solvents have been employed for chemical absorption of CO2 (Rochelle
2009). Because of high reactivity, high thermal stability, high capacity, and high selec-
tivity, most of the amines are extensively used carbon dioxide absorption (Riemer
and Ormerod 1995; Kothandaraman 2010). Absorption by MEA to capture post-
combustion carbon dioxide is still considered the most efficient and the least expen-
sive among available technologies (Jamal et al. 2006; Oyenekan and Rochelle 2006;
Henni et al. 2008). In addition to earlier mentioned, the amine technologies have
numerous drawbacks of solvent degradation, toxic by product release, operational
instability, and frequent equipment maintenance due to certain reasons (Arshad 2009;
Zhang et al. 2013; Liu et al. 1999; Yu et al. 2012; Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013).
Hence, it is extremely required to exploit new solvents to perform significantly
better than conventional amines for the thermal stability, energy requirement, chem-
ical degradation, corrosivity, and volatility (Ramdin et al. 2012), In the past few
decades, ionic liquids (ILs) have been emerging as a potential option to the amines due
to their extraordinary properties such as: negligible volatility, high chemical/thermal
stability, and most important tunability (Ramdin et al. 2012; Aghaie et al. 2018;
Rochelle 2009; Yu et al. 2012; Anthony et al. 2002). Extensive work has been
presented in the literature for capture of CO2 using various ILs (Aghaie et al. 2018).
Torralba-Calleja et al. (2013) listed few benefits of ILs as compared to the amine
for absorption of CO2 . These benefits are included as: less energy requirement for
regeneration of ILs, almost no chance for reaction with impurities and hence no
corrosion with high chemical and thermal stability (>300 °C) of ILs, due to negli-
gible vapor pressure, no loss in the gas stream in regeneration, and high potentials
to make tuneable ILs for specific application by adjusting cations and anions.

8.4 Ionic Liquids

Ionic liquids (ILs) are liquids consist of cations and anions (Arshad 2009). Ionic
liquids are different than ionic solutions. Ionic solution is a salt solution in molecular
solvent with 100 °C or below melting point (Arshad 2009). A liquid is formed when
sodium chloride (NaCl, mp 801 °C, a common salt, is heated to high temperature
which consists completely ions, a molten salt and not IL. ILs are liquid at room
temperature. In literature, room temperature molten salts, fused salts, ionic melts,
organic ionic liquids, liquid organic salts, non-aqueous ionic liquids, molten salts,
and ionic fluids are found as few alternative labels for ILs (Welton 1999; Stark and
Seddon 2008).
ILs have unique properties which attracted them in many applications. The ILs
have negligible vapor pressure at the ambient conditions due to strong ion–ion inter-
actions relative to other intermolecular forces (London forces and ion-dipole interac-
tions) in organic solvents (Henni et al. 2013; Aghaie et al. 2018). In other properties,
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 157

ILs are superior to conventional organic solvents, such properties are: large electro-
chemical window, high thermal stability, and capacity to dissolve various polarities
compounds (Zhang et al. 2004). In addition, physical and chemical properties of ionic
liquids can be tuned by designing suitable anion and cation for specific applications
(Wasserscheid and Welton 2008). Often, ILs are referred as “green solvents” due to
negligible vapor pressure which eliminate release of solvent (Arshad 2009; Anthony
et al. 2004). In view of environmental concern, ILs are characteristics of: low vapor
pressure, non-volatile, high chemical stability, inflammable, high thermal stability,
large electrochemical window, tuneable and designer character, tunable polarity,
wide liquid temperature ranges, high ionic conductivity, high loading capacity, easy
recyclability and diversiform structure/property modulation, excellent solvent prop-
erties, and recyclable which make them environmentally friendly compared to other
chemicals such as amines (Yang et al. 2011; Ghandi 2014; Welton 1999; Torralba-
Calleja et al. 2013). The tuneability of cation and anion of ILs is important feature
which can be obtained by varying the structures of ions and hence their properties
such as Lewis acidity, density, hydrogen-bonding capability, viscosity, gas solubility,
hydrophobicity, and conductivity (Plechkova and Seddon 2008; Rogers et al. 2000).
Ionic liquids (ILs) (composed of cations and anions) with a low melting point
(<373.15 K) are a kind of novel and green chemical and its use was limited until late
1990s. It has attracted significant attention due to their unique properties such as non-
volatility, tunable polarity, high stability, and so on and hence application in chem-
istry, chemical engineering, biotechnology, pharmaceutical areas (Yang et al. 2011).
ILs have been entered into many industrial sectors over last few decade (Seddon
2003). Few applications are: biomass processing (Tan and Macfarlane 2009), elec-
trolytes (Galiński et al. 2006), electropolishing and electroplating (Abbott et al.
2007), lubricants (Jimenez et al. 2006), solar cells (Wang et al. 2003), and many more
(Fig. 8.3). Due to large application in industry, it has been possible to synthesized
and also purchase commercially (Stark et al. 2010). Many companies are providing
commercial ILs such as IoLitec, Sigma-Aldrich, Solvionic, Merck, Sachem, BASF,
and few more (Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013).
ILs (stable molten salts, melting point <100 °C) can be classified into three
categories based on their development like, conventional ILs, stable ILs, and then
task-specific ILs (Arshad 2009). Holbrey and Seddon (1999) categorized ILs as a
first-generation, second-generation, and third-generation ILs. The first-generation
ILs have heavy cations (mono- or di-alkyl imidazolium, pyridinium) and haloa-
luminate anions. The major advantage of these ILs is tuneable Lewis acidity and
having drawback of sensitivity toward water. The second-generation ILs are typi-
cally stable in air and water. These ILs slowly absorb water from the atmosphere
(Seddon et al. 2000). The third-generation ILs are task-specific ILs featuring chemical
functionalities designated for specific applications.
Based on the available literature, it is observed that the carbon is significantly
soluble in most of the ILs (Cadena et al. 2004; Anthony et al. 2005; Jacquemin et al.
2006a, b; Anderson et al. 2007; Kim et al. 2007; Kamps et al. 2003; Muldoon et al.
2007). Further, ILs have greater affinity or selectivity as compared to other gases like
carbon monoxide, methane, oxygen, ethane, nitrogen, and argon; hence, selective
158 K. Wasewar

Fig. 8.3 Various applications of ionic liquids

capture of carbon dioxide absorption from flue gas from various steams is promising
(Jacquemin et al. 2006a, b; Anderson et al. 2007). Also, the energy required for
regeneration is smaller as compared to the amine technology.

8.5 Carbon Dioxide Capture by ILs

In overall, the use of ILs for capture of CO2 has certain characteristics as compared
to amine solution technology. Torralba-Calleja et al. (2013) presented few major
considerations for ILs: (a) less energy requirement for regeneration due to phys-
ical absorption, (b) no appreciable losses into the gas stream, (c) high thermal and
chemical stability, and (d) the tuneable and designer nature of ILs. The tuneable and
designer ILs present many alternatives relating the physicochemical properties such
as densities, thermal decomposition temperatures, viscosities, surface tension, heat
capacities, toxicity, corrosion, and health issues (Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013). There
has been systematic development in ILs for capture of carbon dioxide starting with
conventional ILs to reversible ILs. In further sections, these ILs have been discussed
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 159

and the complete classification of ILs for capture of carbon dioxide is presented in
Fig. 8.4.

8.5.1 Conventional ILs

The conventional ILs are the first-generation ILs for CO2 capture. The first
study on application of ILs for CO2 capture using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium
hexafluorophosphate ([C4 mim][PF6 ]) was discussed by Blanchard et al.
(1999). ([C4 mim][PF6 ] capture 0.6 mol fraction at 40 °C and 8 MPa
with negligible solubility of IL in CO2 . Blanchard et al. (2010) investi-
gated 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C4 mim][PF6 ]),
1-n-octyl-3-methylimidazoliumhexafluorophosphate ([C8 mim][PF6 ]), 1-n-
octyl-3-methylimidazoliumtetrafluoroborate ([C8 mim][BF4 ]), 1-n-butyl-3-
methylimidazoliumnitrate ([C4 mim][NO3 ]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium
ethyl sulfate ([C2 mim] [EtSO4 ]), and N-butylpyridiniumtetrafluoroborate ([N-
bupy][BF4 ]) at high pressure and a large quantities of CO2 dissolved in ILs with
almost negligible solubility of ILs in CO2 (Blanchard et al. 2010).
Solubility increases with increase in length of alkyl chain in imidazolium ILs but
lower in case of phenyl group (Baltus et al. 2004). In case of anions, [Tf2 N] gives
higher solubility as compared to [PF6 ] ILs (Zhao et al. 2012). Experiments have
been performed for solubility of the CO2 in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexaflu-
orophosphate ([C4 mim][PF6 ]) and 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidium lactate (TMGL)
and it was obtained as 2.65 mol/kg and 2.77 mol/kg, respectively, at 319 K and
5.73 MPa (Zhang et al. 2005). In case of cation, the solubility order is observed as
[C8 H4 F13 mim][Tf2 N] > [C6 H4 F9 mim][Tf2 N] > [C6 mim][Tf2 N] which interpreted
as, the solubility increases as the numbers of fluorine in the alkyl side (Anderson
et al. 2007; Muldoon et al. 2007).
Anion has significant control on solubility of CO2 and the
bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)-imide anion ([Tf2 N]) has the maximum affinity
for CO2 . The solubility order is observed for anion as [NO3 ] < [DCA] < [BF4 ] <
[PF6 ] < [CF3 SO3 ] < [Tf2 N] < [methide] (Aki et al. 2004). The strong coulombic
interactions due to more fluorine atoms are responsible for higher solubility of CO2
(Zhao et al. 2012). Besides CO2 other gases such as CH4 , C2 H4 , C2 H6 , CO, NO,
O2 , H2 , N2 , etc. are also the constituents of flue gas from a power plant, syngas,
and natural gas. ILs have highest solubility and selectivity relative to other gases
(Zhao et al. 2011). The anion plays a key role in the absorption of CO2 , whereas
the cation is supposed to have a secondary role (Aki et al. 2004). Kanakubo et al.
(2005) studied the effect of the anions with [bmim] cation at 333 K and solubility of
CO2 decreasing in order of the anions: [C7 F15 CO2 ] > [Methide] > [Tf2 N] > [PF6 ] >
[DCA] > [BF4 ] > [MeSO4 ] > [SCN] > [NO3 ].
Anthony et al. (2002) performed the experimental study to investigate the solu-
bility of CO2 and other gases (nitrogen, ethane, argon, ethylene, hydrogen, oxygen,
160 K. Wasewar

Fig. 8.4 Classification of ionic liquids for carbon dioxide capture

8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 161

carbon monoxide, and methane) in 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophos-

phate, [bmim][PF6 ]. The significant difference in solubility for CO2 relative to other
gases was observed.
The solubility of the various gases in [hmpy][Tf2 N] at 298 K is observed as SO2
> CO2 > C2 H4 > C2 H6 > CH4 > O2 > N2 (Anderson et al. 2007). Similar trend was
observed for solubility in [bmim][Tf2 N], [bmim][PF6 ], and [hmim][Tf2 N] (Anthony
et al. 2002, 2005; Anderson et al. 2007). Jacquemin et al. (2006a, b) investigated the
solubility of various gases in [bmim][PF6 ] and [bmim][BF4 ] which was observed in
the decreases way as: CO2 > H2 > CO > N2 > O2 > Ar > CH4 > C2 H6 . The absorption
mechanism for carbon dioxide capture in conventional ILs is mainly by physical
absorption.
The anions of ILs have a significant control on the CO2 solubility than the cations
of ILs of ionic liquids. Conventional imidazolium-based ILs are used for CO2 capture
having less corrosion of the absorption column and other equipments. Also, the heat
capacity of these ILs is almost 1/3rd of those aqueous systems, which further reduces
the investment and operating cost (Perissi et al. 2006; Soosaiprakasam and Veawab
2008). Conventional ILs can be easily regenerated using heat treatment, nitrogen
bubbling, pressure sweep with vacuum (Li et al. 2008a, b; Sanchez et al. 2007). The
major drawback of conventional ILs for the CO2 absorption is lower capacity than
traditional alkanomine process (Zhao et al. 2012).
The capture of CO2 using pure conventional ILs from the flue gas of power
plants (coal or natural gas-based) is not an encouraging option since conventional
ILs have lower absorption capacity for CO2 with lower pressure (Zhang et al. 2012).
Hence, ionic liquids with functionalized and other activated using another molecule
with chemical sorption or both physical and chemical sorption must be obtained to
trounce these shortfalls.

8.5.2 Functionalized ILs

The use of conventional ILs, for carbon dioxide capture from flue gas is mired due to
the low capacity and solubility (<5 mol%) at post-combustion conditions (Ramdin
et al. 2012). The solubility (<0.05 mol/mol IL) of CO2 in conventional ILs is not
sufficient as compare to traditional methods; hence, further improvement in ILs is
needed in terms of its solubility and other parameters. These improvements in ILs
may be obtained by functionalizing ILs with suitable moiety (Cui et al. 2016).

8.5.2.1 Mono Amino-Functionalized

It is observed that the conventional ILs are not sufficiently capture the CO2 (Ramdin
et al. 2012; Cui et al. 2016). Though, the CO2 capacity can be improved by fiction-
alization of ILs. The ammonia, the alkaline group, is well known for carbon dioxide
162 K. Wasewar

absorption. Hence, introducing amine moiety in the ILs can enhance the ability of
carbon dioxide capture (Zhang et al. 2013).
Amino acids (AA) consist a primary amine (–NH2 ) and a carboxyl (–COOH)
group. These amino acids are usually cheaper and environmentally safer due to
biodegradable and non-volatile (Ohno and Fukumoto 2007). Amino acids can be
easily obtained in sufficient amount at a comparatively high purity. Fukumoto et al.
(2005) investigated imidazolium cations and amino acid anions ILs for CO2 capture.
Bate et al. (2010) used amino-functionalized [APBIm][BF4] or [NH2p -bim][BF4 ]
IL for chemisorptions of carbon dioxide. A primary amine moiety is covalently
bonded with an imidazolium ion. The reaction mechanism is proposed as similar to
reaction between traditional organic amine and CO2 . This amino-functionalized IL
has captured 0.5 mol CO2 per liter of IL having 7.4% capacity for 3 h at ambient
pressure. It is easily regenerated under vacuum for several hours at 80–100 °C.
No loss in efficiency for ILs was observed even after five cycles. It was the first
application of such ILs for CO2 absorption. This work opens the window to design
and synthesize new functionalized ILs for CO2 absorption. Presented functionalized
IL is cation tethered and another functionalized ILs group may be anion tethered.
The solubility of carbon dioxide in conventional ILs ([bmim][BF4] and
[bmim][DCA]) is low, but after cation functionalizing with amino group [Ambim]
these ILs, [Ambim][BF4 ] and [Ambim][DCA] show increase in absorption of CO2
by a factor 13 and 4, respectively, at 0.1 MPa and 303 K (Sanchez et al. 2007). It can
be clearly observed that the solubility can be improved by functionalizing of cation
of ILs using amine along with proper anion (Ramdin et al. 2012). It was observed
that the solubility was increased sharply at low pressures, while a steady increase
in solubility was found at higher pressures due to the physical mechanism (Ramdin
et al. 2012).
Zhang et al. (2006a, b) have been synthesized various functionalized ILs by reac-
tion of tetrabutylphosphonium hydroxide [P(C4 )4 ][OH] with amino acids, including
glycine, l-alanine, l-b-alanine, l-serine, and l-lysine. These ILs, [P(C4 )4 ][b-Ala]-
SiO2 , [P(C4 )4 ][Gly]-SiO2 and [P(C4)4 ][Ala]-SiO2 reached to CO2 absorption in
<100 min. The absorption capacity of ILs has been not changed even after four
cycle of absorption–desorption (Zhang et al. 2006a, b; Yu et al. 2006; Yang et al.
2011).
An intra-molecular proton transfer by larger phosphonium cations with steric
hindrance to block the intermolecular proton transfer process is observed by
Gurkan et al. (2010a, b). They synthesized [P66614 ][Pro] and [P66614 ][Met] for CO2
capture with capacity of almost 1 mol CO2 /mol IL. Subsequently, they synthe-
sized six amine-functionalized anion-tethered ILs, trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium
glycinate ([P66614 ][Gly]), alanate ([P66614 ][Ala]), sarcosinate ([P66614 ][Sar]), valinate
([P66614 ][Val]), leucinate ([P66614 ][Leu]), and isoleucinate ([P66614 ][Ile]). The absorp-
tion capacity of 0.5 mol CO2 per mol IL at CO2 pressures of less than 0.1 MPa (Zhao
et al. 2012).
Yu et al. (2009) synthesized 15 amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) using combina-
tion of several cations of tetraalkylammonium (TAA) with [Gly], [L-Ala], [b-Ala]
and [Val] amino acid anions (Jiang et al. 2008). The viscosity for these ILs is observed
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 163

in the range of 29–60 mPa s with maximum absorption of 0.5 mol CO2 per mole of
ILs in 20 min at 40 °C. Absorption of carbon dioxide has been performed using 1-(3-
aminopropyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([APmim][BF4]) by Sanchez
et al. (2011). The enhancement factor for the rate of absorption of carbon dioxide
using this amino functionalized IL is 1.2–1.3 which depend on the concentration of
IL.
Jiang et al. (2008) and Yu et al. (2009) investigated tetraalkylammonium AAILs
and the carbon dioxide absorption capacities by [N2222 ][Ala] (viscosity, 81 mPa s),
[N2222 ][b-Ala] (viscosity, 132 mPa s), and [N2224 ][Ala] (viscosity, 29 mPa s) were
observed to be around 0.5 (mole of CO2 per mole ionic liquid) at atmospheric pressure
and 40 °C. The imidazolium-based amino acid ILs: [Bmim][Leu], [Bmim][Met],
[Bmim][Val], [Bmim][Gly], [Bmim][Pro], and [Bmim][Ala] observed the carbon
dioxide sorption by 1:2 stoichiometry (Sistla and Khanna 2015). Amino acid ILs
with anion tethered show better interfacial adsorption and transfer (Xing et al.
2013). The 1:2 sorption of carbon dioxide was observed for cholinium prolinate
([Cho][Pro]) in PEG200 (Mw = 200 g/mol) solution (Li et al. 2008a, b). The
trihexyl-(tetradecyl)phosphonium ILs, [P66614 ][Met] and [P66614 ][Pro] were prepared
to avoid the nucleophilic attack of amino acid group on carboxylic acid group of
carbamic acid and 1:1 stoichiometry was observed for CO2 absorption (Brennecke
and Gurkan 2010; Gurkan et al. 2010a, b). In a consequent investigation, [P66614 ]-
based ILs with amino acid anions: [P66614 ][Sar], [P66614 ][Ile], and [P66614 ][Gly] were
used for CO2 absorption and equimolar absorption capacities were observed. Similar
absorption capacity was obtained for [N66614 ][Met] (Saravanamurugan et al. 2014).
Goodrich et al. (2011a, b) obtained the capacity >0.5 mol/mol with 1: 2 stoichiom-
etry for carbon dioxide capture. The [P4444 ]-based amino acid ILs: [P4444 ][mGly],
[P4444 ][dmGly], and [P4444 ][Gly] investigated for absorption of CO2 . The structures
of [P4444 ][Gly] and [P4444 ][mGly] were altered chemically and physical absorption of
CO2 was observed by dissolution in [P4444 ][dmGly] (Kasahara et al. 2014). Similar
results of very low CO2 absorption capacities were observed for [P4444 ][dmGly] and
[P4444 ][Bic] at 25 °C and 5 bar with 1:1 stoichiometry (Anderson et al. 2015).
Anion-functionalized protic IL shows the rapid and reversible capture of CO2 and
exhibits excellent capacity under atmospheric pressure (Zhang et al. 2012). Liu et al.
(2009) obtained 2.0 mol CO2 per mol IL with more than 16% gravimetric capacity
for [MTBDH+ ]2 [HFPD2− ], an anion-functionalized protic IL.

8.5.2.2 Dual Amino Functionalized

In order to enhance absorption capacity of ILs, the cation and anion both (dual)
can be amino functionalized. Zhang et al. (2009) observed the almost equimolar
absorption within 80 min. using dual amino-functionalized phosphonium ILs, (3-
aminopropyl) tributylphosphonium AA salts ([aP4443 ][AA]) supported on SiO2 .
These dual-functionalized ILs are synthesized by neutralizing (3-aminopropyl) trib-
utylphosphonium hydroxide ([aP4443 ]-[OH]) with 20 natural amino acids (Zhao et al.
164 K. Wasewar

2012). ILs can be recycled after regeneration up to five cycles without any significant
loss of ILs and their capacity.
A new dual amino IL, [aemmim][Tau], has been prepared by Xue et al. (2011). It
has amino-functionalized imidazolium cation and taurine anion and the absorption
capacity is almost observed as 0.9 mol/ml for CO2 to IL at 303.15 K and 0.1 MPa. The
desorption can be performed at higher temperature or under vacuum and negligible
loss incapacity is observed after six recycles (Zhao et al. 2012). Conversely, dual
amino-functionalized phosphonium ILs also having high viscosity (758–1985 mPa s)
similar to other task-specific and conventional ILs which is the major drawback
(Zhang et al. 2012). Apart from these drawbacks, it has lower CO2 gravimetric
capacity (even maximum 10% for higher concentration of CO2 ) relatively to amine
system (Zhang et al. 2012).

8.5.2.3 Amino Acid Salt-Functionalized ILs

The solvent, sodium N-alkylglycinates and alaninates with PEG150, was used to
avoid the nucleophilic attack of the amino group on the carboxylic acid group of
carbamic acid for absorption of carbon dioxide (Liu et al. 2012). The high CO2
capacity with 1:1 stoichiometry was observed by the steric hindrance controlled
absorbent sodium N-isopropylglycinate (iPrNH-GlyNa), whereas a 1:2 (CO2 :amine)
stoichiometry was found by non-modified sodium glycinate and the low capacity was
observed for nPr2N-GlyNa (Cui et al. 2016; Liu et al. 2012; Yang et al. 2014).

8.5.2.4 Ether-Functionalized ILs

It has been already reported that the ether functional group selectively absorbed CO2
at near ambient temperatures (Zhang et al. 2012). Hence, ether-functionalized ILs
may be considered for CO2 absorption. Heintz et al. (2009) investigated the Selexol
(poly (ethylene glycol) dimethyl ethers-functionalized IL) for CO2 absorption and the
solubility was obtained as 0.27–0.62 at 30 bar (CO2 partial pressure) with 300–500 K.
Revelli et al. (2010) studied [(ETO)2 IM[Tf2 N] an ether-functionalized IL for
absorption of carbon dioxide and compared with conventional ILs ([dmim][MP],
[bmim][SCN], and [bmim][BF4 ]) at 300 bar and temperature up to 373 K. The
solubility of these ILs (67–123 g CO2 /kg IL) is lower than poly(ethylene glycol)
dimethyl ether (198 g CO2 /kg ether) at 313 K and 40 bar.

8.5.2.5 Acetate-Functionalized ILs

Shiflett and Yokozeki (2009) explored the carboxylate (acetate)-functionalized

anions with [emim][acetate] and [emim][trifluoroacetate] for absorption of carbon
dioxide. The absorption behavior was chemical in [emim][acetate] and physical in
[emim][trifluoroacetate] and the mixture of both shows mixed behavior (Cui et al.
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 165

2016). The [acetate] and [trifluoroacetate] anion with imidazolium-based [bmim]

ILs investigated particular interactions for CO2 by Carvalho et al. (2009). It was
observed that the solubility of CO2 in [bmim][acetate] and [bmim]-[trifluoroacetate]
is impulsive because of to the variations in enthalpies of salvation (Cui et al. 2016).

8.5.2.6 Alcoholate ILs

The CO2 absorption in aqueous NaOH is a well-known chemical absorption where

CO2 reacts with OH− (hydroxide ions) which further converted into CO3 (carbonate)
and HCO3 (bicarbonate) (Cui et al. 2016; Haubrock et al. 2007; Darmana et al. 2007).
An aqueous solution of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide ([N4444][OH]) (55% w/w)
was used to study the solubility of CO2 (Safdar et al. 2014). Cai et al. (2015) used
resins D201 (OH) and D202 (OH) for absorption of CO2 and very high capacity was
observed due to their most basic anion, OH.

8.5.2.7 Phenolate ILs

The phenolate ILs were synthesized using [P66614 ][OH] and different substituted
phenols by Wang et al. (2012) to study the chemisorption of CO2 . For these ILs, the
absorption capacity for CO2 is lower when the electron withdrawing capability of
the substituent on the anion is stronger (Cui et al. 2016). The absorption capacities of
[P66614 ][2,4,6-Cl-PhO], [P66614 ][4-NO2 -PhO], [P66614 ][4-CF3 -PhO], [P66614 ][4-Cl-
PhO], [P66614 ][4-H-PhO], and [P66614 ][4-Me-PhO] were found to be 0.07, 0.3, 0.61,
0.82, 0.85, and 0.91 mol of CO2 per mole of IL, respectively (Wang et al. 2012).
Yang et al. (2014) studied PhOK, PhONa, or PhOLi and crown ether to form alkali
metal onium salt/crown ether systems. They observed stoichiometry of 1:1 reaction
for CO2 capture. Zhang et al. (2015) investigated low viscous fluorine substituted
phenolate ILs with high performance for CO2 capture.

8.5.2.8 Renewable Material

Li et al. (2008a) used renewable material for cation and anion as (2-hydroxyethyl)-
trimethylammonium (S)-2-pyrrolidine-carboxylic acid salt [Choline][Pro] (50 °C),
and a [Choline] [Pro]/polyethylene glycol (PEG200 ) mixture (35 °C). The time needed
for absorption is 50 min when the mixture with a [Choline][Pro] to PEG200 weight
ratio of 1: 1 is used as compared to neat IL with 240 min.
Li et al. (2008b) studied the CO2 capture based on the basicity of functionalized
ILs: choline chloride/urea, 1-aminoethyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate
([AEMIM][BF4 ]), and 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium perchlorate ([TMG][ClO4 ]).
Addition of CO2 , reduces the basicity and removing it back by N2 bubbling which
may recover the basicity. This information may be helpful to know the mechanism
166 K. Wasewar

of reaction for absorption of carbon dioxide using these amino-functionalized ILs

(Zhao et al. 2012).

8.5.2.9 Other-Functionalized ILs

Supasitmongkol and Styring (2010) investigated the absorption of CO2 using (p-
vinylbenzyl)trimethylammonium hexafluorophosphate monomer ([VBTMA][PF6 ],
white crystal) and 0.47 g carbon dioxide/g IL of solubility is observed at 298 K and
atmospheric pressure. It has the higher capacity than the imidazolium- or pyridinium-
based ILs ([C2 mim][ES], 0.017 g CO2 /g IL).
As compared to conventional ILs, ionic liquids, the functionalized ILs give better
CO2 absorption capacity. Also, enhanced capacity is observed with increasing pres-
sure, and the aqueous amine solutions obtained maximum absorption at around
0.2 MPa (Zhao et al. 2012; Sanchez et al. 2007). The sharp rise in viscosity after
CO2 absorption limits the industrial scale applications (Gutowski and Maginn 2008).
Hence, more research must be tackled to get better capacities of ILs relative to
conventional solvents (Zhang et al. 2012).

8.5.3 Superbase-Based ILs

Superbases are neutral organic bases having very high proton affinities facilitating
their protonated conjugate acids to resists de-protonation by OH− (Wang et al.
2010c, d). Consequently, superbases play significant function as proton acceptors,
thus offering the prospect for CO2 capture (Ramdin et al. 2012). Superbase-based
(amidinium or guanidinium alkyl carbonate salts) ILs may have high absorption
capacity and reactivity for carbon dioxide capture which constitutes of an amidine
(or guanidine) superbase and alcohol (Heldebrant et al. 2009; Liu et al. 2006). These
ILs are less energy intensive as compared to amine method due to the low specific
heat and less hydrogen bonding in alkyl carbonate salts (Heldebrant et al. 2008).
These ILs have drawback of volatile nature of alcohol and/or base which may leads
to loss of solvents.
The problem of loss of solvents may be overcome by incorporating hydroxyl
group into ILs (Wang et al. 2010a). Superbases having high proton affinities may
perform a crucial role as proton acceptors, thus to provide a thermodynamic driving
force for CO2 capture (Yang et al. 2011). At least, twenty times more absorption
capacity (1.04 CO2 to IL) has been observed for 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene
(DBU) with 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bis-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)
imide [Im21 OH][Tf2 N] as compared to neat [Im21 OH][Tf2 N] (Anderson et al. 2007).
It takes 15 min at 120 °C to complete the absorption of CO2 and it can be recycled
three times with negligible loss of capacity of [Im21 OH][Tf2 N]-DBU.
The C-2 proton of imidazolium-based ILs can replace volatile alcohol or amine
for CO2 capture due to weak acidity to serve as weak proton donor. Wang et al.
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 167

(2010b) studied different combinations of six imidazolium ILs and four superbases
for CO2 capture.
An effective an equimolar of sorption is achieved by bicyclic amidine (DBU)
combined with hydroxyl modified IL which (a superbase) traps the proton released
during CO2 absorption (Wang et al. 2010a, b). Wang et al. (2010c, d) carried
out experimental investigated for the absorption of CO2 performance using
IL-superbase system having two ILs: 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium
bis-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [Im21 OH][Tf2 N] and 2-hydroxyethyl(dimethyl)-
isopropylammonium bis-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [Nip,211 OH][Tf2 N] and four
superbases 1,8-diazabicyclo-[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-1-
methyl-2H-pyrimido[1,2-a]pyrimidine (MTBD), 2-tert-butylamino-2-diethylamino-
1,3-dimethylperhydro-1,3,2-diazaphosphorine (BEMP), and 1-ethyl-2,2,4,4,4-
pentakis(dimethylamino)-2λ5 ,4λ5 5-catenadi(phosphazene) (EtP2 (dma)). The
[Im21 OH][Tf2 N]-DBU gives best absorption having absorption nature of physical or
chemical or combination (Ramdin et al. 2012).
Wang et al. (2010c, d) used superbase with weak proton donors such as 2,2,3,3,4,4-
hexafluoro-1,5-pentanediol (HFPD), 1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFPA), and
trifluoroethanol (TFE) to synthesize anion-functionalized ILs for capture of CO2 .
The superbase has a main role as a strong proton acceptor to directly deprotonate
the weak proton donor, thus providing a thermodynamic driving force for the reac-
tion of the active protic ILs with CO2 (Cui et al. 2016). The absorption capacities
of [MTBDH][TFPA], [(P2-Et)H][TFE], and [MTBDH][TFE] were 0.93, 1.04, and
1.13 mol of CO2 per mole of IL, respectively (Wang et al. 2010c, d). The regeneration
was performed at 80 °C by bubbling N2 and no loss in capacity was observed. These
superbase-derived protic ILs have lower viscosities than the amino-functionalized
ILs (Bates et al. 2002; Zhang et al. 2006a, b). Subsequently, [DBUH][TFE] was
employed for capture of carbon dioxide and the maximum capacity of 1.01 CO2 /IL
molar ratio at atmospheric pressure and room temperature was found (Zhao et al.
2014).

8.5.4 Azolate ILs

Gurkan et al. (2010a, b) experimented capture of CO2 using substituted aprotic hete-
rocyclic anions (AHAs)-functionalized ILs. The trihexyl-(tetradecyl)phosphonium
2-cyanopyrrolide ([P66614 ][2-CN-Pyr]) and trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium 3-
(trifluoromethyl) pyrazolide ([P66614 ][2-CF3 -Pyra]) were employed for absorption
of CO2 , and for both, the capacity was reached to 0.9 mol of carbon dioxide/mole
of IL. Additionally, the reaction kinetics of absorption of CO2 using [P66614][Pro],
[P66614 ][2-CN-Pyr], and [P66614 ][2-CF3 -Pyra] was experimented by Gurkan et al.
(2013).
Brown et al. (2015) performed the investigation using [2-CN-Pyr]-based tetraalky-
lammonium and tetraalkylphosphonium ILs for absorption of CO2 . The lowest
viscosity (95 cP at 40 °C) was observed for [P2228 ][2-CN-Pyr] with the highest
168 K. Wasewar

capacity of CO2 absorption (114 mg CO2 per g IL, 40 °C). A slightly stronger CO2
binding ability for [2-CN-Pyr]-based tetraalkylphosphonium ILs with shorter alkyl
chains on the cations was observed than the longer alkyl chains ILs (Seo et al. 2015).
It can be pointed out that the anion basicity is a deciding parameter for CO2
capture and the absorption capacity can be adjusted by regulating the basicity of ILs
(Cui et al. 2016). Ren et al. (2013) intended quasi IL solutions with alkali metal salts
of 1,2,4-triazole (TrizM) and 1:1 stoichiometric chemisorption was obtained for 5%
TrizM in PEG. The phthalimide salts (pKa = 8.3 in H2 O) mixed with PEG150 were
used and it was observed that potassium phthalimide (K[Phth]) demonstrated very
high CO2 absorption capacity (Zhang et al. 2014).

8.5.5 Polymerized ILs (PILs)

Due to high viscosity and comparatively low rates of capture of CO2 of ILs, this
may hinder their use in carbon dioxide capture from gas mixture. The SILM has
the problem of leaching of liquid through membrane pores when the pressure drop
exceeds the liquid stabilizing forces in the matrix. The polymerized ILs (PILs) may
lessen the time needed for absorption/desorption cycle (Zhao et al. 2012). Polymer-
ized ionic liquids (PILs) are versatile materials for CO2 capture which are amalga-
mating of some distinctive properties (e.g., shape durability and easy processability)
of ILs with polymers. PILs can be tailor-made by suitable selection of the IL groups
and the polymer backbones and structures (Bates et al. 2002; Ramdin et al. 2012;
Tome et al. 2013). PILs in details have been discussed in literature (Mecerreyes
2011). PILs demonstrated a higher CO2 capacity and rates than the respective ILs
(Tang et al. 2005a, b).

8.5.5.1 Polymerized Conventional and Functionalized ILs

To overcome the problems of conventional ILs and SILMs, poly[p-

vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium tetrafluoroborate] (P[VBTMA][BF4 ]), the polymer
of tetraalkylammonium-based IL, has been employed for the absorption of carbon
dioxide. This was the first study of its kind on PIL (Tang et al. 2005a, b, c,
d). The sorption capacity is almost 7.6 times as compared to conventional IL
([C4 mim][BF4 ]). The rate of absorption and desorption of carbon dioxide is
much faster in PILs compared to other ILs. PILs are selective toward CO2 as
polymers did not absorbs N2 /O2 at 78.97 kPa and 22 °C (Tang et al. 2005a,
b). Hu et al. (2006) prepared mechanically, chemically, thermally stable, and
carbon dioxide selective PIL of polyethylene glycol (PEG) embedded into ionic
polymers (P[VBTMA][BF4 ]). Polymerized conventional ILs observed increase in
solubility, permeability, and diffusion of CO2 , CH4 , and N2 and having reversible
sorption/desorption (Bara et al. 2007a, b). The carbon dioxide absorption capacity
depends on type of cations in the order of ammonium > pyridinium > phosphonium >
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 169

imidazolium and anions in the order of BF4 > PF6 > Tf2 N.of PILs (Zhao et al. 2012).
Furthermore, the sorption/desorption rates of the PILs are quite fast as compared to
other ILs. These polymers are very prospective as sorbent and membrane materials
for CO2 separation (Zhang et al. 2013).

8.5.5.2 Novel Polymerized ILs

The innovative PILs are polytriazoliums (PTA), deep eutectic monomer (DEM) and
polyurethane (PU)-based ILs. Triazolium has two isomers depend on nitrogen posi-
tion within ring as 1,2,3-, and 1,2,4-triazoliums. Deep eutectic solvents are non-toxic,
cheap, and alternatives to ILs (Abbott et al. 2004). Deep eutectic monomers (DEMs)
are molecular complexes formed by mixing hydrogen bond donor and acceptor which
are undergone photopolymerization or polycondensation to make PILs based on
DEM (Isik et al. 2016a, b). ILs can be incorporated into polyurethanes to make new
PILs. Many PILs have been synthesized based on cationic polyurethanes using imida-
zolium or phosphonium and various diisocyanates, cations and anions (Williams et al.
2008; Morozova et al. 2017).

8.5.5.3 Biomaterial-Based PILs

Chitin and chitosan are the natural biomaterial which can be a considered as a
substitutes for amino-functionalized synthetic polymers dissolving in the 1-butyl-3-
methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIm]Cl). These polymeric ILs can be used for CO2
capture as it has a strong ability to disrupt hydrogen bonds (Xie et al. 2006). Chitosan
is an N-deacetylated product of chitin (natural polymer) having similar structure
of cellulose (Foster and Webber 1960). Neat [BMIm]Cl and chitosan powder has
almost no ability for absorption of carbon dioxide (Yang et al. 2011). But with 10
wt% chitosan/IL and chitin/IL solutions demonstrated approximately 8.1% and 3.8%
CO2 fixing efficiency, respectively, at equilibrium. Chitosan has amino groups and
chitin has no amino groups. The sorption reached to 98% for chitosan/IL solution in
180 min (Xie et al. 2006).
A mixed IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4 mim][Cl]) with chitin or
chitosan is used by Xie et al. (2006). For the chitosan/IL mixture, the measured
absorption capacity exceeds the theoretical capacity due to the physical absorption
of CO2 in these liquids. Physical absorption is also observed for the chitin/IL mixture
(Zhao et al. 2012).

8.5.5.4 Performance of PILs

Cation and anion play significant role in features and characteristics of PILs. The
capacities of PILs for different cations and anions are observed as: ammonium
> pyridinium > phosphonium > imidazolium and BF4− > PF6− > (CF3 SO2 )2 N−
170 K. Wasewar

[95,96]. Backbone polymers in PILs have the CO2 capacity performance in the
order of polystyrene > polymethylmethacrylate > polyethylene glycol (Tang et al.
2005b, c, d). The PILs based on acid-containing poly-DEMs have the sequence for
CO2 capture as: citric acid > oxalic acid > malonic acid (Isik et al. 2016b). Moro-
zova et al. (2017) studied PILs based on 4,4 -methylene bis(cyclohexyl isocyanate)
and diquinuclidinium as cationic backbone along with thirteen various anions and
order is observed as: BF4 > Ac > PF6 > B(CN)4 > CH3 CH(OH)COO > NO3 >
(CF3 CF2 SO2 )2 N > (CF3 SO2 )2 N > FeCl3 Br > CF3 SO2 -N-CN > N(CN)2 > ZnCl2 Br
> CuCl2 Br. The PILs are very viscous at room temperature and easy to be applied
as membrane materials. Hence, the combination of PILs and SILMs may provide
higher CO2 absorption capacity (Zhao et al. 2012).

8.5.6 Supported Ionic Liquids Membranes (SILMs)

For better performance of ILs in terms of absorption capacity, efficiency, and rate,
ILs are used as a solvent and employed in SILs (supported liquid membranes).
The supported liquid membrane, generally, has a supporting membrane which may
be porous or non-porous and a solvent phase (be located in the pores or between
two non-porous membrane sheets) (Ramdin et al. 2012). The solute molecules are
transported by diffusion/dissolution makes possible a separation or reaction or both
in liquid phase and then desorbs at the other face of the membrane (Kumelan et al.
2006). During the evaporation of liquid phase, solvent loss is the major disadvantages
of conventional supported liquid membranes (Kumelan et al. 2010) which can be
eluded by using ILs as a solvent because of exceptional properties which includes:
low volatility, high thermal stability, and high chemical stability (Jacquemin et al.
2006a, b). Few excellent reviews are available on supported IL membranes, which
can be referred for further details (Bara et al. 2007a, b; Jalili et al. 2010).
The supported ionic liquids membranes (SILM) are explored for CO2 absorption
which is prepared by using IL as liquid phase of membrane (Zhao et al. 2012). SILM
has higher surface area for contact between gas and ILs. The viscosity and non-
volatility are the unique properties of IL which can prevent the membrane solvent
flowing away from porous membrane, which greatly extends the life of SILM without
losing the separation ability and selectivity for CO2 (Zhao et al. 2012). SILM is
suitable for CO2 from flue gases at high temperature due to their non-flammability
and high thermal stability.

8.5.6.1 Supported Conventional IL Membranes

Scovazzo et al. (2004) investigated conventional ILs supported on the

porous hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PES) with four water stable anions:
trifluoromethanesulfone [CF3 SO3 ], dicyanamide [DCA], chloride [Cl], and
bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) amide [Tf2 N]− . The obtained selectivities (4–61) and
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 171

permeabilities (2.6 × 10−8 to 7.5 × 10−8 cm3 cm/cm2 s kPa) are relatively higher
than polymer ILs (Zhao et al. 2012). A better absorption capacity of carbon dioxide
was achieved by supported [C4 min][Tf2 N] to porous Al2 O3 (Baltus et al. 2005),
[C4 mim][PF6 ] to a porous (ceramic or zeolite) material (Moriya et al. 2007), and
[C4 min][BF4 ] on the PVDF (poly-vinylidene fluorolide) (Park et al. 2009). The struc-
ture of the support has a huge impact on stability of membrane, and the sponge struc-
ture has higher stability than a finger structure observed for supported [C2 mim][Tf2 N]
on the polymeric hollow fiber (Kim et al. 2011).

8.5.6.2 Supported-Functionalized and Other IL Membranes

The separation of CO2 and CH4 gas has been investigated using supported 1-
butyl-3-methylimidazoliumbis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl)-imide ([C4 mim][Tf2 N]),
N-aminopropyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide
([C3 NH2 mim][Tf2 N]) and N-aminopropyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethane-
sulfone ([C3 NH2 mim][CF3 SO3 ]) on the porous hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE) membrane (Hanioka et al. 2008; Shishatskiy et al. 2010). A higher perme-
ability for CO2 is observed in amine-functionalized SILM as compared to other
SILM as there is simple solution-diffusion mechanism in conventional SILM while
CO2 permeated by chemical reaction mechanism. These functionalized SILMs have
high stability and no detectable loss (for 260 days). The high temperature prohibited
the separation and reaction of CO2 and amine moiety, hence the permeability of
CO2 decreased with increase in temperature (Zhao et al. 2012; Jindaratsamee et al.
2011).
Ilconich et al. (2007) prepared by insertion of cross linked nylon supports and
depositing [H2 NC3 H6 mim][Tf2 N] on the membrane for separation of carbon dioxide
from hydrogen. The higher temperature reduces the permeability and it may be due
to the impact of high temperature on stability of carbonate, which allow to dominate
the diffusion phenomenon (Hanioka et al. 2008).

8.5.6.3 Comparison and Performance of SILM

The hydrophobic supported SILMs are more stable than hydrophilic support, and
these SILMs have a high attraction for CO2 over other (Zhao et al. 2012; Neves
et al. 2010). The presence of water vapor in gas stream increases the permeability
but decreased selectivity considerable. The decrease in selectivity may be due to the
formation of water clusters inside the membrane; it is more significant for the less
hydrophobic conventional IL (Zhao et al. 2012; Neves et al. 2010). As the operating
temperature increases, enlargement of free volumes inside the polymer membranes
occurred, and hence, the permeability increases but the selectivity decreases. It occurs
as the permeability is more dependent on the structure of membrane than interaction
of gas molecules (Zhao et al. 2012).
172 K. Wasewar

The new SILMs (supported on polymeric hollow fiber) confirmed that the selec-
tivity increases with increase in pressure and maintain mechanical stability (Kim
et al. 2011). The support with dense polymer chains having a torturous structure has
stronger resistance to pressure as compared to a cylindrical void structure (Zhao et al.
2012). However, the supported conventional ILs membranes are unsuitable at high
pressures due to decrease in gas solubility with increase in pressure. The properties
of ILs can be improved sufficiently by the insertion of an organic salt with amine
group functionality (Iarikov et al. 2011).
The combination of supported IL membranes with functionalized IL may be supe-
rior option for capture of carbon dioxide at higher pressures and temperatures (Scov-
azzo et al. 2009). The SILM has numerous disadvantages including thick membrane
(≥150 μm) (Scovazzo et al. 2004; Ilconich et al. 2007; Bara et al. 2009), not appli-
cable for high temperature flue gases for CO2 capture. Further, to develop more
economical and efficient SILMs, in-depth investigation on the role of anion and
cation of ILs and membrane structure has been needed to produce more stable, more
permeable, and thinner membranes (Scovazzo 2009).

8.5.7 Supported IL Phase (SILP) Materials

The material for CO2 capture should be cheaper, easier to handle, resistant to degra-
dation and endure at higher temperatures and pressure (Kolding et al. 2012). A lot of
attentions have been received to employ the solid support to impregnate ILs (Shahrom
et al. 2018). The supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) materials have been exploring
the advantages of the ILs and its support to overcome limitations of intrinsic mass
transfer by improving surface area (Kolding et al. 2012).
Yu et al. (2012) reviewed many solid supports and observed that amine impreg-
nated solid support has high CO2 adsorption capacity. Romanos et al. (2014) studied
an inverse SILPs, a novel supported ionic liquid phase systems. SILP was prepared
by insertion of ILs into the nanoporous materials (e.g., silica nanoparticles) which
demonstrated sufficiently high CO2 absorption capacity with fast kinetics (Shahrom
et al. 2018). The CO2 sorption capacity of 1.5–3.3 mmol of carbon dioxide/g of IL
and the CO2 /N2 selectivity of >200 was found which make it eligible as a promising
material to capture CO2 at industrial scale.
The SIPL, tetrahexylammonium prolinate [N6666 ][Pro] IL (40%w/w loading of
IL) with silica support and also other anions L-Isoleucinate [Ile], Glycinate [Gly], L-
Asparaginate [Asn], and L-Tyrosinate [Tyr] have been investigated for CO2 capture
(Kolding et al. 2012). The good temperature stability and high absorption capacity
for CO2 were found for these SILP materials. The absorption of carbon dioxide was
confirmed as reversible using prolinate SILP material which was stable at 80 °C
for desorption for 24 h and it is appropriate for reversible CO2 capture in industrial
applications using a temperature swing process (Kolding et al. 2012).
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 173

Polesso et al. (2019) investigated silica and alumina impregnated with imida-
zolium ILs having [Br] and [Tf2 N] anions by physical wet method for CO2 absorp-
tion. It has improved CO2 capture and higher selective capacity (CO2 /N2 ) (~6.1).
The support of commercial alumina with 20 wt% of mbmim[Tf2 N] obtained higher
CO2 /N2 selectivity (~9.5). Also, fast sorption kinetics was observed using this
material relative to pure ILs.
Shahrom et al. (2018) synthesized activated carbon impregnated with 10 wt% of
1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis (trifluoro methyls ulfonyl) imide [hmim][NTf2 ],
(vinylbenzyl) trimethylammonium glycine [vbtma][gly], and poly[vbtma][gly] to
investigate the capture of CO2 . The activated carbon impregnated with [vbtma][gly]
gives higher capacity with 19.91 mmol CO2 /g at 20 bar. Further, a series of activated
carbon impregnated with 10, 20 and 30 wt% of [vbtma][gly] were synthesized to
study the optimum composition of [vbtma][gly] for capture of CO2 and obtained
at 20 wt% of poly[vbtma][gly]. Zhang et al. (2009) observed the almost equimolar
absorption within 80 min using dual amino-functionalized phosphonium ILs, (3-
aminopropyl) tributylphosphonium AA salts ([aP4443 ][AA]) supported on SiO2 .
Zhai and Rubin (2017) experimented PVDF hollow fiber membrane contac-
tors with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate [emim][EtSO4] and 1-ethyl-
3-methylimidazolium acetate [emim][Ac] which are showing physical and chemical
absorption, respectively. The fibers with the ILs immobilized D + [emim][EtSO4]
would be promising for capture of CO2 due to enhanced CO2 permeance (43%
increase) as compared to neat membrane.
Carbon dioxide capture has been investigated by Zhang et al. (2006a, b) using
functionalized ILs [P(C4 )4 ][AA] having a series of amino acids as an anion with phos-
phonium ILs supported on porous silica gel. These have been synthesized by reac-
tion of tetrabutylphosphonium hydroxide [P(C4 )4 ][OH] with amino acids, including
glycine, l-alanine, l-b-alanine,l-serine, and l-lysine. These ILs, [P(C4 )4 ][b-Ala]-SiO2 ,
[P(C4 )4 ][Gly]-SiO2 and [P(C4)4 ][Ala]-SiO2 reached to CO2 absorption in <100 min.
Wang et al. (2013) employed immobilized imidazolium AAILs on the nanoporous
polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres for capture of CO2 . It was observed
that [Emim][Gly] and [Emim][Ala] capture 0.5 mol of CO2 per mole of the IL.
Romanos et al. (2014) performed absorption of CO2 on [N1112 ][Pro], [N1113 ][Pro],
[Me2 N(CH2 CH2 OH)2 ][Pro], and [Me2 N(CH2 CH2 OH)2 ][Tau], SILP systems with a
micron size IL droplets inside silica nanoparticles at 40 °C and 1 bar. Niedermaier
et al. (2014) experimented absorption of CO2 using [Me2 N(CH2 CH2 OH)2 ][Tau]
with support at 37 °C).

8.5.8 Reversible ILs

Jessop et al. (2005) introduced the reversible, a relatively new approach for CO2
capture. The reversible ILs can be formed by exposing a non-ionic liquid (an alcohol
and an amine base) to CO2 forming a salt (IL). It can be obtained back to original
status by using nitrogen gas or any other inert gas (Jessop et al. 2005). The more
174 K. Wasewar

details for reversible ILs are available in many articles (Blasucci et al. 2010a; Jessop
et al. 2012; Shannon and Bara 2012).
Heldebrant et al. (2009) performed experiments using 1,8-
diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) with and without water for absorption
of carbon dioxide. In this, [DBUH+ ][HCO3 − ] is obtained by exposing DBU
(amidine) to CO2 with water and no reaction without water. Similar mechanism
was observed for guanidine/alcohol mixture, when it was exposed to CO2 to form
a carbonate salt (Phan et al. 2008). The solution could be got back to its original
non-ionic state by passing bubbles of nitrogen or gentle heating (Ramdin et al.
2012).
Heldebrant et al. (2008) studied capture of carbon dioxide by TMG, Barton’s
base, Hunig’s base, and DBU mixed with an alcohol or water. They observed that
the carbon dioxide is chemically and reversibly combine in a mixture of alcohols
and amidine/guanidine bases to form a liquid alkylcarbonate (Ramdin et al. 2012)
and absorption capacity increases to 19% by weight as compare to MEA. Also, CO2
is selective with N2 , and even after five cycles, there is no reduction in selectivity
(Heldebrant et al. 2008).
The siloxylated amines and silyl amines for reversible ILs have been employed by
Blasucci et al. (2010a, b) for absorption of carbon dioxide. In the presence of water,
the silyl amines are stable and the siloxylated amines are vulnerable to degradation
(Ramdin et al. 2012). The physical and chemical absorptions have been observed
for both reversible ILs with absorption capacity 13–20 mol CO2 /kg amine at the
temperature of 35 °C and pressure of 62.5 bar.

8.5.9 Mixture of ILs with Solvents

The viscosity of the solvents used for absorption of CO2 plays significant role on
design of the equipments use for absorption, its capacity, and rate of absorption.
The conventional ILs have 40 time higher viscosity as compared to MEA (30%) at
33 °C (Zhang et al. 2012). The ILs with organic solvents or water may give better
flow characteristics and other parameters. In addition, adjusting the structure, of
ionic liquids, functionalizing the ionic liquids, and mixture of IL with other solvents
including water may improve the performance of ILs for separation of carbon dioxide
(Zhang et al. 2012).

8.5.9.1 ILs with Water

Addition of small amount of water greatly decreases the viscosity of ILs which may
be possible solution for problem of higher viscosity of ILs (Zhang et al. 2012). The
IL with 1% water absorbed equimolar amounts of CO2 with carbonate as a product
(Zhang et al. 2006a, b). The increase in water content or water addition may reduce
the viscosity but absorption of CO2 decreases (Ventura et al. 2008).
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 175

Bermejo et al. (2008) observed that water influences the solubility of CO2 in
hydroxypropylmethylimidazolium nitrate ([hopmim][NO3 ]) and butylmethylimida-
zolium nitrate ([bmim][NO3 ]). At very low concentration of water in ILs, solubility
of CO2 is slightly higher than the neat ILs. It may be clarify by the positive excess
molar volumes of the aqueous solutions under the working conditions. The CO2 solu-
bility in tri-isobutyl(methyl) phosphonium tosylate ([iBu3MeP][TOS]) with water is
lower than pure IL due to a salting in effect of the liquid (Ventura et al. 2008).
Similar decrease in solubility was observed for six amine-functionalized anion-
tethered ionic liquids with tetraalkylphosphonium cations (Goodrich et al. 2011a,
b). The water content in ILs or addition of water in ILs significantly reduces the
viscosity and slight decrease in solubility which opens the possible area for appli-
cation (Zhang et al. 2012). It was observed in the case of [P66614][Pro], where the
viscosity decreases (0.1–4% w/w, 625–360 cP, 278 K) and capacity slightly decreases
even at wide range of pressure (Goodrich et al. 2011a, b). Carbon dioxide absorption
capacity of [N2224 ][CH3 COO] decreases with water (Wang et al. 2011). There is a
complex interaction forces in the water–ionic liquid system which may explain the
effect of water on solubility and absorption capacity. Hence, the mechanism and
affect of water on the properties of ionic liquids should be studied deeply (Zhang
et al. 2012).
Chinn et al. (2009) observed chemical absorption behavior for CO2 capture in
[bmim][acetate] IL with 14 wt% water. The absorption capacity of acetate-based IL
(~25 m3 /m3 ) for carbon dioxide was somewhere between 30% wt MEA (~65 m3 /m3 )
and physical ILs (~3 m3 /m3 ).
In overall, the addition of a specific amount of water into the ILs will decrease the
capacity of carbon dioxide absorption to some extent and reduces the viscosity of the
mixture which is more favorable due to promoting the gas diffusion in the solvent
and reduce the operational constrains to use ILs (Zhang et al. 2012). The stability
of the ILs with water may be major concern and should be considered since the
water causes the ionization of ILs and further degradation or hydrolysis of IL. The
balancing between the operational performance and capacity due to viscosity must
be considered as a major issue of flow behavior and process design for large-scale
industrial applications (Zhang et al. 2012).

8.5.9.2 ILs with Glycol

The addition of poly ethylene glycol (PEG) in (2-hydroxyethyl)-trimethylammonium

(S)-2-pyrrolidine-carboxylic acid salt ([Choline][Pro]) [Choline][Pro] reduces
viscosity with improved absorption rate but decrease in solubility (Li et al. 2008a, b;
Ventura et al. 2008). The molar ratio slightly more than 0.5 (higher than theoretical
maximum) was observed which indicates chemisoprtion and physisorption both (Li
et al. 2008a, b). Addition of PEG significantly decreases the viscosity and enhances
the rate of absorption/desorption (Ottani et al. 2002).
176 K. Wasewar

8.5.9.3 ILs with Methanol

Zhang et al. (2004) investigated the phase behavior of the CO2 –methanol–
[bmim][PF6 ] and the three-phase region was observed at 7.6 MPa (35–44.5 °C). The
favorable conditions for higher distribution coefficients of ionic liquid and methanol
are increased pressure and decreased temperature.

8.5.9.4 ILs with Acetone

Zhang et al. (2007) studied effect of temperature and pressure on distribution coef-
ficient for acetone–[bmim][PF6 ] for absorption of CO2 . In this case also, higher
pressure and lower temperature are favorable for higher distribution coefficient.

8.5.9.5 ILs with MEA

To improve the further capacity of ILs, alkanolamines can be added in ILs. It may
partially replace the water with ionic liquids which can reduce the energy needed for
regeneration of solvents and control the loss due to the volatility of alkanolamine
aqueous solution (Zhang et al. 2012).
In MEA or amine absorption process at industrial scale, it contains 60% w/w
water. Consequently, relatively during release of carbon dioxide in stripper from
liquid phase, the huge amount of water is stripped out. The refluxing of condensed
water at lower temperature to the stripper causes significant energy consumption by
re-vaporization of water. In addition, considering these aspects, ILs with aqueous
amine may increase the absorption capacity (Zhang et al. 2012).
The mixing of IL with aqueous alkanolamine can also control the volatility of
the amine solvent (aqueous alkanolamine) to little extent (Zhao et al. 2012). Camper
et al. (2008) investigated the CO2 solubility in mixed MEA and [C6 mim][Tf2 N] and
the maximum 0.5 mol CO2 per mol amine is obtained. The new solvents of tetraethy-
lammonium glycinate ([N2222 ][Gly]), tetraethylammonium lysinate ([N2222 ][Lys]),
tetramethylammonium lysinate ([N1111 ][Lys]), and tetramethylammonium glycinate
([Gly]) mixed with water or N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) aqueous solutions
have been investigated for absorption of CO2 by Zhang et al. (2012). Enhancement
in absorption in ILs and in absorption rate in solution is observed. Ahmady et al.
(2011) observed the similar results for absorption of carbon dioxide using MDEA in
[bmim][BF4 ], [bmim][Ac] and [bmim][DCA].
The alkanolamine in hydroxylated ILs can enhance the absorption capacity as
compared to water in ILs; further, it increases the thermal stability as a complemen-
tary effect of the alcohol and the imidazolium groups in hydroxylated ILs (Huang
et al. 2011).
Zhao et al. (2010) investigated the carbon dioxide capacities of pure
ILs, mixtures with amine and water (303.15–343.15 K) using novel ILs at
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 177

different mass 2[2-hydroxyethyl(methyl)amino] ethanol chloride ([MDEA][Cl]), 2-

aminoethanol tetrafluoroborate ([MEM][BF4 ]), 2-[2-hydroxyethyl(methyl)amino]
ethanol sulfate ([MDEA][SO4 ]), 2[2-hydroxyethyl(methyl)amino] ethanol phos-
phate ([MDEA][PO4 ]), and 2[2-hydroxyethyl(methyl)-amino] ethanol tetrafluorob-
orate ([MDEA][BF4 ]). ILs with amine solution have higher CO2 selectivity than the
other gases (CO, H2 , N2 , O2 ) (Zhao et al. 2011).

8.5.9.6 ILs with Superbase

Wang et al. (2010c, d) performed the experimentation to investigate the integrated

sorption systems consisting of 1:1 alcohol-functionalized IL and a superbase for
the capture of CO2 at atmospheric pressure. Two ILs: 2-hydroxyethyl (dimethyl)–
isopropyl ammonium bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([Nip ,211 OH][Tf2 N]))
and 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide
([Im21 OH][Tf2 N]) and four superbases: 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-1-methyl-2H-
pyrimido[1,2-a]pyrimidine (MTBD), 1-ethyl-2,2,4,4,4-pentakis(dimethylamino)-
2λ5 ,4λ5 -catenadi(phosphazene) (EtP2(dma)), 1,8-diazabicyclo-[5.4.0]undec-7-
ene (DBU), and 2-tert-butylamino-2-diethylamino-1,3-dimethylperhydro-1,3,2-
diazaphosphorine (BEMP) were used. More than the theoretical maximum of 1 mol
CO2 /mol solvent was obtained by [Im21 OH][Tf2 N]–DBU with enhanced absorption
rate (physical and chemical absorption) (Wang et al. 2010c, d).

8.5.9.7 Performance and Comparison

The viscosity of mixed ILs with solvents is lower than that of IL; hence, it is relatively
easy to regenerate than conventional amine solutions. Thus, it is potential alternative
to capture CO2 (Zhao et al. 2012). IL with other organic compounds also offers
prospective to overcome the intrinsic disadvantages of ILs, e.g., high viscosity, lower
gas diffusion coefficient, low gravimetric capacity of CO2 , high cost, etc. (Zhang et al.
2012).
Conversely, there have been few issues with mixtures of ILs with organic solvents
(Zhang et al. 2012). These issues are: the stability and the loss of the solvent, the
suspicious of the corrosion, viscosity is relatively higher than the organic solvents,
complex thermodynamic system, the feasibility of industrial operations, and the
competition with the well-developed and applicable amine system (Zhang et al.
2012).

8.6 Biodegradability and Toxicity of ILs

ILs are regarded as safe solvents for industrial application based on their non-
flammability, negligible vapor pressure, and reusability, but without understanding
178 K. Wasewar

its biodegradability and toxicity, it cannot be termed as a green solvent (Ramdin et al.
2012). For the authorization process of any substance, biodegradability and toxicity
parameters of substances are very significant hence these parameters should not be
underestimated. Ramdin et al. (2012) presented systematic and excellent discussion
on biodegradability issues and toxicity toward environment for ILs. The glimpses of
this discussion are presented in further section.

8.6.1 Biodegradability

The stability of ILs is the major concerning issue due to their accumulation in the
environment during their use (Arshad 2009). Hence, the study of biodegradability
is the important issues. Biodegradability of any substances is usually evaluated as
per the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) (Coleman and Gathergood 2010). The details on ILs biodegradation are
available elsewhere (Coleman and Gathergood 2010). In its first kind of study, the
conventional and commonly used imidazolium-based ILs observed poor biodegrad-
ability (Gathergood and Scammells 2002; Gathergood et al. 2004; Garcia et al. 2005).
Garcia et al. (2005) evaluated the biodegradability of [bmim][X] (X = octylsulphate,
TF2 N, BF4 , PF6 , Br, and DCA). Less than 5% biodegradation was found for all ILs
except octylsulphate IL with 25% biodegradation. These ILs cannot be considered
as easily biodegradable because it should be more than 60% biodegradation for a
particular time (usually 28 days) Garcia et al. 2005). The incorporation of amide
or ester group in alkyl side chain of imidazolium cation may improve biodegrad-
ability (Gathergood et al. 2004; Boethling et al. 2007). Significant improvement was
observed for ester-functionalized ILs and negligible for amide-functionalized ILs.
The biodegradability increases with alkyl-chain length of the ester-functionalized
cation and [mim-ester][octylsulphate] obtained >60% biodegradability (Gathergood
et al. 2006). A large number of ester/ether group imidazolium-based ILs exper-
imented and ester-functionalized ILs found higher degradation and other have not
any significant effect (Morrissey et al. 2009). Morrissey et al. (2009) and Farrell et al.
(2009) found that the [octylsulphate] anion has significant role in high biodegradation
of ILs. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) was evaluated for the biodegradation
of pyridinium, ammonium, phosphonium, and imidazolium-based ILs and no degra-
dation was observed (Wells and Coombe 2006). Similarly, no biodegradation of
[bmim][PF6 ] was observed as per OECD 301D by Gathergood et al. (2004).
Docherty et al. (2007) investigated [ompy], [hmpy], [bmpy], [omim], [hmim],
and [bmim] cations with [Br] anion for biodegradability. The pyridinium ILs
obtained the higher biodegradability compared to the imidazolium ILs. Ester-
functionalized pyridinium ILs having anions (octylsulphate, PF6 , Br, iodide, and
bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) were investigated for biodegradability by Harjani
et al. (2009). The effect of the anion of ILs on the biodegradability was not signifi-
cant (Zhang et al. 2010a, b; Harjani et al. 2009). Pyridinium ILs with an carbamate,
acetal, or ether functionality have considerably lower biodegradation (Ford et al.
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 179

2010). The lactate or napthenic acid anions of 2-hydroxyethylammonium-based ILs

were found to be very biodegradable (Yu et al. 2006, 2008, 2012; Pavlovica et al.
2011). Atefi et al. (2009) functionalized phosphonium cation with an ether, alkane,
alcohol, or ester moiety and paired with octylsulphate, triflimide, or halide anions.
The ILs having octylsulphate anion observed an increased biodegradation and <30%
for others.
Overall, from available studies, it is found that cholinium and pyridinium ILs are
more biodegradable than phosphonium and imidazolium ILs (Ramdin et al. 2012).
Biodegradation can be enhanced by adding ester functionalities in the pyridinium
and imidazolium cations, except phosphonium. An alkyl long chain in ILs increases
biodegradability with few exceptions. The anion has a small function in biodegrada-
tion, while octylsulphate anion usually gives higher biodegradation of ILs (Ramdin
et al. 2012). It can be concluded from available data that the commonly used ILs
are not readily biodegradable. Additionally, the biodegradability of the ILs can be
improved by tuning their properties through structural adjustments (Arshad 2009).

8.6.2 Toxicity

The ILs are regarded as “green solvents” but all the time and all cases of application,
it may not be safe. Further, it is possible that ILs may be corrosive, flammable, or
toxic (Arshad 2009). ILs are considered as solvent for green chemistry as ILs have
almost no vapor pressure and hence low effect on environment and health of human
beings and others. ILs are widely used in many industrial applications and have
possibility to reach into aquatic environment and not in air due to non-volatility. As
a result, investigation of aquatic toxicology concerning ionic liquid environmental
safety is essential (Zhao et al. 2007).
The environmental impact of ILs can be evaluated by toxicological studies.
Usually, toxicity of ILs is assessed using standard methods (i.e., OECD, ISO, or
ASTM). In these standard methods, a test model (e.g., microorganisms) is exposed
to the IL and the response for toxicity is measured as LC50 , EC50 , or IC50 (Ramdin
et al. 2012). A lot of literatures on toxicity studied of ILs are available and critically
reviewed (Zhao et al. 2007; Ranke et al. 2017; Pham et al. 2010; Frade and Afonso
2010; Petkovic et al. 2011).
Gutowski and Maginn (2008) studied the toxicity of ILs having 1-n-butyl-3-
methylimidazolium cation and BF4 and PF6 anions with Daphnia magna at LC50.
It was observed that these ILs are toxic in nature to Daphnia as benzene and are very
highly toxic than acetone.
Bernot et al. (2005) performed experimentation for freshwater snails (Physa
acuta) to investigate the toxicity of imidazolium and pyridinium cations ILs. The
length of substituted alkyl chain on the cation played an important part by affecting
the toxicity. Among these cations alkyl chain, C8 was observed as a more toxic
compared to C6 and C4, in spite of the type of cation (Arshad 2009).
180 K. Wasewar

The acute oral toxicity for IL 3-hexyloxymethyl-1-methylimidazolium tetrafluo-

roborate was studied. In this investigation, the LD50 = 1400 mg/kg for female and
the LD50 = 1370 mg/kg for male Wistar rats were observed (Pernak et al. 2001). The
Fischer 344 rats was used to test the acute toxicity of 175 mg/kg of [C4 mim]Cl oral
gavage to the rats and there was no effect on the body of rats (Landry et al. 2005).
Though for higher dosage, 550 mg/kg, all rats were died and for 2000 mg/kg, all are
died within one day.
The cation of ILs has a main role in toxicity and minor of anions (Matzke et al.
2007; Couling et al. 2006). Wells and Coombe (2006) investigated the ecotoxicity of
quaternaryammonium, imidazolium, quaternary-phosphonium, and pyridinium ILs
and toxicities (EC50) were observed much larger (~104 to 106 for the worse cases) as
compared to conventional solvents, acetonitrile, and methanol. Based on the study of
ILs containing [Cl] anion with imidazolium (Romero et al. 2008), ammonium (Pretti
et al. 2006), morpholinium (Pretti et al. 2006), phosphonium (Wells and Coombe
2006), pyridinium (Papaiconomou et al. 2010; Salminen et al. 2007), and pyrroli-
dinium (Salminen et al. 2007) cations, increase in toxicity was observed for increased
alkyl chain length. The aquatic toxicity study was performed by Stolte et al. (2007)
and it was found that the toxicity increases as the lipophilicity (i.e. hydrophobicity)
increases as a large alkyl chain means increased lipophilicity (Latala et al. 2009).
Further, in these ILs, the anions have a secondary role in the toxicity but significantly
increases or reduce toxicities. Frade and Afonso (2010) observed anion trend: [Tf2 N]
> [PF6 ] > [BF4 ] > [Cl] > [DCA] > [Br]. Overall the toxicity of ILs is increased with
length and number of alkyl chain of the cation. In future, more unified and efficient
methods should be used to assess the toxicity of ILs (Ramdin et al. 2012).

8.7 Conclusion and Discussion

The present CO2 capture methods, specifically amine system, usually experience the
high capital and operating costs, degradation of solvent, high loss of solvent, solvent
corrosiveness, solvent toxicity, high volume of absorption column, and high regen-
eration energy (Aghaie et al. 2018). The capture of carbon dioxide using ILs is an
emerging technology which is interesting and promising alternative due to the excep-
tional properties of ILs including thermal stability, negligible volatility, high absorp-
tion capacity, tunable structure and hence its properties (Zhang et al. 2012). New and
novel ILs can be designed based on relation among structure, properties, and absorp-
tion mechanism which plays grave function for development of technology. ILs must
have three essential characteristics: high absorption/separation/capture capacity, low
viscosity for better fluid flow behavior, cost effectiveness, low energy for regeneration
of the ILs (Yang et al. 2011).
In general, the solubility of CO2 in ILs increases with increase in molar volume,
molecular weight, and free volume of ILs (Ramdin, et al. 2012). Carvalho and
Coutinho (2010) reported that the solubility of CO2 in ILs is dominated by entropic
effects rather than solute–solvent interactions. The solubility of CO2 in ILs should be
8 Carbon Dioxide Capture by Ionic Liquids 181

investigated in per volume solvent (molarity) or on a molality basis and it should not
be in mole fraction basis due to the strong molecular weight (molar volume) effect
(Karadas et al. 2010).
The capture of CO2 in conventional ILs is mainly a physical absorption mechanism
and solubility is very low at conditions of post-combustion capture as compared to
the amine process. The absorption capacity of ILs for CO2 can be has been effectively
enhanced by functionalization of conventional ILs with an amine and other active
moiety. In this manner, functionalized ILs allow carbon dioxide to react with the
amine chemically and achieved the better than (1:1) reaction stoichiometry relative
to conventional amine systems (Ramdin et al. 2012). Even though, task specific or
the functionalized ILs are more appropriate for capture of carbon dioxide, these
are additionally 2–4 times costlier as compared to conventional ILs. Apart from
solubility, selectivity is also significant in industrial separation. Generally, carbon
dioxide is far soluble than other (e.g., H2 , N2 , O2 ) and hence higher selectivity for
CO2 except SO2 and H2 S which better soluble than CO2 in ILs (Ramdin et al. 2012).
Based on regular solution theory, CO2 /CH4 and CO2 /N2 selectivity can be enhanced
using ILs having a low molar volume. The main conclusions based on the available
data and study can be obtained as: anions have significant role for CO2 solubility
in ILs; fluorination increases solubility with little effect of cations and significant
effect of anions; long chains of alkyl or ether-functionalized cations improve CO2
solubility (Ramdin et al. 2012; Lei et al. 2014; Makino et al. 2014; Anderson et al.
2007).
The competent capture of carbon dioxide as a green house gas from flue gases
is extremely difficult in view of technological status and economic performance
(Ramdin et al. 2012). In general, available technologies comprises extremely high
energy penalty, consequently, the cost of capture of CO2 for various gases which
makes these technologies less attractive for large-scale commercial applications.
Number of alternative options are under consideration as process and material. In
specific, ILs are the promising material for the capture of CO2 due to their distinctive
properties.
The evaluation of energy and economic performance of ILs-based technologies
are key steps for industrial application and its commercialization. Carbon dioxide
capture by ILs have been getting much attention among various emerging technolo-
gies (Zhang et al. 2012). Because of negligible vapor pressure of ILs, less energy
consumption for absorption/desorption, no contamination, and no significant losses
of ILs are observed. The energy losses using [bmim][Ac] are reduced by 16%, invest-
ment by 11%, and equipment footprint by 12% as compared to monoethanolamine
(MEA) process (Shiflett et al. 2010). The energy savings of 12–16% is reported as
compare to MEA process. Thus, ILs offers a potential mode for cost and energy effi-
cient carbon dioxide capture from flue gases of various industries specially power
plants (Zhang et al. 2012).
Zhai and Rubin (2017) performed the feasibility and costing of 1-hexyl-3-
methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide for capture of carbon dioxide
from pre-combustion pathway. The energy consequences are mainly due to compres-
sors and solvent pumps; and the compressors and absorbers have major cost share in
182 K. Wasewar

capital cost. Using the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) for power
plant assessments, $62/t CO2 is the cost avoided by the IL-based CO2 capture system.
The preliminary study on the performance and cost for IL-based and Selexol-based
CO2 capture systems show that an IL-based carbon dioxide capture system may be
possible feasible option to amine system.
Commercial availability of ILs are essential for its industrial application, but still
many of the ILs are at laboratory scale. Hence, focus must be given on the low cost
production of these ILs and make it available for commercialization and industrial
applications through pilot plant studies (Zhang et al. 2012). Based on the available
data on biodegradability and toxicity of ILs, it can be depicted that many commonly
ILs used for CO2 capture are non-biodegradable and highly toxic.
Based on the critical review and discussion in literature on ILs (Joglekar et al.
2007), Ramdin et al. (2012) presented few barriers for commercialization of ILs. The
glimpses of these barriers are stated as: need of physicochemical and thermodynamic
data (only for few ILs are available; still more data on viscosity, density, diffusion
coefficients, surface tension, specific heat, heat of fusion, chemical/thermal stability,
corrosivity, water solubility, etc. is needed); need of lifetime and recyclability studies;
as such no scale-up studies are available; need of engineering investigations (process
and manufacturing costs, systematic process engineering, scale up); need of health,
safety, and environmental performance studies, i.e., toxicity and biodegradability;
and finally the high cost of ILs.
In nutshell, the flexibility with intrinsic advantages of ILs for capture of CO2 are
providing augment to a promising and expansive field. The few ILs are highly attrac-
tive for absorption of CO2 although capture rate is almost comparable to aqueous
amine technologies. The main challenges affecting ILs for capture of CO2 are cost,
availability, compatibility, and purity (Torralba-Calleja et al. 2013). The major criteria
for perfect capture of CO2 are high solubility of CO2 , less energy requirement for
regeneration, relatively lower cost compare to amine and other systems, life of ILs for
reusability, and eco-friendly. Additionally, apart from process and engineering design
features of capture of carbon dioxide processes using ILs, their low solubilities, high
viscosity, price of ILs and processing, purity, compatibility, and availability, are the
key challenges to develop suitable methods to carbon dioxide capture by using ionic
liquids at commercial and an industrial scale (Aghaie et al. 2018). Still there is a
lot of scope to have a systematic study on the development of suitable material to
overcome all barriers in present ILs to have appropriate system of CO2 capture.

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Chapter 9
The Climate Smart Agriculture
for Carbon Capture and Carbon
Sequestration: The Challenges
and Opportunities

S. Senjam Jinus, Tracila Meinam, Koijam Melanglen, Minerva Potsangbam,

Akoijam Ranjita Devi, Lucy Nongthombam, Thoudam Bhaigyabati,
Helena D. Shephrou, Kangjam Tilotama, and Dhanaraj Singh Thokchom

S. Senjam Jinus (B) · H. D. Shephrou

College of Horticulture and Agri-Biotechnology, FEEDS Group of Institutions, Hengbung,
Kangpokpi, Manipur 795129, India
T. Meinam · K. Melanglen
Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture, School of Horticulture, Pandit Deen Dayal,
Upadhyay Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Utlou, Manipur 795134, India
M. Potsangbam
Department of Horticulture, North Eastern Hill University, Tura Campus, Chasingre, West Garo
Hills, Meghalaya 794002, India
A. R. Devi
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, SRM Nagar,
Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu 603203, India
L. Nongthombam
Biswanath College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Biswanath Chariali, Assam
78176, India
T. Bhaigyabati
Institutional Advanced Level Biotech Hub, Imphal College, Imphal, Manipur, India
K. Tilotama
Foundation for Environment and Economic Development Services, Henbung, Kangpokpi,
Manipur 795129, India
D. S. Thokchom
Ethno-Medicinal Research Centre, FEEDS Campus, Hengbung, Kangpokpi, Manipur 795129,
India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 195
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_9
196 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

9.1 Introduction

Acute agriculture practice that increases production livable, improves adaptation,

diminishes or removes greenhouse gases is the hallmarks of climate smart agricul-
ture. In this context, the key objective of climate smart agriculture in capturing carbon
can be defined as food protection and growth, in which the three interlinked pillars
efficiency, adaptation, and mitigation (Fig. 9.1) are required to achieve this objective
(FAO 2013; Lipper et al. 2014). To date, due to climate crises in the atmosphere
resulting from an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide, great interest has
been drawn in the possibility of increasing the rate of carbon capture through climate
smart agricultural (Fig. 9.2) practices which are described below in this chapter,
as well as through genetic engineering to capture carbon and storage. However, in
the present climate change sense, little exposure is given to the concepts of carbon
capture in agricultural points of view, which is meant to be an effective, smart way
to mitigate potential pollution impacts on ambient greenhouse gas concentrations.
Possible approaches and climate smart agriculture that affect the increased pace of
carbon dioxide reduction from the environment through up-to-date farming prac-
tices to boost gigantic activities, preserving carbon by habitats such as plant waste,
decomposing detritus, and organic soil are illustrated in the form of various litera-
tures insights in this paper. Throughout this episode, soils of agricultural land that
are extremely active habitats may become microbial scrubbers and carbon capture
by trapping CO2 from the atmosphere. In consonance with Schahczenski and Hill
(2009), creative agricultural methods such as tillage reduction, advanced sustain-
able farming programs, soil regeneration, soil use reform, and irrigation and water
management are need of the hour in which farmers, city folks, hills dweller, urban
gardener, and whole agrarian community can combat climate change. By doing such
clever management practices, it will provide many opportunities in all three pillars

Fig. 9.1 Climate smart

agriculture and its three
pillars. Image by Dr Senjam
Jinus S.
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 197

Fig. 9.2 Precision agriculture (PA)

of climate smart agriculture (Fig. 9.1) to increase productivity, boost farm energy
production and enhance air and soil quality.

9.2 Climate Smart Agriculture and Carbon Sequestration

In this chapter, we provide a bird’s eye view on climate smart agricultural prac-
tices which include intercropping, crop rotation, mulching, agroforestry, increased
harvesting, protection of land, sustainable field production, conservative farming,
198 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

increased water management, and phytosequestration. As a part of these resource

management practices, soil carbon emissions can be minimized by minimizing
degradation of soil organic material, lowering deforestation and supplying material
inputs.

9.2.1 Agroforestry

Annually, the current global net biome productivity is around 3 gigatonnes (Gt) and
at measurable amounts, CO2 is captured by plants in all biomes (Jansson et al. 2010).
From this biome biological sequestration would mainly come from prevented defor-
estation in tropical land (Tavoni et al. 2007). The majority of this is believed to be
contained in forests in the Northern Hemisphere (Jansson et al. 2010). When agri-
cultural waste lands are vegetated, carbon is captured and can accumulate SOM into
the soil (Montagnini and Nair 2004). When these lands are converted into perennial
vegetation, today’s climate change accumulation reverses carbon losses from soils
(Post and Kwon 2000). Agroforestry program which is one of the climate change
strategies can be used to raise overland and soil carbon supplies and minimize soil
depletion, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Albrecht and Kandji 2003;
Mutuo et al. 2005). At the same time, it will help farmer and agrarian communities
to tackle several other problems affecting these properties, such as economic diver-
sification, sustainability, and water safety (Schoeneberger 2008). At the community
level, long rotation systems such as agroforestry, home gardens, and boundary plant-
ings can sequester significant quantities of carbon in plant biomass and in long-lasting
wood products (Albrecht and Kandji 2003; Mutuo et al. 2005). It is estimated that
tropical agroforestry system’s carbon sequestration (CS) potential is between 12 and
228 megagram (Mg) ha−1 . Post and Kwon (2000), deciphered that during the early
stage of perennial trees, optimum amount of CS is 100 g Cm−2 yr−1 while average
rates are like forests and grasslands, that is, 33.8 and 33.2 g Cm−2 y−1 , respectively.
The ability of tree-based agroforestry systems to sequester carbon in the humid top
carbon sequestration throughout plants can be more than 70 Mg C ha−1 and up
to 25 megagram (Mg) ha−1 in the top 20 cm of soil. In overall, the capacity for
carbon sequestration by agroforestry is forecasted at 9, 21, 50, and 63 Mg C ha−1
in semiarid, sub-humid, tropical and temperate regions, respectively (Montagnini
and Nair 2004). Some report says that in the depleted soils of sub-humid top carbon
sequestration, over continuous maize cultivation with increased fallow agroforestry
activities have been shown to raise top soil carbon stocks up to 1.6 Mg C ha−1 y−1 .
For small land resources, the capacity for carbon sequestration varies from 1.5 to
3.5 Mg C ha−1 year−1 (Montagnini and Nair 2004). It is around 0.9 ± 0.3 Pg C year−1
globally for carbon sequestration (CS) through agroforestry and conservation agri-
culture and offsetting 25–75% of the annual carbon (C) emissions (Lal 2005; Silver
et al. 2000). In addition, based on the Earth’s total suitable area for crop production,
which is 585–1215 × 106 ha, a minimum of 1.1–2.2 petagram (Pg) of carbon could
be stored in agricultural ecosystems over the next 50 years . Mutuo et al. (2005) also
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 199

suggested that this promising smart practice can be used to increase above ground
and soil C stocks and reduce soil degradation, as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas
emissions. Thus, such a genuinely win-win opportunity can restore degraded soils,
enhance biomass production, purify surface and ground waters, and reduce C from
the atmospheric (Lal 2005; Silver et al. 2000).

9.3 Mulching

Mulching management has been used in many places all over the world to improve
agricultural sustainability (Gu et al. 2016). Mulch covering the field protects energy
by reducing surface evaporation (Patil et al. 2013) which significant link to nutrient
supply, playing a key role in the C and N cycle and the sink of carbon (Duiker and
Lal 1999). To check the effects of different mulches, straw mulch, plastic mulch,
and no mulch, it is reported highest corn yields in the plastic mulch (21–25%) and
soil organic carbon found highest in the straw mulch plots (Scopel et al. 2005). In
Xiaofuling watershed of Danjiangkou reservoir in China, group of scientists found
that straw mulching had a significant effect on soil, increasing soil organic carbon
(SOC) content and stock in slopping arable land, and that live grass mulching was
more effective than rice straw mulching (Gu et al. 2016). Under no-tillage mulch-
based (NTM) cropping systems, the SOC stocks in the 0–30 cm topsoil layer of the
fields varied between 4.2 and 6.7 kg C m−2 and increased on average with 0.19 kg C
m−2 yr−1 (Neto et al. 2010). Impact of mulch over a 5-year period research observed
increased soil carbon levels by 23–29% (Scopel et al. 2005). Another reports on
under no-till, ridge till, and plow till increased total C% from 1.26 to 1.50, 1.20 to
1.47, and 0.95 to 1.10, respectively, with increase in mulch rate from 0 to 16 Mg ha−1 ,
when a study conducted by Kahlon et al. 2013. The CS rate will be inclined as more
as application of mulches and period of mulching extended. Even, the fluctuation in
mulch rates variation attributed the amount of CS. For example, say different appli-
cation about 4 and 11 years of mulching impacted 41% CS and 52% CS, respectively
(Duiker and Lal 1999). In addition, mulching can significantly increase soil organic
matter (SOM) from 1.26 to 1.50% (Kahlon et al. 2013, Chandra et al. 2019) and
carbon sequestration (CS) in the topsoil layer of 0–5 cm (Duiker and Lal 1999).
It also improved the soil’s physical and chemical properties and agricultural soils
can be nourished with CS up to 8–16 Mg ha−1 yr−1 (Kahlon et al. 2013; Chandra
et al. 2019). Concurrent enhancements of soil aggregation, by the mulching, help to
increase soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration but the initiation of SOC concentra-
tion inclines only in macroaggregates. The prime attribution to SOC concentration
can be brought only if the 32–58% variation in the soil water stable aggregates
(SWSA) is maintained. This feature helps to sequester more carbon in the soil which
ultimately contributes toward soil organic carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and
climate change mitigation (Chandra et al. 2019). In conclusion, carbon-rich soils are
desirable (American Society of Agronomy 2018) and awareness of changes in the
200 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

concentration of carbon (C) and the physical, mechanical and hydrological properties
of mulching is required to determine the viability of implementing conservation prac-
tices to preserve production and enhance productivity and mitigation of the climate
crises by removing greenhouse gases (Kahlon et al. 2013).
Crop residues
The crop residues are the remains of the agricultural crops (Novelli et al. 2017)
and it has huge potential to produce carbon-neutral energy (Marie 2010). This crop
residue can be used as source of CS and maintain the good quality of soil, and thus
it helps in nutrient management and conservation (Lal 1997). If we want to increase
the crop residue production significantly, intensive agriculture system can do the
better gigantic tasks which leads to increase the SOM (Nakajima et al. 2016) and
soil aggregation and hence carbon storage (Novelli et al. 2017). In the course of
time, within the systems of this soil biome, soil microorganisms play a crucial role in
the carbon sequestration process by transforming crops residues into smaller carbon
molecules that are more likely to be protected and sequestered (Six et al. 2006).
However, every year large amount of crop residue is required for erosion protection,
and considerably more is needed to retain soil carbon (Marie 2010). Lehtinen et al.
(2014) conducted a meta-analysis and found that soils with clay content of >35%
have more SOC levels which was tended to increase with residue retention with
increasing response from duration of retention. So, if we want to increase SOC
deeper in the soil profile, incorporation of crops residues into soil has been shown
useful (Alcántara et al. 2016). However, to provide that protective level of crops
biomass, only high residue crop systems (e.g., 8164.66 kg/ac corn-soybean) can be
benefited (Marie 2010). In USA, it is reported that a total of 367 × 106 Mg yr−1
crop residues from 9 cereal crops, 450 × 106 Mg yr−1 for 14 cereals and legumes,
and 488 × 106 Mg yr−1 for 21 crops is produced (Lal 1997). In the Mekong Delta
of Vietnam, rough rice (Oryza sativa L.) of about 21 Mt and an estimated rice straw
of about 24 Mt. produces annually. So, the prevalent of crop residues in this Mekong
Delta can increase SOM and sequester as CS significantly and therefore, reducing
GHG emissions (Arai et al. 2015). Globally, the total crop residue production from
cereal crops is 2802 × 106 Mg yr−1 and from 27 food crops is 3758 × 106 Mg yr−1 .
From by incorporation of such crops residues in the field, 40–60% of total agricultural
C emissions can turn into an useful carbon capture and sequester (Lal 1997).

9.3.1 Soil Biota Management

Within the soil environment, accomplishment of biological sequestration by micro-

bial activities helps to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of
soil (Six et al. 2006). In due course of carbon sequestration, major soil microbes like
fungi maximize the amount of carbon allocated to the soil and producing compounds
that improve aggregate stability (Govindarajulu et al. 2005). If the vital soil biota of
microbes like fungi and soil bacteria are rich, carbon sequestration can higher up to
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 201

49.9 g C kg−1 in soils (Bailey et al. 2002). Carbon and nitrogen also can reach at 1.32–
1.82 where microbial communities are higher (Six et al. 2006). Mesovores are the
soil-dwelling living organism like insects, worms, and nematodes which can help to
refine the larger pieces of plant residues into smaller forms. These residues are again
metabolized by smaller organisms such as fungi and bacteria. Then, different types
and differing size of carbon and complex chemical composition are synthesized
which are associated with silt and clay particles or incorporated into soil aggre-
gates (Six et al. 2006; Grandy and Neff 2008; Grandy and Wickings 2010). By
the reciprocal sharing of arbuscular mychorrizal fungi (AMF) and plant roots, such
mutual activities provide the soil with rich nutrients and organic carbon (Govin-
darajulu et al. 2005). The biomass of the plant increases effectively as it nourishes
the AMF thereby enhancing the process of photosynthesis and eventually increases
the amount of carbon into the soil (Rillig et al. 2001). During the process, AMF
releases sticky substances called glomalin protein which helps to bind soil aggre-
gates together and leading to protect soil carbon (Rillig 2004). Wilson et al. (2009)
found that this organism AMF was strongly positively associated to soil aggrega-
tion and carbon sequester. Retrieval of soil biota and its ecological processes breaks
down soil organic matter into active soil organic fractions and resistant or stable
organic mineral complexes also referred to as humus (Srinivasarao 2017). Such soil
biota helps to enrich soil fertility and efficiency, thus encouraging the soil carbon
(Lal et al. 2007). In soils, both organic and inorganic sources of carbon are present,
so agricultural land use management usually has a stronger effect on soil organic
carbon composition (Srinivasarao et al. 2014). In conclusion, for soil organic carbon
capture and sequestration, worldwide capability is projected at 0.6–1.2 Gt C year−1 ,
consisting of 0.4–0.8 Gt C year−1 through the endorsement of recommended cropland
smart soil management practices, and through improved rangelands and grasslands
for irrigated soils is 0.01–0.03 Gt C year−1 (Lal et al. 2007).

9.3.2 Improved Grazing and Livestock Management

Globally, 40% of the land is made up of grassland (Wang and Fang 2009) and to
date, grazing, the most intensive utilization of grassland is likely to have a size-
able effect on over a 5th of the global soil carbon storage potentials (Scurlock and
Hall 1998). Decomposition of soil organic matter is affected by grazing scheme and
strength by impacting the biomass and abundance of microbes, leading to organic
matter stabilization (Jastrow et al. 2007) and therefore regulate the turnover of soil
energy (Bardgett et al. 2003). In a site where the organic material fettered with carbon
sequestration capacity could become the fungal–bacterial supremacy. In such sites,
greater fungal domination is organically active and bound with richness in soil carbon
(Jastrow et al. 2007). Higher Grazing rate is possible if we grow huge acreage of
C4 food crop production and grasses in controlled grassland area which can help to
increase organic matter content (Frank et al. 1995). Growing more productive grass
species and which can nourish sufficient moisture and nutrients, also contribute
202 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

to boost productivity and carbon capture potential (Conant et al. 2001). Worldwide
practicing of smart agriculture and sustainable forestry farming together has a signif-
icant scope for capturing carbon through smart grassland management or preserving
depleted pastures (FAO 2010). One research report says that soil organic carbon
stocks were reduced less than those in cropland area, and biomass rose in certain
regions owing to the reduction of deforestation and eventually forest encroachment
(Ogle et al. 2004). In contrary to the forest, such biomass is a limited seasonal carbon
reservoir and is mainly herbaceous in the grassland systems and thus furnish soils,
the foremost carbon reserve (Ogle et al. 2004).
In light of climate change and agricultural farming context, activities that sequester
carbon in grasslands often improve tolerance and thus enhance long-term pliable to
evolving climates crises (FAO 2010). Nonetheless, to reduce the detrimental conse-
quences of pasturing or restoration of deteriorated fields; efficient maintenance of
grasslands with sowing better plants, drainage, fertilizing will all contribute to carbon
sequestration (Conant and Paustian 2002; Follett et al. 2001; Conant et al. 2001;
Ogle et al. 2004). Many studies have shown that efficient grassland management
can also minimize net vegetation emissions of carbon, in particular in dry environ-
ments (Allard et al. 2007), and promote soil carbon storage (Wilsey et al. 2002). It
is reported that productive grassing maintenance contributed to a soil carbon stock
inclined by an average of 0.35 Mg C ha−1 year−1 (Conant et al. 2001). However, such
environments can be efficient habitats but restricted seasonal expansion, sequestra-
tion and grazing changes may minimize carbon absorption in contrast with the other
habitats, in terms of species diversity or development (Ogle et al. 2004). Activities
such as getting rid of significant quantities of aboveground biomass, strong stock-
pilings, and other inadequate farming activities are essential regulated factors that
affect the development of farming areas and have contributed to soil carbon stocks
being lessen (Conant and Paustian 2002; Ojima et al. 1993).

9.3.3 Animal Manure

Animal manure can be used as source of carbon and the addition of animal manure
to different crop fields has impacts on soil carbon contents (Stewart et al. 2007).
Different researchers conducted the experiments in Germany to check the soil’s C
levels. The experiment showed that the annual application rate of 200 Mg ha−1 yr−1
of manure to the crop field shows a high level of SOM with respect to adjacent
fields (Blair et al. 2006). Powlson et al. 2011 reported that the mean annual SOC
sequestration rates of three long-term (>49) years of manure applications ranged
from 10 to 22 kg C ha−1 yr−1 t−1 of dry solids, while SOC sequestration rates with
shorter-term experiments (8–25 years of farmyard manure, cattle slurry and boiler
litter) were from 30 to 200 kg C ha−1 yr−1 t−1 of dry solids (Rahman et al. 2016; Cheng
et al. 2016). In another study, the farm yard manure was applied to the rice–wheat
cropping system with NPK fertilizers and results showed significantly an increase in
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 203

C sequestration in farm yard manure-applied plots than NPK-applied plots (Naresh

et al. 2017). In the rice–rice cropping system poultry manure is found to be more
efficient in increasing C and other nutrients in soils and microbial activities which
contribute to CS (Rahman et al. 2016; Cheng et al. 2016).

9.3.4 Pastures and Pasture Leys in Crop Rotations

Undercomparable pedoclimatic zones, in undisturbed natural systems, managed

grassland and pasture systems can support higher levels of soil organic matters than
intensively managed cropping soils. Conversion from cropping to pasture or use of
a pasture phase in a cropping patterns can increase soil organic carbon content. No-
tillage under pasture and enhanced soil aggregation leads to increased protection
of soil organic carbon (Six et al. 2004). Generally, there is an also higher level of
biomass return in pasture systems via plant deposition and return of animal excreta,
with less export of biomass. In a meta-analysis of the impact of land-use change on
SOC concentrations, Guo and Gifford (2002) found that the SOC stocks increased by
on average 19% after the transition from crop to pasture, with the length of time since
conversion having no clear effect on the amount of C accumulated. The rate of SOC
accumulation under pasture depends largely on soil type and climate, as compared
with other management factors (Conyers et al. 2015; Rabbi et al. 2015; Sanderman
et al. 2010). Nonetheless under long-term pastures, SOM sequestration is increased
particularly with the inclusion of nitrogen fixing legumes and with fertilization that
increase net primary production (Haynes and Williams 1992; Orgill et al. 2017).
Conversely, pasture management can have limited or no impact on SOC sequestra-
tion in cases where the growth potential of the pasture is limited by inadequate soil
nutrition or where the composition of the pasture as cover grass has low legume
content (Badgery et al. 2014).

9.3.5 Land Use

The soil organic carbon is highly sensitive to changes and management practices.
Land-use change is widely recognized as a net source of green house at global level.
Land-use options for enhanced C sequestration at the landscape and regional scales
include protection and selective management of native ecosystems and use of appro-
priate and smart management practices in manipulated ecosystems (Metting et al.
2001). Among the different land-use systems, total C stock was highest in forest soils
followed by fodder system, paddy, maize, cotton, red gram, intercrop, chilli, perma-
nent fallow and lowest in castor system. The soil organic carbon dynamics under
tropical garden land systems and the results revealed that organic carbon status of
204 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

the soil increased with balanced application of NPK fertilizers combined with organic
manure. Underconservation agriculture, 0.5–1.0 t C ha−1 yr−1 , can be sequestered
in humid temperate conditions, 0.2–0.5 in humid tropics and 0.1–0.2 in semiarid
zones. Post and Kwon (2000) estimated the maximum rate of carbon accumulation
during the early aggrading stage of perennial vegetation growth, while substantial, are
usually much less than 100 C m−1 yr−1 . Average rate of accumulations is similar for
forest or grassland establishment 33.8 g C m−2 yr−1 and 33.2 g C m−2 yr−1 , respec-
tively. In conclusion, as we know that carbon is held in the form of soil organic carbon
and this organic carbon is highly sensitive to land use or changes in land use system
as mentioned above (Post and Kwon 2000). Smart management practices such as
tillage, cropping systems, and mulching lead to changes of soil organic carbon status
(Purakayastha et al. 2008). In addition, adoption of best land-use systems such as
conservation tillage, mulching, and cropping system in a long run could enhance the
organic soil carbon sequestration and mitigation of green house gases.

9.3.6 Tillage

Tillage is the mechanical cultivation of soil by devices and machinery for seed germi-
nation, planting and plant production (Zia et al. 2018). Several co-workers revealed
that carbon sequestration and deposition in the soil profile have been greatly influ-
enced by tillage activities such as conservation tillage, no-tillage, and traditional
tillage (Deen and Kataki 2003; Sheehy et al. 2015) and found higher in conserva-
tion tillage soils in comparison to traditional tillage (Deen and Kataki 2003; Sheehy
et al. 2015). In this light, it has also been established that sustainable laying activi-
ties improve renewable soil and carbon sequestration relative to conventional tillage
(Deen and Kataki 2003; Sheehy et al. 2015). Grandy and Robertson (2006) found that
tilling a previously untilled soil quickly reversed nearly all the previously recorded
gains by disrupting aggregates and exposing carbon molecules to microbial attack.
If we look the matter globally, carbon sequestration capacity by cultivation and
tillage is about 0.9 ± 0.3 Pg C year−1 for the annual carbon emissions reduced
by 25–75% (Lal 2005; Silver et al. 2000). By doing such clever practices, it can
be a well-balanced approach that recovers depleted soil, increases the production
of crops, purifies ground and surface water and decreases atmospheric carbon (Lal
2005; Silver et al. 2000).

9.3.7 Zero Tillage

It is a kind of conservation agriculture which comprises of minimum soil disturbance

along with crop residues, cover crops, and their diversification and improving SOM
and leading to mitigate carbon emissions through carbon sequestration (CS) up to
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 205

0.16–0.49 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (Zia et al. 2018). Since soils in these systems remain
undisturbed, soil aggregates remain intact and increases and thus protecting carbon
physically (Cambardella and Elliott 1992; Six et al. 2000). So, in order to maintain
gains in soil carbon, it is important to continuously manage soils with no-till (Powlson
et al. 2016). In another studies support that (no-tillage) NT sequesters more soil
organic carbon (SOC) compared with conservation tillage (CT) (Syswerda et al.
2011; Varvel and Wilhelm 2011). In Brazil, they target to increase the agricultural
area under zero tillage from 32 to 40 million ha by 2020 to mitigate C emissions.
It was calculated that average annual CS is 1.61–1.48 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 in Brazil
for the 8 years from 2003 to 2011. So, converting 8 million ha of cropland to zero
tillage can sequester an estimated soil C storage of about 8 Tg C yr−1 in 10–15 years
(Corbeels et al. 2016). Meanwhile, in our country, Haryana, reports showed that by
adopting zero tillage nearly USD 97.5 ha−1 can be earned extra and can reduces the
tillage implement costs, labor and fuel costs by spending USD 76 ha−1 and 97.5
USD earnings show that shifting from conventional to zero tillage reduces cost and
additionally, sequester C emission by 1.5 Mg C ha−1 season−1 (Agarwal 2008) From
these evidences, what we could learn is zero tillage generates considerable benefits
up to US D 97 ha−1 ; it also increases the crop yield by 5–7%, saving costs up to USD
52 ha−1 (Erenstein 2007; Erenstein et al. 2008; Landers et al. 2003).
Perhaps, many studies have deciphered that no-till can increase soil carbon rapidly,
especially at the soil surface (West and Post 2002). Baker et al. (2007) that examined
carbon changes to soil depths greater than 30 cm and resulted no-till tends to show
increased carbon at shallow depths where crop residues are found, but at greater
depths plowed soils typically sequester more carbon. In support of this finding,
Blanco-Canqui and Lal (2008) mentioned carbon sequestration are greater at soil
depths of 30 cm. Ironically, in soil depth of (35 of 51 cm), no significant differ-
ence in carbon sequestration between plowing and no-till was found (Baker et al.
2007; Blanco-Canqui and Lal 2008). This finding is supported in a study, in Quebec,
Canada, over a period of three years also found that the amount of sequestered
carbon did not differ between no-till and plowing. The findings also reported higher
carbon accumulation from no-till only where the top several centimeters of soil were
measured. When the measurements included the entire soil profile, the higher carbon
accumulation in plowed fields at lower depths compensated for the lower amount
of carbon near the soil surface. So, different fertilization rates did not alter these
results (Poirier et al. 2009). In fact, on average, the no-till systems may have lost
some carbon over the period of the experiment (Baker et al. 2007).

9.3.8 Conservation Tillage

The soil organic carbon concentration increase from conservation farming induces
improved physical and chemical qualities of soil which ultimately lead to increase
biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change by carbon sequestration (Powlson
et al. 2016). Several studies have demonstrated that CT also can increase soil carbon
206 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

by increasing soil aggregation and physically protecting carbon, but sequestration

generally occurs at rates lower than no-till (West and Post 2002; Halvorson et al.
2002). Further raising carbon sequestration is affected by agricultural practices, such
as conservation tillage (West and Marland 2002). As in a study involving different
tillage practices like CT, ZT, NT, and CoT, it showed that CS throughout the profile
was significantly affected by tillage practices. A variety of studies agreed that no-
tillage (NT), in contrast with conservation tillage (CT), sequesters more organic
carbon in the soil (Syswerda et al. 2011, Varvel and Wilhelm 2011). Changes in the
SOC are greatly influenced by long-term tillage practices. For example, soil from 0 to
60 cm after 25 years of CT showed 5% higher soil bulk density for conservation tillage
as compared to conventional tillage practices. Analysis also showed that CS and
storage was significantly higher in CT soil than conventional tillage (Deen and Kataki
2003). By embracing conservation tillage, carbon sequestration may be improved by
3.15 ± 2.42 t ha−1 (Deen and Kataki 2003; Sheehy et al. 2015; Luo et al. 2010). So,
it can be concluded that conservative tillage practices, viz. conservation, zero tillage,
and no-tillage, showed that there is the greatest potential of carbon sequestration
while applying zero tillage, no-tillage, and conventional tillage increased SOM and
CS as compared to CoT (Deen and Kataki 2003; Sheehy et al. 2015).

9.3.9 Cropping System and Intensity

Carbon sequestration optimization in agriculture can be done by cropping systems,

such as crop rotation, intercropping, and cover cropping which help to influence more
yield and economic benefits (Drinkwater et al. 1998), total increased C sequestered
with biomass, and stabilized the soil organic matters (Wang et al. 2010). Cropping
intensity and rotations have the potential to sequester 14–29 MMTC yr−1 (Follett
2001). Moreover, it can also be attained by improved soil fertility, extensive crop-
ping systems with shifting cultivation cropped fallows and cover crops (Hutchinson
et al. 2007). By doing continuous and intense cropping system leads to accumulate
10–17% more SOM and N (Sherrod et al. 2003). The potential of tillage, land cover,
nutrients, and cropping system management in CS is up to 30–105 million metric
tons of C (MMTC) yr−1 (Follett 2001). Finding over a period of 12 years crop-
ping systems on organic management system that employed increased rotational
diversity and extensive use of winter cover crops led to a significant increase in
soil carbon, despite extensive tillage for weed control (Syswerda et al. 2011). In
crop based rice–wheat cropping system even without any fertilization contributed
toward carbon sequestration (1.94 Mg C/ha) with soil organic carbon pools and
carbon sequestration rate of 7.84 Mg C/ha and 0.22 Mg C/ha/yr, respectively. Soil
quality indices such as particulate organic carbon (POC) were influenced by crop-
ping system: with CS < CC < CCOA where (CC) (Zea mays L.); corn–soybean
[Glycine max (L.) Merr.] (CS); corn–corn–oat–alfalfa (oat, Avena sativa L.; alfalfa,
Medicago sativa L.) (CCOA), and corn–oat–alfalfa–alfalfa (COAA). CS [continuous
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 207

grain sorghum {Sorghum bicolour (L.) Merr.] cropping system exhibited isotopes
(δ13C) value ranging from −15 to −20%, suggesting most SOC was derived from
this C4 species. Increase in SOM can be seen under long-term maize–wheat–cowpea
cropping system up to 1.83 Tg C yr−1 (Purakayastha et al. 2008). It is estimated that
across 10 cropping systems, annual soil CS rates range up to 0.56 Mg C ha−1 yr−1
(Kong et al. 2005). In contrast, intense cropping systems always cause depletion of
SOM but applying crop residues, balanced fertilization with NPK and use of organic
amendments can increase CS levels to 5–10 Mg ha−1 yr−1 . As these amendments
also contain 10.7–18% C in them, they also help in CS (Mandal et al. 2007). Thus,
by adopting these strategies, biomass production is increased and so, the C usage in
the plants is increased and more C is sequestered in the plant and soil. If nutrient
inputs combined the above strategies, this CS amount can be doubled (Follett 2001).

9.3.10 Cover Crops

Planting cover crops is a promising option to sequester carbon in cropping systems

by the implementation of smart agricultural management practices (Vicente-Vicente
et al. 2016). Cover crops can sequester carbon with the help of their roots and shoots
which feeds on bacteria, fungi, earthworm, and other soil organisms, which increases
soil carbon level over time (McVay et al. 1989; Kuo et al. 1997; Sainju et al. 2003).
A cover crop may raise the soil organic matter in two ways: (i) raise carbon biomass
inputs and (ii) hold soil driest with the plants water intake and hence minimize
carbon mineralization in the summer with enough precipitation in the normal fallow
season (Godde et al. 2016). Cover cropping provides additional residue that not only
reduces soil erosion but also improves soil productivity by increasing soil organic
carbon (SOC) (McVay et al. 1989; Kuo et al. 1997; Sainju et al. 2003). Soil CS rates
in cover cropping are much higher than that of fields with low or no cover cropping
which suggests that the adoption of cover cropping is a sustainable and efficient
measure to mitigate climate crises (CC) (Vicente-Vicente et al. 2016). However, in
semiarid climates, cover crops to a larger extent are not likely to have these SOC
benefits because of a lack of water for crop growth during the fallow (Godde et al.
2016).
A review from Poeplau and Don (2015) found that soils under cover crops had
significantly higher SOC stocks than associated reference crops, with a mean annual
change of 0.32 Mg ha−1 yr−1 to a soil depth of at least 20 cm. In the olive orchards,
vineyards, and almond plants, the maximum carbon sequestration amount is found
to be up to 5.3 t C ha−1 year−1 . In the first years after transition of management,
soil carbon sequestration continues to be the maximum, slowly hitting equilibrium
(Vicente-Vicente et al. 2016). In southern Illinois, Olson et al. (2010) conducted 8-
year study on impact of no-till (NT), non-legume (NL), low nitrogen supply legume
(LNL), and high nitrogen supply legume (HNL) cover crops and increased SOC
content by 0.17, 0.41 and 0.43 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 and −0.01, +0.01 and +0.02 Mg N
208 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

ha−1 yr−1 (Mazzoncini et al. 2011). Another experiment conducted by Novara et al.
2019, the vineyard soil which was managed with Vicia faba cover crop, was found to
have highest SOC content with an average value of 9.52 ± 0.34 g kg−1 the slope area
and 10.47 ± 0.2 g kg−1 in the flat vineyard. Also, the SOC at 0 to 30 cm increased
more in cover crops with 120–130 kg N ha−1 yr−1 than in weeds with 0 kg N ha−1
yr−1 , regardless of tillage (Sainju et al. 2006). In a meta-analysis of different sites trial,
the cover crops treatments had a significantly higher SOC stock than the reference
crop land with a total mean SOC stock accumulation of 16.7 ± 1.5 Mg ha−1 for a soil
depth of 22 cm (Poeplau and Don 2014). Winter cover crops use soil residual N that
may leach into groundwater after crop harvest in the fall and, depending on species,
can sequester atmospheric C and/or N, thereby reducing the amount of N fertilizer
required for summer crops Meisinger et al. 1991; Kuo et al. 1997). Thus, soil organic
carbon and nitrogen concentration can be conserved or maintained by reducing their
loss through mineralization and erosion, and by sequestering atmospheric CO2 and
N2 in the soil using no-till with cover crops and N fertilization (Sainju et al. 2002).

9.3.11 Composting

Composting is the systematic and controlled breakdown of different types of organic

matter including animal manure, woody material, and other organic waste (Farina
et al. 2018). The benefits of compost applications, by reducing all the negative impacts
produced by them, using chemical fertilizers, reduced use of pesticides, improved
tilth and workability say reducing consumption of fuels tends to obscure the poten-
tially important effect of composting, in which biogenic carbon is held in soils for a
period of time before the carbon is released (Favoino and Hogg 2008). In the event of
composting, some amount of carbon in manure loses and converted into more stable
carbon types, which makes the remaining carbon less decomposable when added to
the soil (Biala 2011). If we apply the compost in different plots, the soil organic C
stock will increase significantly when compared with the initial stock (Farina et al.
2018). Various finding shown that soil containing composted manure has retained
about three times as much carbon as soil with added raw manure (Biala 2011).
Across a number of rangeland sites in California, compost amendments have led to
a noticeable rise in surface soil C stocks over a single growing season. Moreover,
overall climate gain of compost adjustment peaked 15 years after application (Silver
et al. 2018). In north western Italy, a study in Corn (Zea mays L.) and Vetch (Vicia
villosa Roth.) field having calcareous silt loam soil says that when fertilized with
a municipal solid waste compost and they found that, when N2 O and CO2 fluxes
were combined, compost reduced by 49% and the CO2 equivalent emitted following
urea application while Vetch did not show such an effect (Alluvione et al. 2010). In
another experiment to monitor the influence of organic and inorganic fertilizers on
the SOC stock in a soil depth of 0–60 cm under an intensive wheat–maize cropping
system in the North China Plain, which involves 7 treatments, viz. CM, compost;
HCM, half compost nitrogen (N) plus half fertilizer N; NPK, fertilizer N, phosphorus
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 209

(P), and potassium (K); NP, fertilizer N and P; NK, fertilizer N and K; PK, fertil-
izer P and K; and CK, control without fertilization, they found that the stabilization
rate of exogenous organic carbon (C) into SOC was only 1.5% in NPK-treated soil
but amounted to 8.7–14.1% in compost-amended soils (CM and HCM) (Fan et al.
2014). The application of rice straw compost at 2 tonnes/ha along with inorganic
fertilizers increases C and N concentration significantly on a sandy loam soil (Sodhi
et al. 2009). Measurements of POM-C (particulate organic matter) in the soil were
45% higher and SOC was 16% greater where compost was applied in place of N
fertilizer (Fortunaa et al. 2003). In an investigation done by (Fabrizio et al. 2009),
compost C accumulated in the soil after 150 days of application was 4.24 Mg ha−1
and 6.82 Mg C ha−1 for 50 and 85 Mg ha−1 compost rate, respectively. This slight
increase in the fraction of carbon retained with the increase in compost application
rate could be due to the highly stable state of the compost prior to application. So, it is
a well-balanced condition to increase C storage in the soil as well as plant growth and
yield by chemical fertilization. The compost application at the rate of 10 Mg ha−1
yr−1 results in higher CS. This clear cut indicates that composting not only increases
the net primary production but also the C content of the soil (Baldi et al. 2018).

9.3.12 Biochar and Bagasse

Carbon is captured in plant products as biomass and such biomass can contribute
to C sequestration through deliberate addition of biochar to soil, wood burial, or
the use of durable plant products (Jansson et al. 2010). Biochar is usually obtained
by the breakdown of crop biomass, bagasse sugarcane fibrous residues, and wood
chips, at a low temperature range (350–600 °C) in the atmosphere having very little
or no oxygen (Laird 2008). When these biomass and crop residues are pyrolyzed, it
produces syngas, bio-oils, and charcoal (Joseph et al. 2007). During the process of
charcoal formation, biogas released from it can be captured and used as a fuel source,
typically for heating (Marie 2010). When this biochar is applied to soils, research
has shown that it can increase soil health, crop yields, reduce leaching of organic
and inorganic fertilizers, and some evidence exists that it can reduce soil emissions
of N2 O and CH4 (Joseph et al. 2007). If the condition remained optimum during the
process of biochar formation including temperature and oxygen, then almost >50%
of the C is retained by the biochar with respect to original biomass (Laird 2008).
Controlled charcoal production may permit sequestration of more carbon for longer
periods (Marie 2010). Application of oak biochar and bamboo biochar @ 0.5%
each can ameliorate the soil through increasing the content of organic carbon and
improving the soil aggregation. Each biochar has less lability but more accumulation
of organic C which could contribute to sequestration of carbon in the soil (Demisie
et al. 2014). Windeatt et al. 2014 studied the characteristics of biochar produced from
crop residues, the result shows that biochar carbon sequestration potential was 21.3%
to 32.5%. In an experiment, bagasse ash (BA), rice husk ash (RHA), and RHA mixed
with fly ash (FA) were applied to wheat to evaluate soil organic carbon (SOC) and
210 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

microbial activity in a loamy sand soil after four years of wheat-rice cropping. BA
application resulted in C accrual at 525 kg ha−1 y−1 in soil, whereas RHA and FA
did not have a significant effect (Benbi et al. 2017). Creamer et al. 2014 investigated
on the adsorption of CO2 by using biochar produced from sugarcane bagasse (SBG)
and hichory wood (HW). They concluded that the bagasse biochar produced at 600
°C showed the most adsorption of CO2 (73.55 mg g−1 at 25 °C). However, even
when the feedstock was exposed to only 300 °C pyrolysis, the biochar was still able
to capture more than 35 mg g−1 CO2 at 25 °C (Kameyama et al. 2010). Biochar
addition to soil has also been reported to alter soil microbial community structure,
and to both stimulate and retard the decomposition of native soil organic matter
(SOM) (Farrell et al. 2013). In Japan, biochar has been used for decades as a soil
fertility amendment (Marie 2010). In conclusion, biochar is resistive to microbial
attack and hence when applied to the soil will remain stable for thousands of years
and thus reduce the release of terrestrial C to the atmosphere in the form of CO2
(Lehmann 2007). The application of bagasse as a biomass in the field showed that
bagasse has the potential to sequester C at about 1200–1800 t C yr−1 (Kameyama
et al. 2010). It is reported that, biochar could remove up to 5.2 Pg C per year in 2050
and lower atmospheric CO2 in 2050 by 25 ppm.

9.3.13 Crop Rotation

The incorporation of different plants in a cycle often brings in a larger diversity and
the tolerance of certain carbon compounds to decomposition into the soil (West and
Marland 2002). Crop rotational variability has substantial impacts on the climate
change accumulation of soil carbon by enhancing the capacity of soil microbial
communities to rapidly absorb and preserve plant residues in aggregates (Tiemann
et al. (2015). Researchers found that more diverse crop rotations consistently have
higher soil carbon and soil microbial biomass than less diverse systems, especially
when cover crops were included in the rotation (McDaniel et al. 2014). In a study
conducted by (West and Post 2002) to quantify potential soil C sequestration rates
for different crops in response to decreasing production tillage intensity or enhancing
rotation complexity, and to estimate the duration of time over which sequestration
may occur, they concluded that enhancing rotation complexity can sequester an
average 20 ± 12 g C m−1 1 yr−1 . McConkeya et al. (2003) investigated to determine
carbon sequestration for different tillage systems in semiarid to sub-humid climates
and coarse to fine-soil texture in Saskatchewan, Canada. They found that crops rota-
tions without bare fallow have greater potential for sequestering soil organic carbon
in the humid than in the drier climate and cropped rotations can sequester 27–430 kg
C ha−1 per year more than crop rotation without bare fallow annually. A short-term
effect of tillage and crop rotations on carbon sequestration and aggregate stability
under sprinkler-irrigated crop production resulted that crop rotation with maize–oats
maize enhance soil organic carbon relative to the maize–wheat–maize and maize–
fallow–maize crop rotation and therefore cover crops, especially oats, have greater
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 211

influence on SOC accumulation and aggregate stability than tillage, irrespective of

soil type (Njaimwe et al. 2016). An experiment conducted by Witt et al. 2000, to
study the effects of soil aeration, N fertilizer, and crop residue management on crop
performance, soil N supply, organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content where two
annual double-crop systems were evaluated for two year period, i.e., maize–rice (M–
R) rotation where maize (Zea mays L.) was grown in aerated soil in the dry season
(DS) followed by rice (Oriza sativa L.) grown in flooded soil in the wet season (WS).
They found that there was 11–12% more C sequestration and 5–12% more N accumu-
lation in soils continuously cropped with rice than in the maize–rice rotation. A study
conducted by a group of scientists on a cropping system for 10 years by comparing
no-till and stubble mulch management on four dryland cropping systems: contin-
uous wheat (CW) (Triticum aestivum L.); continuous grain sorghum (CS) (Sorghum
bicolor [L.] Moench.); wheat/fallow/sorghum/fallow (WSF); and wheat/fallow (WF)
resulted that total SOC content in the surface 20 cm was increased 5.6 t C ha−1 in
the continuous wheat no-till treatment and 2.8 t C ha−1 in the continuous grain
Sorghum no-till treatment compared with the stubble mulch treatment (Potter et al.
1997). Gobin et al. 2013 constructed a crop rotation geo-database covering 10 years
of crop rotation in Flanders using the parcel registration (Integrated Administration
and Control System) to elicit the most common crop rotation on major soil types in
Flanders including crops like winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, potato, grain
maize, silage maize, and winter rapeseed; the catch crops (yellow mustard and Italian
ryegrass). They opined that a very large percentage of carbon sequestration is influ-
enced by crops cover dynamics and also stated that the total carbon sequestered
is largely contributed by crop residues of grain maize and winter wheat followed
by catch crops. From the various finding mentioned above, we conclude that the
addition of a plant range are easiest means that can incorporate number of carbon
compounds in the soil, thus enhancing the sequestration capacity of soil energy (West
and Marland 2002).

9.3.14 Intercropping

Intercropping is an important technique that can be pursued in the evolving envi-

ronment conditions with favorable outcomes (Layek et al. 2018). The intercropping
systems involve row intercropping, strip intercropping, mixed cleaning, and relay
intercropping that mainly rely on spatial distribution and cropping objectives with
characteristic carbon sequestration of different crops (Wang et al. 2010). To optimize
the efficiency of C sequestration in agriculture, cropping systems, such as crop rota-
tion, intercropping, cover cropping, etc., play a critical role by influencing optimal
yield, total increased C sequestered with biomass, and that remained in the soil (Wang
et al. 2010). Soil C sequestration potential of strip intercropping is similar in magni-
tude to that of currently recommended management practises to conserve organic
matter in soil (Cong et al. 2014). With the increased leaf cover in the intercropping
system, transpiration cools up the microclimate, reducing the soil temperature (Miao
212 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

et al. 2016). Observed that the ability of soil carbon sequestration for strip cross-
cropping is close in magnitude to the management practices currently recommended
for soil conservation in the field. Intercropping can contribute by increasing yield,
improving soil quality and soil sequestration to multiple agroecosystem services.
Intercropping increases aboveground and belowground crop productivity suggesting
potential for carbon sequestration (Cong et al. 2015). Intercropping system with
minimum soil tillage is effective in maintaining and sometimes increasing the levels
and stocks of soil organic carbon and some soil organic matter fractions such as
microbial C and humic substances and therefore, these systems can be alternative
form of sustainable soil management (Maia et al. 2019). Soil organic C content in the
top 20 cm is 4 ± 1% greater in intercrops than in sole crops, indicating a difference in
C sequestration rate between intercrop and sole crop systems of 184 ± 86 kg C ha−1
yr−1 (Cong et al. 2014). In wheat–maize intercropping system, carbon emission of
2400 kg C/ha during the growing season, about 7% less than monoculture maize, of
2580 kg C/ha was reported (Hu et al. 2015). Therefore, intercropping can contribute
to multiple agroecosystem services by increased yield, better soil quality, and soil C
sequestration (Cong et al. 2014).

9.3.15 Bamboo Plantation

Bamboo plantation having a potential growth period of between 120 and 150 days
completed can do a better job of carbon sequestration (Nath et al. 2015). Such nature
of vigorous growth producing high biomass (Nath et al. 2015) has made bamboo a
particularly attractive carbon sequestration plant and one hectare of bamboo plan-
tation could sequester 60 tons of CO2 /year (Anonymous 2014a). This biomass can
again generate chips and pellets and as the alternative of fuel; as a result, it can
sequester approximately 1.78 kg of C (Patel et al. 2017). An average of carbon storage
and sequestration rate in woody bamboos ranges from 30–121 Mg ha−1 and 6–
13 Mg ha−1 yr−1 , respectively (Nath et al. 2015). In India, Choudhury (2015) revealed
that with the increase in CO2 concentration from 380 ppm to 750 ppm the seedling
growth and other qualitative parameters showed better results in Bambusa tulda, B.
nutans, B. balcooa, and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii. In Central Japan (Latitude 35
° N), the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) including leaf turnover for
Phyllostachys bambusoides was recorded at 24.6 ton/ha/year in a 6-year-old bamboo
plantation (Isagi et al. 1993). Homegarden bamboos were important sinks of atmo-
spheric carbon due to their rapid growth and high productivity (Nath et al. 2008).
According to a study conducted by Tariyal et al. (2013), where the total carbon stock
and carbon sequestration capacity of the four main bamboo species of Uttarakhand
(Bambusa balcooa, Bambusa nutans, Bambusa vulgaris and Dendrocalamus strictus)
were analyzed, it was concluded that the highest total carbon stock was in Dendro-
calamus strictus (381.50 t ha−1 ) while the lowest stock was shown by Bambusa
vulgaris (160.11 t ha−1 ). Contrary to this, the maximum carbon sequestration poten-
tial was seen Bambusa balcooa (99.81 t ha−1 yr−1 ) whereas minimum was observed
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 213

in Bambusa vulgaris (57.77 t ha−1 yr−1 ). Contrarily to this, the overall capacity for
carbon sequestration was seen as Bambusa balcoa (99.81 t ha−1 yr−1 ) while Bambusa
vulgaris was the minimum (57.77 t ha−1 yr−1 ). Bamboo has also been shown to have
high carbon sequestration ability and to be an ideal substrate for carbon sequestration.
Bamboo sequestered carbon in continuously growing rhizome mats and phytoliths,
but in order to optimize total carbon sequestration, bamboo must be processed and
produced into durable products such as construction materials and buildings (Anony-
mous 2014a). The species Dendrocalamus hamiltonii sequestered the highest total
carbon (118.72 ton/ha) in India (Choudhury 2015). In conclusion, bamboo plantation
has a high carbon sequestration potential due to its rapid accumulation of biomass
and its efficient fixation of CO2 (Nath et al. 2015).

9.3.16 Topography

Topography influences soil nitrogen and carbon through erosion and redistribution
of soil materials through leaching, infiltration and runoff potentials (Senthilkumar
et al. 2009; Creed et al. 2002). However, the effects of topography on soil carbon are
likely to vary in magnitude under agricultural systems with different management
practices (Senthilkumar et al. 2009) and soil depth. Soil depth controls soil nitrogen
and carbon dynamics by bioturbation, placement of plant and animal residues on the
surface of the soil and/or incorporation of organic materials within the epipedon and
endopedon of soil. A report says that organic carbon and total nitrogen contents of
the soils were significantly affected by depth and slope position. In depth of 0–30 cm
had significantly increase in organic carbon and total nitrogen than the other soil
depths. At the valley sites, the average carbon sequestered at different topographic
sites ranged from 123.4 g Cm2 at the mid-slope to 569.84 g Cm2 . Soil carbon and
nitrogen sequestration reduced significantly with depth, at the summit and valley
position. However, at the mid-slope, the 0–30 and 90–120 cm depth sequestered
significantly increased carbon (Fissore et al. 2017; Garcia-Ruiz 2010; Lasanta et al.
2001; Kazi et al. 2018). Generally, from the reports, slope steepness shows to be a
productive tool to decipher patterns in soil carbon storage.

9.3.17 Semi-arid Lands

Planting trees in semiarid regions, precipitated in the unsaturated zone (USZ), has
the potential for increasing sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, inorganic
carbon storage (carbonate salts), by ~1 billion tons of atmospheric CO2 yr−1 (1 Pg
CO2 yr−1 ) (Moinester et al. 2016). Meena et al. (2019) selected two forest sites,
i.e., north ridge (NRF) and central ridge (CRF) to study the assessment of carbon
pools in a semiarid forest ecosystem of Delhi, India, at 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm
depth and resulted 90.51 Mg ha−1 biomass and 63.49 Mg C ha−1 carbon and they
214 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

suggested that the potential pools of carbon storage in these forests are plant biomass
and soils of semiarid forest. Mureva et al. (2018) stated that negative correlation
between changes in soil organic C stocks in the 0–100 cm soil layer and mean annual
precipitation (MAP) was seen. The most humid site (1500 mm MAP) had less C
in shrub-encroached sites while the drier sites (300–350 mm MAP) had more C
than their paired open grasslands. Hence, they suggested that soil organic C gains in
low precipitation areas, i.e., semiarid areas, with a threshold value between 750 and
900 mm. Tiessen et al. (1998) reviewed on the data of carbon and biomass budgets
under different land use in tropical savannas and some dry forest. For semiarid
tropic the global data showed a wide ranges of biomass carbon stocks (20–150 Mg
C/ha), net primary production (2–15 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 ), and litter production (2–
10 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 ). Dabasso et al. (2014) studied on carbon stock on semiarid
pastoral ecosystems of Northern Kenya. Considering the heterogeneity of semiarid
pastoral ecosystem of Northern Kenya, the samples were collected during wet and
dry season and from various landscape types. Across the landscape types and season,
they found an average carbon stock of 93.01 ± 15.72 tonnes/ha and they stated that
this measured amount of stored carbon is sufficient to have an important contribution
in controlling the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. By these different
findings, growing plants on semiarid lands has been suggested as a way to increase
carbon storage in soils (http://www.esa.org.).

9.3.18 Nutrient Management

Agricultural practices such as no or reduced tillage, increased crop intensity, crop

rotation (Christopher and Lal 2007), crops residue inputs, and N fertilization manage-
ment directly influenced organic matter and N in the soil tending to CS (Dolan et al.
2006). Nutrients management (especially N) to promote C sequestration from agri-
cultural residues (Christopher and Lal 2007) is an important practice as suggested by
many scientists (Van et al. 2006; Poeplau et al. 2017). Smart management practice
of nitrogen in soil increases formation of SOM or humus and biomass yield which
is limited by the availability of nitrogen (N) nutrient (Christopher and Lal 2007).
Intensive use of N fertilizers is vital to employ to achieve higher economic value
of high grain yields and is generally perceived to bring about CS and by increasing
the inputs of crop residues (Khan et al. 2007). In one experiment conducted under
controlled laboratory incubations, direct application of nutrients to crop residues is
effective in enhancing the formation of stable SOC through increased humification
efficiency (Moran et al. 2005; Kirkby et al. 2013). Report says that stocks of SOC
is increased across the 5 year period by 5.5 Mg C/ha over 0–160 cm in the soil
profile where supplementary nutrients were added, as compared with a decrease of
3.2 Mg/ha where wheat straw only was incorporated, with 90% of this loss (relative
to initial levels) being in the 0–10 cm layer (Kirkby et al. 2016). If we compared with
conventional technique, NT would greater organic C, N, and SOM at depths of 0–2.5,
2.5–7.5, 7.5–15, and 15–30 cm. Thus, increases in SOM were directly related to the
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 215

tillage practice and nutrients management (Havlin et al. 2005). It is also suggested that
application of fertilizer in leguminous phase in a crop rotation is not recommended
to increase SOC, as the leguminous phase can lead to less incorporated biomass C
into the soil organic matter pool than other crops, reducing subsequent SOC. It can
also contribute to higher soil N which promotes C mineralization and consequently
SOC loss. So, instead, the leguminous phase without fertilizer can increased crop
yields and SOC because of fixed N added to the soil (Godde et al. 2016). However,
this findings are contrary as reported by Hoyle et al. 2011), who described the inclu-
sion of green manure in fertilizers resulted positive impact on SOC. Apart from this
different reports, the most effective use of nitrogenic fertilizers is precision agri-
culture which improving fertilizer efficiency through using GPS tracking to reduce
nitrous oxide emissions and to find the possible ways to capture carbon (www.attra.
ncat.org/farm_energy/nitrogen.html).

9.3.19 Precision Farming

Precision agriculture is commonly characterized as a method of farm management

centered on knowledge and technology, which defines, evaluates, and manages
spatial and temporal variation in areas for optimum productive output and rentability,
sustainability, and land resource security through the minimization of production’s
costs. In wider view, weather heterogeneity, land charts, aerial photographs, field
camera location photographs and grid charts describing production, weather restric-
tions, and the background of pest have been used widely to classify land-like areas
with equal productivity. As finding by previous researcher which mentioned above,
conservation tillage techniques can decrease carbon emissions related to farming
operations, while precision agriculture technologies led to an optimization of the
exhaustible sources such as fossil fuels and fertilizers (Cillis et al. 2018). Eory and
Moran (2017) considered four mitigation measures connected with precision agri-
culture (improved timing of mineral nitrogen (N) application, improved timing of
organic N application, full allowance of manure N supply and avoiding N excess).
All of them showed considerable GHG abatement potential with “Improved timing
of mineral N application” reaching 0.3 tCO2 -eq/ha. In this, GPS tracking can be
used to reduce nitrous oxide emissions thereby improving fertilizer efficiency. Such
precise farming can eliminate the risk for NO3 pollution in soil and surface waters. In
agronomical point of view, fuel consumption can also be reduced (and the respective
GHGs) in the case of mechanical precision weeding, along with through the produc-
tion of the avoided pesticides, because the tractor pulling the weeding implement
will confront lower draught forces coming from soil tilling when the angle of the
harrow tines will be less aggressive than with the conventional tillers (Peteinatos et al.
2015). For certain situations, the application of these quantitative details decreases
the consumption of resources and pesticides and thereby increases the movement
216 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

of resources and emissions of greenhouse gases. Such activities also encourage the
sequestration of soil organic matter. In addition, the total plant/seed quantity used
in the field can be lower (less GHG emissions coming from the production of the
plant or the seed) or the same as in conventional seeding is possible when applying
variable rate planting/seedling (VRP/VRS). Nevertheless, an effect of VRP/VRS on
GHG emissions can be expected through the increased yield (Hörbe et al. 2013).
Balafoutis et al. (2017) studied on the potential of precision agriculture technolo-
gies (PATs) to mitigate greenhouse emissions by providing a short description of the
technology and the impacts that have been reported in literature on greenhouse gases
reduction and the associated impacts on farm productivity and economics. They
concluded that PA has several positive impacts on agricultural systems translated to
increased farm productivity and income and recently there is significant interest on
the possible GHG emission mitigation using PATs. All categories of PATs (guid-
ance, recording, and reacting) contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions due to
their interconnections and it is difficult to separate them according to importance.
The synergy between conservation tillage systems, especially NT, and PA strategies
represents a useful tool in terms of carbon emissions mitigation with a reduction of
56% of total CO2 as compared to CT (Cillis et al. 2018). By PA, irrigation system
enables in less fertile fields which can be transformed into agricultural croplands and
improves the ability of soil organic matter extracted by enhanced biomass growth.
Another perceptive of utilization of state of the art in understanding the processes
leading to SOC sequestration can be made using modern innovations such as nano-
enhanced products (e.g., nanofertilizers and nanopesticides) with a nano-based smart
delivery system (use of halloysite) to provide nutrients at the desired site, time and
rate to enhance productivity. Hydrogels and zeolites, the nanoporous materials, can
store water in the soil during the rainfall season and release it slowly during the
dry season, thus minimizing the adverse effects of environmental stress (Lal 2004).
Zhang et al. (2017) separated soil nanoparticles from acid red soil (Ferralic Cambisol)
including long term (26 years). They reported that the content of allophane which
is a natural nanoparticles under raw pig manure treatment (0.64 g kg−1 ) was much
higher than under unfertilized control (CK), chemical nitrogen, and phosphorus and
potassium fertilizers (NPK) treatments. This study may indicate long-term organic
manure amendment initializes positive feedback loop for further SOC sequestration.
Thus, precision agriculture (PA) is a special instrument for balancing agricultural
development and environmental needs. In conclusion, adopting various technologies
of precision agriculture like efficient use of crop residue, conservation agriculture,
integrated nutrient management, agroforestry, cover crop, use of organic and other
biosolids, etc., along with soil C will have marked influence on sustainable crop
production and impart climate resilience Qureshi et al. (2018). Hence, such smart
practice addresses both the economic and environmental problems affecting today’s
farming.
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 217

9.3.20 Watershed Management

Watershed security may be one of the key policy steps to mitigate danger of global
warming (Bernoux et al. 2011). The expected rise in average earth temperature
by 1.50–5.80 °C (IP Climate Change 2001) in the future would raise hydrolog-
ical shortage and volatility to ensure the crops production (Bernoux et al. 2011). To
cope this malady, watershed management helps to combine land and water policy,
to define and to prepare for contact with water, vegetation, animals, and human
land use within a watershed’s physical borders within the sense of climate change
(Rdrwa.ca. 2020). According to Bernoux et al. (2011) soil carbon sequestration if
integrated to watershed management may serve as a bridge in addressing the global
issues of climate change. They have also added that in order to tackle development
challenges successfully in the context of climate change, it is crucial to properly
consider the linkages among land-use change such as deforestation and conversion
among forest, grasslands and croplands; land resources management is soil, water,
vegetation and biodiversity management, and the vulnerability or resilience of local
livelihoods. It has proven effective to reduce deforestation on sloping fields, stabi-
lize habitats, provide clean water, maintain and somehow boost small-to-medium-
scale agricultural production systems (Menon 2007). Lashanizand and Siahmansour
(2016) conducted a research on determining the effects and potential of biolog-
ical operations of watershed management in carbon sequestration to modify climatic
changes at Iran. The results for the selected sited showed that with watershed manage-
ment biological operations enjoyed accurate and controlled management system and
have favorable carbon sequestration conditions (2025 kg per ha land area) than the
areas that lack any type of management (122 kg per ha land area). Such carbon trading
creates an opportunity for the regeneration of degraded lands and watersheds through
a variety of practices. Tree planting on degraded land that cannot sustain crop produc-
tion will contribute to carbon sequestration. It validates the synergistic relationship
of watershed, land and water management that should be deliberately promoted
in climate change and carbon market negotiations and cooperation (Bernoux et al.
2011). The control of sub-surface water contributes which offers a basis for system-
atic decision: evaluation of watershed quality and status; determining watershed
challenges; establishing and re-short- and long-priorities and initiatives and targets
(Rdrwa.ca. 2020). The downward cycle can be disrupted by sustainable cultivation
and management with a decrease in climate risk and an improvement in people’s will-
ingness to become adaptive and also contribute to climate change mitigation with
increased carbon sequestration and decreased greenhouse gas emissions. (Bernoux
et al. 2011). Lashanizand et al. (2012) reported that the Romeshgan flood distribu-
tion area with carbon sequestration as weigh as 78.4 tons per ha was a successful
project in terms of carbon sequestration with the efficient management as well as
biological and mechanical watershed operation. Such all few finding predicted that
watershed conservation and effective use of the soil and water are critical fields of
growth that pose several improvements in the cooperation capacity of food health,
climate change, and climate mitigation (Bernoux et al. 2011).
218 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

9.3.21 Organic Agriculture

Organic farming (OF) is believed to improve soil fertility by enhancing soil organic
matter (SOM) contents. An important co-benefit would be sequestration of carbon
from atmospheric CO2 showed that the positive organic farming effects on soil respi-
ration, soil organic carbon stocks, and soil organic carbon sequestration rates were
significant even in organic farms with low manure application rates. Higher organic
matter contents in soil can also boost soil microbial activities, which will benefit soil
conservation and plant growth found that soils under OF had significantly higher C
stocks, concentrations, and rates of C increase than those under conventional farming
(CF) and attributed these differences to the intrinsically higher C inputs in OF. In their
analysis OF receive, on average, much higher external (manure, slurry, compost) C
inputs (1.20 Mg C ha−1 y−1 ) than CF (0.29 Mg C ha−1 y−1 ). The global average
sequestration potential of organic croplands to be 0.9–2.4 Gt CO2 per year, which is
equivalent to an average sequestration potential of about 200–400 kg C per hectare
and year for all croplands. In addition to the soil carbon pool, organic agriculture
encourages agroforestry as well as the integration of landscape elements, leading to
a further carbon sequestration in plant biomass.

9.3.22 Zero Budget Natural Farming

Clean cultivation, together with zero expenditure, is part of the global agroecology
trend. When we compared the expenditure of zero budget natural farming with the
traditional high-cost farm chemical production method, it is a win-win solution.
Particularly, this is effective in addressing climate change risks. This type of Indian
farming focuses on regenerative measures. This natural ways uses the photosynthesis
forces in plants to lock the carbon cycle enhance soil quality, nutrient density, and
crop intensity. Thus, it is a comprehensive method of farming. In this type of farming,
we can cultivate natural resources and restore habitats for food, health, and healthy
livelihoods to remain regenerative. Hence, the costs will be lessened as the foreign
inputs will be removed and on-site tools are used to restore the soils biome. Moreover,
the farmer’s income will increase, restore ecological health, and tolerance of climate
is seen from using a diverse variety of multilayered crop systems. The farming
primarily focuses on soil microbiota, soil aeration, improved development of soil
and humus, and percolation. Also, the water is preserved and healthy yields can be
obtained in even severely affected areas of environment. It also eradicates chemical
fertilizers and pesticides, and further helps in reducing the ocean acidification and also
the marine pollution from land-based activities. There will be landscape restoration
and biodiversity loss prevention. The microbial content and water retention capacity
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 219

will be improved and the chemical fertilizers runoff into rivers and wetlands will be
reduced which result in ensuring water quality and availability at the time of extreme
weather conditions. It is also reported that carbon dioxide emitted is reduced from the
agriculture sector as the land having more than 202,500 ha and most of the 500,000
farmers are converting their lands to natural farming.

9.3.23 Biosequestration and Microalgae

Biological sequestration involves use of CO2 sequester; microalgae, because they

use carbon dioxide for synthesis of energy in the process called photosynthesis and
subsequently, reduce CO2 emission efficiently. In the service of carbon fixation, this
organism saves a lot of energy and also have high photosynthetic efficiency, algae
have active bicarbonate pumps and can concentrate bicarbonate in the cells. In the
process, the bicarbonate is dehydrated, either naturally or by carbonic anhydrase,
and the resulting CO2 is absorbed by Calvin cycle action, eventually in the form of
algal biomass. For every gram of algal biomass produced, between 1.6 and 2 grams
of CO2 can be captured. Biomass of this organism contains approximately 50% of
carbon by cell dry mass, therefore it is used for CO2 sequestration process. It is
reported that efficiency of microalgae using solar energy to fix carbon dioxide is 10–
50 times higher than that of other terrestrial plants. The efficiency of algae capture
of CO2 can differ depending on the state of algae physiology, pond chemistry, and
temperature. Carbon dioxide fixation efficiencies as high as 80–99% are attainable
under optimum conditions and with gas residence times as short as two seconds. And
also, CO2 fixation accompanied by microalgae photosynthesis results in production
of bioproducts such as pigments, sustainable biofuels, food, animal and aquacul-
ture feed products, and other value-added items such as cosmetics, nutraceuticals,
pharmaceuticals, biofertilizers, bioactive substances which are added benefit from
the microalgae mediated CO2 sequestration process (Yadav et al. 2017. Another big
service of microalgae is it can be fed with infamous waste gasses such as CO2 and
nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides from flue gas, inorganic and organic carbon, N, P
and other pollutants from agricultural lands, industrial and wastewater sources, so
as to give us the ability to turn them into bioenergy, useful goods and types that are
least harmful to the environment.
To illustrate few findings, CO2 fixation potential of microalgae at various CO2
partial pressures generated by CO2 generating buffer (KHCO3 /K2 CO3 ). In their
reports, Chlorella sp. can sequester CO2 at 28 ± 1.2%, while the specific growth
rate and carbon fixation rate were observed at 0.064 h−1 and 68.9 ± 1.91 mg L−1
220 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

h−1 , respectively S. obliquus SA1, strain tolerance to 13.8 ± 1.5% CO2 concentra-
tion and 40 °C temperature and it was found to be significantly lowered the inlet
CO2 concentration from 13.8 ± 1.5% to 0.5%. Chlorella vulgaris is fully effective
in extracting nitrates and phosphates from the waste water medium. The rate of
CO2 fixation (RCO2 ) by Chlorella vulgaris P12 cultivated photoautotrophically in
bubble column photobioreactors under different CO2 concentrations (ranging from 2
to 10%) and aeration rates (ranging from 0.1 to 0.7 vvm) showed that the maximum
RCO2 (2.22 g/L/d) was obtained by using 6.5% CO2 and 0.5 vvm after 7 days of
cultivation at 30 °C. Analysis of sequestrate CO2 by Spirulina platensis and Chlorella
vulgaris under various levels of salinity and CO2 revealed that the fastest growth rate
reached during the first 4 days and the higher concentration of biomass at CO2 from
0.03 to 10%, respectively. The final CO2 sequestration rate for Spirulina platensis and
Chlorella vulgaris was 0.49 and 0.152 g/L/d in natural water, respectively, while 0.419
and 0.097 g/L/d in artificial seawater were registered at 10% CO2 concentrations,
respectively. From the above few finding, we can assume that CO2 biomitigation
through these microalgae is considered as an eco-friendly and promising alternative
to the existing carbon sequestration methods.

9.3.24 Phytosequestration and Impact of Plant Genetic

Engineering on Phytosequestration

The photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) by land plant has
important role in global carbon (C) cycling (Tuskan and Walsh 2001; Lal 2004,
2008; Houghton 2007; Graber et al. 2008; Jansson et al. 2010). The enhancing
terrestrial C biosequestration includes improving photosynthetic incorporation of
atmospheric CO2 into plant biomass; increasing C shunting into cellular C pools
with low turnover, such as cell walls; and enhancing the allocation of C as recal-
citrant organic matter to deep roots for transfer to the SOC pool. The feasibility of
improving photosynthetic capacity by the genetic manipulation of the Calvin cycle
in the typical green microalgae Chlorella vulgaris and suggested a possible role for
aldolase over expression in promoting the regeneration of ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate
in the Calvin cycle and energy transfer in photosystems. In relevant to plant model
organism, using genetic methodologies in tobacco (Nicotinia gene), researchers have
modified photosynthesis and shown that genetically modified tobacco plants have
increased their growth by more than 40% and have gained about 25% more plant
biomass than unmodified plants. Some trials have succeeded; for example, Kromdijk
et al. (2016) optimized photoprotection recovery in tobacco leaves and increased dry
matter production by 15%. Carbon lost through photorespiration may be reduced
by the introduction of C4 photosynthetic pathway in C3 plant (Wang et al. 2017).
C3 crops engineered with reduced photorespiration could theoretically increase the
photosynthetic rate by 10–30% (Metting et al. 2001), resulting in a 6% yield increase
(Sinclair et al. 2004). Increased photosynthesis could lead to a 50% increase in
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 221

productivity (Long et al. 2006). Transgenic perennial cereals in agriculture could

increase the transfer of C to root biomass. Switchgrass was five times more efficient
in sequestering C in root biomass (at a rate of 1.1 Mg per ha per year) than corn
(0.2 Mg per ha per year; Lemus and Lal 2005). According to Lemus and Lal (2005),
the potential for soil C sequestration in bioenergy plantations alone is 1.6 GT per
year which can be increased to 2–3 GT with plantations of engineered trees endowed
with enhanced photosynthesis. If bioenergy crops are cultivated in 375 million ha of
land by 2050, sequestration may equal 0.8 GT per year. This amount could double
in genetically improved perennial grasses and SRWC with increased C partitioning
to roots. This reallocation of resources should be coupled with enhanced photosyn-
thesis in order to avoid lowering in biomass yield for energy purposes, as it may be
utilized for respiration, flowering, and seed set (Jansson et al. 2010). Cultivation of
transgenic plants having drought and salinity tolerance will raise net primary produc-
tion and bioenergy crops will offset fossil fuel emission. The combined effects may
enhance C sequestration in arid and semiarid ecosystems correspond to 2–3 Giga-
tonne of carbon per year (Jansson et al. 2010). Apart from holistic services of plants
kingdom, diverse metabolic capabilities, superior growth rates, and ability to store or
secrete energy-rich hydrocarbons are the relatively high photosynthetic conversion
efficiencies of algae communities. In order to reduce the unit cost of algal biomass,
significant advances in the development of genetic manipulation tools have recently
been achieved with microalgal model systems with higher photosynthetic capacity
and genetic engineering are being used to manipulate central carbon metabolism
in these organisms. Having found little achievement presented here, the applica-
tion of genetic engineering to improve energy production phenotypes in eukaryotic
microalgae is still in its infancy and such technology will provide an insight into
targeted genetic engineering toward algal trait improvement for CO2 biomitigation
uses.

9.4 Challenges, Way Forward and Conclusion

In terrestrial systems, the total C stock (i.e., organic and inorganic C) is estimated to
be around 3170 gigatons; in the soil is 2500 GT and 560 GT and 110 GT in plant
and microbial biomass, respectively, while in the oceans is 38,000 GT (Tuskan and
Walsh 2001; Lal 2004, 2008; Houghton 2007; Graber et al. 2008). The soil C pool,
which is 3.3 times the size of the atmospheric C pool of 760 GT, includes about 1550
GT of soil organic carbon (SOC) and 950 GT of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) (Lal
2004, 2008). Although carbon sequestration and reductions in greenhouse gas emis-
sions can occur through a variety of smart agricultural practices, perhaps, there are
numerous challenges while making these three pillars of climate smart agriculture
222 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

into reality. Durability is among the greatest liabilities of combating climate crises
through regenerative agriculture. While soil carbon sequestration can be permanent
in theory, however, it often is not. The reason being the carbon could be released back
to the atmosphere as easily as it is gained as a result of decomposition or mineraliza-
tion. Meanwhile, it is for this reason sequestered carbon is considered a short-term
alternative for carbon removal from the atmosphere. The losses of terrestrial carbons
are due to the disturbances, such as fire, wind-throw, drought or pests, and through
human activities like deforestation and changes in unplanned agricultural practices
leading to land degradation. According to many studies, the overall terrestrial C sink
is expected to weaken with global warming as the CO2 fertilizing effect loses out to
increased plant and soil respiration (Bonan 2008; Sokolov et al. 2008) but the extent
by which the C pools will decrease is unclear (Canadell et al. 2007). So, the annual
fluxes of C between the atmosphere and land is 123 GT, which represents the photo-
synthetic C uptake of the global terrestrial system or the gross primary productivity.
60 GT of GPP captured by plants returned immediately to atmosphere through plant
respiration (Jansson et al. 2010). The carbon benefits of no-till farming, for instance,
mostly evaporate when the farmer decides to till again, which happens on an esti-
mated 30% of no-till farms. In agroforestry systems which are effective carbon sinks,
however intensively controlled agroforestry operations in conjunction with annual
crops are like conventional agriculture, which does not lead to carbon sequestration
(Montagnini and Nair 2004). In semiarid climates, cover crops to a larger extent
may not likely to have these SOC benefits because of a lack of sufficient water for
crop growth during the fallow (Godde et al. 2016). So, growing plants on such semi-
arid lands has been suggested as a way to increase carbon storage in soils. But the
drawback is that the fossil fuel costs of irrigating these lands may exceed any net
gain in carbon sequestration. Additionally, in many semiarid regions surface and
groundwater contain high concentrations of dissolved calcium, and bicarbonate ions
which increase release of CO2 into the atmosphere (http://www.esa.org.). It is also
suggested that application of fertilizer in legume plants in a crop rotation phase is not
a smart way to increase SOC, as the leguminous phase can lead to less incorporated
biomass C into the soil organic matter pool than other crops, reducing subsequent
SOC. It can also contribute to higher soil nitrogen which promotes C mineralization
and consequently SOC loss. So, instead, the leguminous phase without fertilizer can
increased crop yields and SOC because of fixed nitrogen added to the soil (Godde
et al. 2016).
In addition to its challenges, the agricultural activities which are undertaken to
mitigate or offset GHG emissions can also intensify emissions and cause leakage.
Moreover, some of these agricultural practices can lessen crop yields leading to
the expansion of farmland elsewhere and converts valuable wildlife habitat to farm-
land and generates emissions, potentially nullifying the original carbon sequestration
benefits. In another instance, in order to increase soil carbon, sometimes cultivated
crop land is converted to permanent pasture lands. However, pasture is generally
used to feed livestock, which emit methane. If the pasture is retained and grazed,
leakage occurs more rapidly than ongoing sequestration. If the pasture is retained
and not grazed, the income generated from cropping is likely to surpass the benefits
9 The Climate Smart Agriculture for Carbon Capture and Carbon … 223

of sequestration. Also, it is known that agricultural soil carbon sequestration has a

serious measurement issue. Despite having the technologies capable of measuring
soil carbon in specific sites, the measurement can be difficult, laborious and expen-
sive which hinders the farmers to participate in carbon sequestration programs. Also,
changes within the range of 10% are very difficult to detect because of sampling
errors, small-scale variability, and uncertainties with measures and analysis. Even
if little gains or losses in soil carbon at various scales are detected, it is not simple
to link such changes to management or land-use practice in a given context. The
capacity of the soil to sequester and retain carbon is also limited as it reaches the
saturation point.
Besides, it is not easy to separate the portion of carbon sequestered in the soil as
result of management activities or land use from that of which occurred naturally.
All policies, grants or investments that fund or incentivize some action completely
determine that the action would not have taken place in the absence of policy imple-
mentation. The difficulty is compounded in terrestrial carbon sequestration projects
because the direct, human-induced changes in carbon stocks must be differentiated
from changes in carbon stocks driven by natural processes (e.g., biomass carbon stock
recovery after a fire) and indirectly by human actions (e.g., enhanced biomass carbon
stocks driven by CO2 fertilization or N deposition; increased soil carbon stocks driven
by shifts in species composition). Moreover, the necessity of addressing the chal-
lenge of climate change does not allow us to follow the traditional and sequential
research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) path, which might take as much
as thirty years for carbon capture and sequestration to become commercial. Thus,
having seen the challenges, risks and potential for perverse outcomes and high trans-
action costs, it is wise not to either uncritically support soil carbon sequestration
nor turn our backs on the massive potential that soil carbon sequestering manage-
ment practices might have on carbon levels in the atmosphere. Although there have
been advances in tackling most of these challenges, deliberate actions especially by
practitioners and policymakers alike are much needed to enhance carbon capture and
sequestration in the soil ecosystem. It should also be recalled that, once the policy has
been implemented, poor policy can be difficult to remove as it establishes a group of
beneficiaries with an incentive to continue and if the sequestration is employed as a
direct substitute for preventing or reducing emissions, soil carbon sequestration may
not be an efficient strategy to mitigate the climate change. In addition, demonstration
projects are required in large scale for testing and understanding the cost and perfor-
mance of carbon capture technologies and storage reservoirs and demonstration to
the public ensuring that carbon capture and sequestration is an effective and safe
carbon mitigation approach.
224 S. Senjam Jinus et al.

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Chapter 10
Quantification of the Soil Organic
Carbon and Major Nutrients Using
Geostatistical Approach for Lahaul
Valley, Cold Arid Region
of Trans-Himalaya

Praveen Kumar, Pardeep Kumar, Munish Sharma, Nagender Pal Butail,

and Arvind Kumar Shukla

10.1 Introduction

The quantification of soil organic carbon (SOC) is very important to understand the
processes of mineralization, erosion, and soil carbon sequestration under different
terrestrial ecosystems. The soil organic carbon is the property of soil aggregates
which comprises the “plant, animal tissues, and microbial biomass at various stages
of decomposition” (Lal 2018). However, the total content may vary with climatic
factors, addition of biomass, land use practices and erosion rate (Meersmans et al.
2010). In late 1850s, the measurement of SOC was primarily seen only as an indicator
for the soil fertility, but now, the focus of the scientific community has shifted with
a wide perspective to facilitate the soil and environmental decisions for sustainable
agriculture.
The soil is the largest sink or source for atmospheric carbon having long mean
residence time (MRT) that can mitigate the effect of global warming (Olson et al.
2014; Lal 2018). The sustainable land use practices and site-specific soil management
can bring a positive C-budget to partially mitigate the rise in atmospheric carbon (Lal
and Bruce 1999). The various studies demonstrate the role of soil organic carbon in
mitigating climate change and providing healthy food for attaining food security (Lal
2004a; Zhang et al. 2017; Chen et al. 2019; Nayak et al. 2019). So, there are many
perspectives for studying soil organic carbon and its fraction in different terrestrial

P. Kumar · P. Kumar (B) · M. Sharma · N. P. Butail

Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur 176062, Himachal Pradesh, India
A. K. Shukla
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
462038, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 235
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_10
236 P. Kumar et al.

ecosystem. In this context, several international treaties (i.e., Kyoto protocol) also
strengthen the requirement of soil organic carbon status for maintaining healthy
carbon budgeting. The organic carbon present in the soil provides a major input for
calculating the organic carbon stock as well as net carbon flux (West and Marland
2002; Schrumpf et al. 2011; Mohamad et al. 2016). So, the mapping of soil organic
carbon in various terrestrial ecosystems is important to generate the baseline of carbon
pools for analyzing the balance of agro-ecosystems in the global carbon cycling.
The agricultural practices including change in land use, agricultural activities, i.e.,
pruning, harvesting, fertilization, tillage, etc., and soil management practices can
significantly alter the organic matter in soil. Beside, some statistical uncertainties
in the agricultural practices, change in land use pattern, and land cover contribute
approximately 20 percent of the global carbon emissions (IPCC 2001; Mohamad et al.
2016). The organic carbon content in soil is also controlled by several other factors;
including climate, hydrology, parent rock, vegetation association, and anthropogenic
activities viz. biomass burning, changes in land use pattern, deforestation, and level
of pollution. So there are many factors; including natural as well anthropogenic,
which can influence the organic carbon content in the soil. The previous studies in
different regions of the world also mark the considerable changes of SOC content
with depth, land use, nutrient reserve, mineralogy, and landscape (Lorenz and Lal
2005; Barre et al. 2017; Yang et al. 2018). A wide physiographical variation was
noticed in the soil organic carbon content of the Indian soils under different land use
system (Gupta and Rao 1994; Bhattacharyya et al. 2000; Paul et al. 2018).
The soil organic carbon is considered as an indicator of soil degradation, health,
and productivity (Fageria 2012; Obalum et al. 2017). However, this is not a sole
indicator for all the soil types, as it requires a wide range of validation in different
agro-ecological contexts (Biancalani et al. 2012). The carbon sequestration in agricul-
ture provides a simple, cost-effective measure to capture carbon and an opportunity
to gain economic sustainability from diversifying incomes. As a consequence, the
scientific community has an increased interest in the evaluation of soil organic carbon
to delineate carbon pool sizes and fluxes for limiting the emissions of greenhouse
gases.
The cold arid region is ecologically fragile, facing threats from natural as well
human interventions due to change in land use pattern and soil degradation. The
study area is endowed with complex geobotanical landscapes, the arable land is
mainly filled with the sediments derived from the complex geological environment
(Kumar et al. 2018), and this may bring varied degree of carbon sequestration capa-
bility and nutrient availability in the soil. The marginal farmers residing in the area
require site specific farming inputs for the sustained intensification in hill agriculture.
However, the background information on SOC content and availability of the major
nutrients is sparsely distributed along the extreme regions of Trans-Himalaya, India.
There are few studies which provide the status of the soil variables in the cold desert
Himalaya (Sharma et al. 2006; Charan et al. 2013). Moreover, the status of soil nutri-
ents needs to be evaluated temporally for suggesting site-specific recommendations
to increase/sustain the crop yields. So, the present study was planned to delineate
SOC content and availability of the major nutrients in different agro-ecosystem of
10 Quantification of the Soil Organic Carbon and Major … 237

the Lahaul valley to provide insight for eco-environmental protection and sustainable
agriculture.

10.2 Materials and Methods

10.2.1 Study Area

The study area is the part of temperate region of Lahaul valley, Trans-Himalaya,
India. The area is characterized by xeric environment with sparse vegetation due
cold arid climatic conditions, scanty rainfall, and massive snowfall. This extreme
region is approachable through Rohtang Pass, Baralacha Pass, and Kunzum Pass,
while it remains cut off from the rest of the world during heavy snowfall (November
to March). A very few indigenous tree species, i.e., Salix spp., Juniperus spp., Betula
utilis, Hippophae salicifolia, Crataegus songarica, and Robinia pseudoacacia, are
dominant, which make the area ecologically vulnerable (Kumar et al. 2018). The
Lahaul valley is characterized by high hills, steep slopes, narrow valley subregions,
alpine rangelands, and rocky outcrops. The major rock type comprises greenish shale,
limestone, and quartzite (Gupta and Kumar 1975). The study area is located in the
complex geological environment, and our focus was confined to the evaluation of
soil organic carbon and major nutrients from the arable land of the Lahaul valley.

10.2.2 Soil Sampling and Analysis

The soil sampling was carried out in the month of October, 2019, before the start of the
snowfall in the valley subregion. At each sampling location, some preliminary steps
were followed, which includes gentle removal of plants and litter and other unwanted
materials from the surface. The soil samples were collected from the surface (0–
15 cm) and subsurface (15–30 cm) to delineate variations in SOC content and major
nutrients in the soil. The soil sampling was carried out by using the methodology
described in detail by Ohlinger (1996) and Barre et al. (2017). A clean handheld
auger was used for the soil sampling in the agricultural field, and a total of five soil
sub-samples were collected (one from the center and other from the four cardinal
directions). The collected samples were mixed together to make a composite sample
for surface as well as subsurface for the respective site. These samples were kept in
the airtight polythene bag for further processing and analysis.
In the laboratory, these samples were spread on the clean plastic tray, air dried for
a few days depending upon the moisture condition, and sieved through a 2 mm sieve.
Further, these samples were oven dried at 60 °C and packed in a clean plastic bottle for
analysis. A rapid titration method was used to measure the soil organic carbon (SOC)
238 P. Kumar et al.

Fig. 10.1 Location of the sampling sites on the basemap adapted from Google Earth with respect
to India

content (Walkley and Black 1934). The available nitrogen was analyzed using alka-
line permanganate (Subbiah and Asija 1956), phosphorus with bicarbonate extrac-
tion method (Olsen 1954), and potassium with neutral normal ammonium acetate
extraction methods (Black 1965) (Fig. 10.1).

10.2.3 Geostatistical Analysis

The geostatistical approach was applied along with descriptive statistics. The geosta-
tistical analysis deals with spatial data to estimate the value of the unsampled location
from the sampled one (Goovaerts 1997; Liu et al. 2008). There are a number of inter-
polation techniques to estimate the quantities that vary in space and represent the
outcomes of spatial analysis (Robinson and Metternicht 2006; Reza et al. 2015). The
ordinary Kriging (OK) technique is most common that provides reliable estimates to
calculate the weighted sums of the neighboring samples to check the spatial depen-
dence among the data point. The OK interpolation technique predicts the value of the
unsampled location (x0 ) by considering the Z (x0 ) as the line sum of the parameter
from measured sites (Wang 1999; Shit et al. 2016).


n
Z (x0 ) = λi̇ z(xi ) (10.1)
i=1

where Z (x0 ) represent the predicted value and Z (xi ) is the sample value of the
position x0 and xi , respectively. During interpolation, sites (n) were searched within
the neighborhood with weighting coefficient λi̇ .
10 Quantification of the Soil Organic Carbon and Major … 239

The normality and skewness were checked with the guidelines as described in
detail by Krig (1981). The semivariogram was generated to check the range of spatial
dependence in the dataset. The semivariogram analysis has also been used by many
researchers to check the degree of spatial dependence in soil variables as given in
Eq. 10.2 (Goovaerts 1997; Lark 2000; Behera et al. 2016).

1 
m(h)
γ (h) = [Z (X i + h) − Z (X i )]2 (10.2)
2m(h) i=1

where (h) describes the magnitude of lag distance with number of observation pair
m(h) separated by Z(Xi), Z(Xi + h) is the sample values at two points (Xi) and (Xi
+ h), respectively. A suitable model is fitted for the experimental variogram using
hit and trial approach and the variogram parameters (i.e., range, nugget and sill) for
the Kriging procedure. The various stationary models, i.e., exponential (Eq. 10.3),
Gaussian (Eq. 10.4), and spherical (Eq. 10.5) models were tested for the best fitted
with the experimental semivariogram using the equations (Burgess and Webster
1980; Tesfahunegn et al. 2011):
  
h
y(h) = c0 + c1 1 − exp − (10.3)
a
  2 
h
y(h) = c0 + c1 1 − exp − 2 (10.4)
a
 
3h h3
y(h) = c0 + c1 − 3 when h ≤ a
2a 2a
= c0 + c1 when h ≥ a (10.5)

In these equations, the C 0 represents the nugget, C 1 stand for the partial sill, and
‘a’ is the range. The nugget-to-sill ratio {i.e., C 0 /(C 0 + C 1 )} was used to describe
the spatial structure of the measured soil variables in the study area.

10.3 Results and Discussion

The descriptive statistics was applied to analyze the soil samples for different param-
eters. The value of the mean and the median are close representing non-appearance
of the outliers while calculating the central tendency. The surface samples showed
the soil organic carbon (SOC) varied from 6.15 to 23.7 g/kg with the mean value
15.26 g/kg (Table 10.1). In subsurface soil, the SOC content ranged between 5.7 and
30.9 g/kg with the mean value 13.58 g/kg. In general, the SOC content decreased
with depth for most of the subsurface soil samples. This may be due to erosional
processes, while the range toward the higherside (i.e., 30.9 g/kg) can be correlated
240 P. Kumar et al.

Table 10.1 Descriptive statistics of the studied soil variables from the Lahaul valley
Property Mean Minimum Maximum Standard deviation CV(%) Skewness Kurtosis
Surface (0–15 cm)
OC (g/kg) 15.26 6.15 23.7 4.84 31.70 0.09 −1.11
N (kg/ha) 272.80 243.8 342.58 28.80 10.56 1.01 0.42
P (kg/ha) 20.69 8.04 45.85 9.47 45.76 0.81 −0.12
K (kg/ha) 221.63 109.37 348.30 67.55 30.48 0.21 −1.11
Subsurface (15–30 cm)
OC (g/kg) 13.58 5.7 30.9 5.53 40.75 1.08 1.15
N (kg/ha) 217.21 140.68 293.34 35.65 16.41 0.23 1.07
P (kg/ha) 18.26 5.22 40.20 8.27 45.26 1.15 1.21
K (kg/ha) 194.65 81 393 68.28 35.08 0.59 0.31

with higher biomass in the deeper strata that may be due to addition of biomass or
the residual from the past forest cover in agroforestry system. The major nutrients
viz. nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) showed a range from 243.8 to
342.58 kg/ha, 8.04 to 45.85 kg/ha, and 109.37 to 348.30 kg/ha, respectively, in the
surface soil layer (Table 10.1).
The normality of the acquired data was tested with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov
(K–S) method and quantile-quantile (Q–Q) plot (Fig. 10.2a). The scatter plot for the
observed and predicted value is shown in Fig. 10.2b for the validation of the results
by semivariogram model (Fig. 10.3).
The exponential was the best-fitted model for the soil organic carbon determined
from the coefficient of determination (R2 ). The nugget-to-sill ratio <0.25, 0.25–0.75,
and >0.75 was related to strong, moderate, and weak correlation of the estimated
value. The weak-to-moderate spatial dependency can be correlated with the stochastic

Fig. 10.2 a Q–Q plot and b semivariogram model of soil organic carbon for the surface soil samples
with the observed and predicted values
10 Quantification of the Soil Organic Carbon and Major … 241

Fig. 10.3 Semivariogram and the fitted model of soil organic carbon for the surface soil samples

factors viz. fertilization, cropping system, and human intervention, while the strong
spatial dependency can be correlated with intrinsic factors, i.e., parent material and
soil formation factors as discussed by many researchers (Cambardella et al. 1994; Liu
et al. 2008; Vasu et al. 2017; Bhunia et al. 2018). The nugget-to-sill ratio (0.551) was
calculated, which shows the moderate spatial dependence from the semivariogram
analysis. Many researchers used the best fit criterion to sort out the appropriate
model from the interpolation techniques (Santra et al. 2008; Reza et al. 2015). The
similar approach was used to select appropriate interpolation technique from the
geostatistical analyst tool in GIS platform.
Figure 10.4 shows the spatial distribution map of SOC content prepared using OK
interpolation technique for the samples collected from the arable land of the Lahaul
valley. The map depicts that the SOC content varies significantly with the parent
rock. The higher concentration was noticed toward the Trans-Himalaya region and the
western part of the study area. However, the south-eastern part of the valley represents
the lowest concentration of the SOC content in soil. This variation may arise due
to different agricultural practices that influence the overall organic carbon content
in soil. Many researchers pointed out the positive influence of elevation gradient
for increasing SOC content due to higher vegetation and plant litter (Martin et al.
2014; Bian et al. 2020); however, in the present study, the results are contradictory
as the highest concentration of SOC content in green color (>18.4 g/kg) does not
correspond to the highest altitude of the study area (Fig. 10.4). This was possibly
due to influence of precipitation and temperature and ‘hump shaped’ plant diversity
pattern in mountainous region (Lal 2004b; Martin et al. 2014; Kumar et al. 2018).
The soil samples collected from the study area might have passed through similar
climatic oscillations, but the variation of parent rocks and sediment thicknesses might
had caused a significant variation in the calculated soil properties. The soil physio-
chemical properties and their variation with geological setup and parent rock have
already been discussed by many researchers for different regions of the world (Guo
and Gifford 2002; Heckman et al. 2009; Barre et al. 2017). This has also been noticed
from the present study which shows linkage of the soil organic carbon with the parent
rock material, geological setup, and land use.
242 P. Kumar et al.

Fig. 10.4 Spatial distribution map of soil organic carbon content in the Lahaul valley

The similar modeling approach was also tested with the major nutrients, where
the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation technique provides the better
representation of the spatial data. Figure 10.5 shows the spatial distribution map
from surface and subsurface soil samples for available nitrogen (N), phosphorus
(P), and potassium (K) in the study area. The mean value of the N showed the low
concentration, while considering the value of nitrogen <280 kg/ha as low (Table 10.1).
The spatial distribution map for P showed concentration varies from low to high in the
study area, while considering classes of phosphorus in low (<10 kg/ha), medium (11–
25 kg/ha), and high (>25 kg/ha) range. The K showed the mean value of 221.63 kg/ha
that come under the medium class considering the medium range between 118 and
280 kg/ha (Fig. 10.5).
The major nutrients are randomly distributed and vary with the site conditions
and farmer inputs. Considering the nitrogen range of <280 kg/ha in low class, the
10 Quantification of the Soil Organic Carbon and Major … 243

Fig. 10.5 Spatial distribution maps of the major nutrients in surface (0–15 cm) and subsurface
(15–30 cm) soil of the Lahaul valley

concentration of nitrogen was found within low range. As the soil organic carbon
content is considered as a direct index of nitrogen availability, but it does not hold
true under cold desert conditions. Our findings also authenticated the statement as
majority of the samples exhibited high carbon status, but nitrogen content was low
owing to low mineralization (Kumar et al. 2006).
244 P. Kumar et al.

10.4 Conclusion

The present study aimed to represent the spatial distribution of the soil organic
carbon (SOC) content and major nutrients in soils of the Lahaul valley, temperate
region of Trans-Himalaya, India. The geostatistical approach was applied to check
the spatial structure and dependency in the complex landscape. The semivariogram
analysis of the SOC content suggests the sampling distance required for capturing
the spatial heterogeneity, while the random distribution of major nutrients reveals
the influence of farming inputs and local site conditions, i.e., parent materials and
influence of geological setup. However, the variation arises from the sites conditions
and geological setup required further studies to clarify the influence on soil organic
carbon with the special sampling design as studying SOC and major nutrients along is
more challenging. The study further suggests that in Lahaul valley the efficient land
use practices can significantly improve sequestration potential of the atmospheric
carbon in the subsoil for environment protection.

Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to the Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV
Palampur, India and ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal for laboratory facilities. This
study was funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for financial assistance
through the project entitled “AICRP on micro and secondary nutrients and pollutant elements in
soils and plants” ICAR-048-15(V).

Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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 Part IV
Miscellaneous Techniques
Chapter 11
Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology
for Combating Climate Change

Meera Goswami, Gaurav Pant, Dalip K. Mansotra, Shivalika Sharma,

and P. C. Joshi

11.1 Introduction

Increased uses of resources with less use of manpower are linked with growth in
manufacturing of different commodities and also with industrial farming. The model
of linear economy, which is based on the manufacturing of goods and services, tells
that energy with different commodities production always leads to generation of
waste. However, circular economy approach has been recently replaced the linear
economy approach, because of its sustainable development approach. It promotes the
sustainable use of resources rather than wasting the resources. This approach is based
on the ‘close to nature’ model, in which the main motive is to minimize the waste, and
also this waste should be reused and recycled. On this circular economy approach, an
idea of circular bioregions has been derived in the Lodz declaration held in Poland.
This declaration gives an idea of bioregions, a sustainable renewable energy system
including biorefineries and distributed prosumer energy for reducing carbon dioxide
(CO2 ) emissions (Lodz Declaration of Bioregions 2016). Numerous problems asso-
ciated with underdeveloped nations and more importantly in industrially advanced
nations are declining water quality, overproduction of waste or overuse of artificial
fertilizers in the agricultural practices, so that CB concept and sustainable economic
development become most significant in these places (Jezierska-Thöle et al. 2016).
The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is exceeding due to growing overexploita-
tion of natural resources in terms of burning of non-renewable fuel sources, industrial
development and temporal changes in land use and land cover (LULC) (Raupauch
et al. 2007; Giri et al. 2018; Giri and Pant 2019a). The negative effects of human
induced variation in climate will be changed in the seasonal weather pattern and

M. Goswami (B) · G. Pant · D. K. Mansotra · S. Sharma · P. C. Joshi

Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar
249404, Uttarakhand, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 251
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_11
252 M. Goswami et al.

increased in sea water level (Solomon et al. 2009). So the above-mentioned concept
of circular bioregions is closely associated with production of Biochar and its various
applications with the aim to mitigate the impact of climate change by reducing the
CO2− emissions. The complete decomposition of biomass brought about by high
temperatures in the oxygen absence (pyrolysis) for producing carbon-rich concrete
material is called Biochar (Antal and Grønli 2003). Biomasses used in this process
are organic wastes, agricultural wastes, livestock dung, etc (Lehman et al. 2003). The
improvement in soil quality, enhancement in agricultural sustainability concomitant
and also reducing GHG emissions can be done through prompting Biochar appli-
cation in farming practices. Biochar applications become popular recently because
of its potential of carbon sequestration, betterment of physical condition of soil,
reducing soil compaction, increasing nutrient uptake from soil and help in reducing
NO2 emissions (Lehmann et al. 2005; Lehmann 2007). The broad difference in
ambient production of carbon and carbon consumption of other compartments’ is
attributed to the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 (9.5 Pg carbon per
annum) (Peters et al. 2013; Giri and Pant 2019b). Therefore, it is important to create
a substitute for the permanent accumulation of carbon which can be preserved for
a longer period in the atmosphere. In order to draw out carbon present in the atmo-
sphere and manufacturing of eco-friendly materials, biochar industrial manufacturing
recently became a major part of the manufacturing plan for clean bio-energy. In the
pyrolysis process of biomass, 50–80% of biomass is transformed into fuel compounds
and/or fumes which can be used for bio-energy manufacturing. The biochar is the
solid by-product converted from remaining 20–50% of the biomass that retains some
remaining unprocessed material properties, and it has necessarily the composition
of coal-type substances and polycondensed aromatic crystallites with scattered void
space and ash (Dutta 2014).
Biochar is considered as an important temporal sink for atmospheric CO2 due
to its slow decomposition property in the environment (Lehman and Joseph 2009;
Dutta 2014). Raw materials and parameters for pyrolysis give the information about
the individual properties of Biochar (Lehman and Joseph 2009; Liu et al. 2013; Sun
et al. 2014). Specifically designed biochar for specific applications can be created
by controlling these variables relating to particular environments, e.g., heavy metal
sorbents, or organic contaminants removal sorbent from water and factors improving
soil physical properties (McLaren 2012; Liu et al. 2013; Kobyłecki 2014; Mohan
et al. 2014; Nelissen et al. 2014). Composition of original biomass used in the pyrol-
ysis process and also residence time of feedstock and temperature in the pyrolysis
reaction chamber define the properties of the Biochar, and it offers some signifi-
cant environmental benefits. Biochar can achieve mitigation of GHG emission based
on land-based processes with some considerable advantages for farming practices
and power generation (Lehmann and Joseph 2009, Sohi et al. 2010). The products
like coal or biochar should also be incorporated to soil, where solid or ‘recalcitrant’
carbon persists for several years (Shackley et al. 2010; Maraseni 2010). Most of the
carbon present in biochar made up from the woody feedstock is much static and thus
does not decompose in CO2 as well as in atmospheric cycle, it remains locked out.
Comparing other applications of biomass, biochar systems have favorable carbon
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 253

balance as shown in different life cycle assessment studies (Lehmann and Joseph
2009; Roberts et al. 2010; Hammond et al. 2011).
It was estimated in a study that 1.8 Gt of CO2 concentration could be reduced
annually by the global deployment of sustainably produced biochar (Woolf et al.
2010). Heat and electricity can be provided by the burning of powerful gases and
vapors generated during production of biochar. The biochar provides several advan-
tages, when applied to the soil and can vary in their degree depending on the climate,
type of soil, ploughed crop and their management (Verheijen et al. 2010). The key
benefits of biochar are nutritional persistence growth and transfer capacity devel-
opment, raised pH, growth in capability for water retention and positive growth in
microbial population (Lehmann and Joseph 2009; Verheijen et al. 2010; Sohi et al.
2010).

11.2 Global Climate Change

Global warming is impacting and creating alarming situations in entire world and is
a major environmental issue. Several researchers have documented the impacts and
challenges of climate warming (Root et al. 2003; Alford et al. 2007; Peters et al.
2013). Global warming is drastically increasing in the consecutive last 3 decades
and has the temperature elevation of 0.78 °C as described in AR5 (5th Assessment
Report) of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. Recently, temperature has
been proposed to restrict to 1.5 °C to minimise the detrimental impacts of climate
change (IPCC 2013; Maibach et al. 2019). This warming effect is mainly due to
the emissions of GHG’s including CH4 , CO2 , oxides of nitrogen and other gaseous
emissions in atmosphere. The major contribution in the gaseous radiative forcing
(~60%) is of CO2 concentration in atmosphere. This radiative forcing is accountable
for impacts of change in climatic conditions induced by human activities. Its emission
levels increases from 1.1% (1990–1999) to greater than 3% (in 2000–2004). So
global climate change impacts play an important part in the increased concentration
of average concentration levels of CO2 in the globe varying from 280 to 380 ppm
since 1700–2005 and have shown maximum concentration of 405 ppm in 2017
mainly because of human-induced activities. It is especially very large proportion
in comparison to previous 800,000 years (Raupach et al. 2007; Dlugokencky et al.
2018). Major contributors of climate change are carbon emissions, among which the
dominant practice is biomass burning (Jacobson 2004; Jacobson 2014). The impact of
the by-products of biomass burning, i.e., CO, NOx , SOx , particulates, PAH and VOCs
are very acute (Andreae and Merlet 2001; Marlon et al. 2008; Chung et al. 2012;
Jacobson 2014). According to Kambo and Dutta (2015), net global warming has
been increased ~0.4 K due to biomass burning and some fearing results observed in
the 2 decades research which showed that 5–10% of global air pollution deaths cause
per year premature death of 2.5 lakh people. Certainly, the biomass can be useful for
minimizing warming effect by decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases, if the
organic biomass waste is reutilized in a proper manner from converting it into useful
254 M. Goswami et al.

energy instead of burning such as biochar. Biochar plays significant contribution in

controlling the distribution and movement of carbon and nitrogen which can thus have
an effect on the rise of soil organic content (Galvez et al. 2012; Zheng et al. 2013).
Biochar can take part in carbon biosequestration in soil because higher concentration
of stabilized organic carbon portion is desirable (Mohan et al. 2014). It becomes an
important tool to reduce greenhouse effect caused due to increasing emission of
CO2 as a reserve of quiet and slow mineralized carbon (Mohan et al. 2014). It can
always be expected that if Biochar is used in agricultural fields, it will induce a
lifelong accumulation of 0.428 Tera ton of carbon in this planet since the mean time
duration of residence for biochar disintegration is calculated to be approximately
thirteen hundred to four thousand years (Sunil and Ajay 2012). The concentration of
organic soil content and the concentration of mineralized supplements accessible to
plants could be raised owing to a limited volume of even more unstable proportion of
Biochar will be decayed more rapidly (Sunil and Ajay 2012). Except the fields, where
combinations of biochar—livestock dung were applied, the carbon concentration of
the soil is steady and approximately equivalent to the volume of biochar incorporated.
Biochar has gained considerable attention as a result of its application in minimizing
the global warming effects from the last few decades that provide advantages of
recycling of organic waste and thereby promoting to obtain the goal of food safety
by improving soil properties.

11.3 Production of Biochar and Properties

11.3.1 Production from Biomass Waste

Biomass waste is a biological substance/debris generated by living organisms or

mixtures of biotic or abiotic materials of various origins (e.g., water-based vegeta-
tion, woodland waste, agricultural waste) including all life forms (fauna and flora)
and waste (sewage, forest residues, etc.) (Kumar et al. 2015; Tripathi et al. 2016).
There are 104.9 petagrams per year carbon generation of biomass production around
the world, and classification of biomass can be done based on the source and its
composition of waste and different feedstock biochars have various applications
for GHG reduction as mentioned in Table 11.1. Several researchers explored the
different biomass types and their characteristics (Field et al. 1998; Murali et al.
2007; Woolf et al. 2010; Kumar et al. 2015; Brosowski et al. 2016). On the basis of
their source, agricultural residues can be classified as principal (yield and field based)
and supplementary residues (formed in production). Woolf et al. (2010) projected
global biomass waste feedstock availability, and the results described that estimated
feasible technological capacity of biomass is 2.27 petagrams carbon/annum, in which
0.62 petagrams carbon/annum was wastes derived from agroforestry, 0.60 petagrams
carbon per annum of waste generated from harvesting, 0.28 petagrams carbon/annum
from paddy fields, 0.19 petagrams carbon per annum from livestock residues, 0.18
Table 11.1 Applications of various types of biochar for GHG reduction
Biochar feedstock Biochar application CO2 emission CH4 emission N2 O emission References
conditions (soil type,
rate and time)
Bamboo Paddy soil, 2.50%, No difference Reduced by 51.1% – Liu et al. 2011
49 days
Corn stalk Paddy inceptisol, 24 t – Reduced by 63% – Feng et al. 2012
ha−1 , 116 days
Food and garden waste compost reactor, Lowest (in 66% increased Reduced by 77% Ermolaev et al. 2019
20 days moisture content) (Moisture content =
43–59%)
Maize straw Vegetable field, 20 t – No difference Reduced by 77% Jia et al. 2012
ha−1 , 67 days
Mixed sawdust Cornfield, 20–60%, Reduced Reduced at biochar Reduced by 57–74%
100 days amendments ≥20%
Municipal biowaste char Grassland soil, 10%, – – Reduced by 89% Yanai et al. 2007
3 days
Pinus radiata Pasture soil, 30 t ha−1 , – – Reduced by 70% Taghizadeh-Toosi et al.
70 days 2011
Pinus ponderosa Lawson sandy loam, 3 years Reduced No difference Reduced Abagandura et al. 2019
and C. Lawson, Panicum
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate …

virgatum L., and Zea mays

L
Rice hulls Anthrosol, 25 t ha−1 , – Increased by Reduced by 16.7% Wang et al. 2019
5 months 0.5–37.5%
(continued)
255
Table 11.1 (continued)
256

Biochar feedstock Biochar application CO2 emission CH4 emission N2 O emission References
conditions (soil type,
rate and time)
Sewage sludge and wheat Polyvinyl chloride No difference Reduced by Reduced by Awasthi et al. 2017
straw (PVC) reactors, 12%, 92.85–95.34% 95.14–97.28%
56 days
Straw Paddy soil, 2.50%, No difference Reduced by 91.2% – Liu et al. 2011
49 days
Wheat straw Agricultural soil, 1%, Increased – Reduced Bruun et al. 2011
55 days
Wheat straw Rice paddy, 40 t ha−1 , – Increased by 34% Reduced by 40–51% Zhang et al. 2010
150 days
Wood and poultry manure Vertisol, 10 t ha−1 , Fluctuated – Reduced by 23–52% Singh et al. 2010
183 days
Wood and poultry manure Alfisol, 10 t ha−1 , Fluctuated – Reduced by 14–73% Singh et al. 2010
183 days
Wood Wheat soil, 60 t ha−1 , No difference No difference Reduced by 59–88% Castaldi et al. 2011
420 days
M. Goswami et al.
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 257

petagrams carbon per annum from food grain wastes, 0.14 petagrams carbon/annum
from forestry residues (44% of the discrepancy recorded deforestation), 0.14 peta-
grams carbon/annum from green waste, and 0.13 petagrams carbon per annum from
waste of sugarcane. Several literatures are available which showed the structure of the
biomass waste products for its proportion of fiber content. (Demirbas 2004; Kambo
and Dutta 2015; Puligundla et al. 2016).
The efficient methodology of carbon dioxide extraction in the atmosphere recently
existing is the growing step of biomass although carbon in the biomass is easily
released as greenhouse gases after its degradation by microorganisms. Organic
carbon content is converted into biochar, bio-oil and syngas carbon goods by pyrolysis
of biomass (Schmidt et al. 2019). Biomass conversion depends upon different vari-
ables, i.e., biomass feedstock quantity, source, humidity, scale of molecule, economic
situations and operating conditions. The lignocellulosic and non-lignocellulosic
biomasses both produced biochar. Other than this, it can also produce by biomass
feedstock like organic materials, i.e., wood and crop residues, animal manures, indus-
trial wastes (Lehmann 2007; Jones and Healey 2010; Sohi et al. 2010), agricultural
and forest residues, waste products from industries, municipal hazardous waste and
non-traditional products (papers and ossicle) (Inyang et al. 2016; Li and Jiang 2017).
A bibliometric analysis has been carried out globally for exploring extent of biochar
research by Ahmed et al. (2018) for 15 years’ time period from 2000 to 2015, and
the analysis showed the widely growing pattern in trend of biochar research and also
showed upcoming different pathways for potential research on biochar.
Farming wastes and food manufacturing remnants are important basic contents
used to produce biochar (harvesting waste, paddy husk, soybean stover, etc.) in
the developing countries like, India (Mankasingh et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013;
Parmar et al. 2014), which are also expanding in other areas. In the little or no oxygen
condition, Biochar, a carbonaceous material is produced by heating the biomass
waste in a completely barred vessel. There is much need of biochar manufacturing,
characteristics and its uses for the climate warming minimizing strategies. There are
three important techniques for biomass transformation, i.e., (i) mechanical extraction
(with esterification), (ii) thermo-chemical and (iii) biochemical/biological. Among
all three thermo-chemical conversion process is beneficial due to complete conversion
of lignin content, organic matter bonds breakdown using high temperature, time-
saving, etc. So for production of biochar, this process is mostly used (Lehmann and
Joseph 2009; Wang et al. 2016).
The various transformation methods in thermo-chemical transformation methods
include methods of low temperature, pyrolysis, gasification and combustion methods.
Equivalence ratios of the above processes differentiate them. The thermo-chemical
decomposition of biomass materials produces syngas, biochar and bio-oil (Tripathi
et al. 2016; Mohan et al. 2014). Solid substance ‘biochar’ is produced in low temper-
ature with longer residence time and ‘syngas’ produced in higher temperature,
although liquid bio-oil is produced in moderate temperature with shorter residence
time. There is no any remarkable life cycle-based emissions of GHG produced from
biochar production from biomass waste (Roberts et al. 2010). Biochar as a main
258 M. Goswami et al.

product and biofuel or bio-oil as coproduct can also be produced through pyrolysis
or gasification method by biomass residues. (Parmar et al. 2014).

11.3.2 Biochar Properties

The specifications of biochar include highly porous structure, carbon-rich, micro-

scale crystalline, particularly wide region, adsorption ability, macro-scale amorphous
structure and resistivity for biodecomposition. The biomass characteristics and pyrol-
ysis conditions define biochar chemical structure, which is an ultra-heterogeneous
substance (Spokas 2010; Kambo and Dutta 2015; Gul et al. 2015). The reaction
chamber structure, rate of flow of gas and treatment after pyrolysis describe its
properties (Brassard et al. 2016). Mainly consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
and nitrogen biochar also consisting of certain substances, i.e., calcium, sulfur and
potassium depends on characteristics of biomass (Novak et al. 2009; Jin et al. 2014;
Cha et al. 2016). For high biochar yield with its properties, it is important to select
appropriate pyrolysis technology (Brassard et al. 2017). Biochar developed from
Lignocellulosic biomass has a three-dimensional interconnected framework with a
close resemblance to its specific existing structure which leads to a large area and a
wide distribution of pores (macropores, mesopores and nanopores) (Huggins et al.
2014). Because of voids present, its expenditure and higher nutritional capacity to
cope up, biochar is potentially regarded as the best organic substances. It has good
biological and chemical durability, higher cation exchange capability and extremely
effective with good proportion of oxygen and carbon based on the conditions of pyrol-
ysis process (time of residence and ending temperature) (Lehmann 2007; Huggins
et al. 2014). Some benefits of biochar include improving soil characteristics, enlarge
carbon accumulation capability of soil and stabilize this stored organic carbon.
Different particle sizes of biochar affect different characteristics of soil (Wang et al.
2014; Ahmed and Raghavan 2018).

11.3.2.1 Temperature dependency

Temperature of pyrolysis and residence period for its adjacent and absolute biomass,
evaporative content, ashes and humidity concentrations clearly characterize the prop-
erties of the biochar. Several researches have studied the temperature effect on
the biochar properties and mostly, biochar carbon and nitrogen concentration were
suggested to increase, while with the rise in temperature, the decrease in oxygen
and hydrogen concentration was observed. The degradation of lignin, cellulose
and hemicellulose takes place in the temperature ranges of 300–400, 200–300 and
200–700 °C, respectively (Brassard et al. 2016). The safflower seed-based biochar
constituted at lower temperature has lower carbon content then biochar generated at
elevated temperatures. The biochar is more reactive, which is produced at elevated
temperatures in steam gasification by swift pyrolysis process than lower temperature
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 259

ones (Demirbas 2004). Al-Wabel et al. (2013) carried out a study on the impact of
temperature used in pyrolysis process upon biochar properties, and results suggested
that biochar production capability decreases with increasing temperatures. The high
concentration of aromatic carbon and void space presents low content of hydrogen
and oxygen functional groups, and therefore, reduced cations commutation capa-
bility are observed in the elevated-temperature-produced biochar (600–700 °C). On
the contrary, high concentration of functional groups of carbon–oxygen and carbon–
hydrogen and surface area leads to increased cations commutation capability and
reduced void space, which was observed in low-temperature-produced biochar (300–
400 °C) (Novak et al. 2009; Uchimiya et al. 2011; Ahmed et al. 2016; Li et al. 2018).
These types of characteristics of biochar are most appropriate in improving soil
physical properties.

11.3.2.2 Biochar’s Activation and Modification

The contribution of modifying and activating biochar in increasing the efficiency of

biochar and extending its uses is recently becoming important.

Activation The method of improving the sorption potential by extending particular

area is called biochar activation, and this phase can be achieved in two different
ways: First is one phase as direct activation, and second is two phases by activation
after combustion. Biochar can be activated biologically, physically and chemically.
The preservation of water and nutrients in soil is increased by biological activation
of biochar, and this process happens naturally and the time taken in this process can
be many years, but this time may be reduced after adding different organic wastes
(Ahmed et al. 2016). Several physical-activating or chemical-activating reagents are
used to carry out the physical and chemical activations. The main use of physical acti-
vation (also called as thermal or gas activation) of biomass is to increase its porosity.
Water, steam, CO2 , air/O2− , are commonly used activating agents (Hagemann et al.
2018). Porous structure, functional groups in biochar, and biochar adsorption capacity
can be changed by chemical activation of biochar (Jin et al. 2014), and the reagents
used for the chemical activation are Urea, KOH, H3 PO4 , NaOH, FeCl3 , H2 SO4 , HCl,
etc. There are some advantages and disadvantages of physical as well as chemical acti-
vation processes. With the low production yields, physical activation usually occurs
at elevated temperatures, although with higher production yields chemical activation
occurs with low temperatures. Physical activation depends on the activating agents
used. Some disadvantages, such as corrosion problems due to chemical activation,
depend on acid or base character of involved chemically activating operators. Type of
biomass, oxidizing agent, temperature and time period define the extent of physical
activation (Hagemann et al. 2018). A study results on improvement in soil amend-
ment by activating externally activated forest wood biochar through steam showed
that as compared to non-activated biochar, the physical activation of biochar helps to
increase the holding capacity of soil nutrients, their accessibility and absorption by
plants (Borchard et al. 2012). The used chemical, mixing intensity, temperature and
260 M. Goswami et al.

time duration define the extent of activation. A study on chemically induced munic-
ipal solid waste biochar for enhanced As (V) adsorption capability was performed
by Jin et al. (2014), using 2 molar solution of potassium hydroxide. It was suggested
that adsorption capacity is higher in chemically activated MSW biochar than the
inactive biochar. Sometimes, hazardous or unwanted by-products may be generated
in chemical activation of biochar, when the soil is exposed to chemicals (Borchard
et al. 2012).

Modification This modification process is used to increase the sorption capability

of particular sorbates. The biochar surface is usually introduced with the non-carbon
moieties during this process. It can be used as alternative or can be done after the
activation (Hagemann et al. 2018). Coating of metallic materials, plasma at a lower
temperature, oxidation of ozone and modifying carbon material are some recent
modifications methods of biochar. Oxidized functional groups may create with the
process of oxidative modification that can be done by hydrogen peroxide/nitric acid at
low temperatures, and sometimes ammonia/sulfur is also used. The impregnation or
covering of biochar surfaces with metallic oxide, clay minerals, carbonaceous forma-
tions, diverse organic molecules (chitosan) or amino acids or inoculating microor-
ganism generates blends based on biochar (Sizmur et al. 2017; Akgül et al. 2018).
Iron, magnesium, silver, zinc, etc. used for impregnation are common metal ions.
A study on the modification process in tea biochar has been conducted by Akgul
et al. (2018) applying metallic salt in pollutant removal, for example, PO43− and
Cd2+ . Other than improving adsorption capacity, metallic oxide of magnesium, iron,
manganese, aluminum are used in biochar metal impregnation. The biochar and
metallic impregnated blends that are strong and affordable materials are removed
phosphate and cadmium, in particular because of their more simplistic functional
groups instead of their porous structure. The much more beneficial composite is
magnesium-coated tea biochar among different metal impregnated biochar for Cd2+
and PO4 3− removal.

11.3.2.3 Dependence of Properties on Biochar Yield and Other

Variables

Maximum biochar can be generated in the biomass waste of high lignin content
(Collard and Blin 2014). Some other biomass characteristics that influence the high
biochar production include bigger particle dimensions of biomass, high concentration
of ashes and nitrogen. The pyrolysis process parameters that play a key role in better
productivity are heating temperature lower than 400 °C, low combustion rate, high
pressure and time of residence, and longer solid and vapour interfaces. Under same
pyrolysis conditions, Demirbas (2004) showed dissimilarity in olive bran and corn
cob particle dimensions leading to different biochar productivity. As compared to
corncob, olive husk produced maximum biochar yield because of the higher concen-
tration of lignin. Biochar yield is decreased due to increased heating rate by high
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 261

temperature and smaller particles. Raising the temperature affects other character-
istics similar to biochar yield are oxygen, hydrogen, sulphur, capability for water
absorption, cation commutation capability and functional groups of acids (Al-Wabel
et al. 2013; Agrafioti et al. 2013). Although favorable influence on increasing temper-
ature was observed on some parameters such as pH level, transmission of electricity,
ashes, C, P, K, Ca, Mg, functional groups of bases, nutrients present and durability
in heavy metals (Al-Wabel et al. 2013; Agrafioti et al. 2013). Lower nutrient reten-
tion capacity may be observed in high-pyrolysis-temperature biochar. High nutrient
content material is generated from the biochar that contains higher void space, higher
specific surface area, lower hydrogen/carbon ratio and low organic matter in a mate-
rial rich in ashes (Winsley 2007; Cha et al. 2016). It was also indicated that the cost
of biochar is lower than cost-effective activated carbon (Yoder et al. 2011).

11.4 Biochar: An Emerging Technology for Climate

Change Mitigation

Biochar system interactions with climate include various complex aspects like storing
the carbon in soil, emissions of GHG from the biochar sequence, variations in surface
albedo after biochar application to soil, etc. In order of GHG emissions, biochar
targets to capture and store recalcitrant form of carbon for mitigating the climate
change and to raise the carbon stock in soil through the collective consequence of
improved organic carbon (SOC) stability and biomass yield. Decomposition of these
biomass residues will avoid GHG emissions at the cost of potential losses of soil
organic carbon. Biochar is appealing significant consideration and exploration due
to its numerous practises and extensive application potential like carbon sequestering
potential, potential of reduction of N2 O and CH4 like GHGs.

Biochar for sequestration of Carbon Carbon sequestration is a process of

capturing and storage of carbon to inhibit it from being emitted into the environment
(Abbas et al. 2018). In order to decline the carbon emission from the environment, it is
necessary that the carbon is transported to the passive carbon pool (inert or stable form
of carbon). Therefore, biochar delivers a path from an active pool to the passive pool.
The photosynthesis requires annual uptake of CO2 by plants from the atmosphere and
is about eight times higher than GHG emissions from anthropogenic sources, so the
transfer of even small of carbon from atmosphere to plants, and to a biochar cycle,
would affect significantly on concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in the atmo-
sphere. Even 1% of diversion of net annual uptake of carbon by plants into biochar
applied soil can mitigate about 10% of carbon emissions from anthropogenic sources
(Palansooriya et al. 2019). According to an estimation, conversion of biomass would
lead to approximately 20% of captured total biomass of carbon (Agegnehu et al.
2017) and by 2030, about 1 billion tonnes of carbon will be sequestered per annum
(Woolf et al. 2010). So, it is a rationally conservative estimation of the potential of
262 M. Goswami et al.

biochar. The biochar phenomenon is an intervention to prevent the rapid decomposi-

tion of plant biomass for uncoupling of carbon cycle. This conversion of biomass into
biochar material by the thermochemical process is mainly the sequestered carbon of
stable biological and chemical form than the original carbon form (Powell and Lenton
2012), thus highly resilient to decay and also supports carbon-negative route in the
natural carbon cycle by slowing the reversal of CO2 from the geological sink, i.e., soil
to atmosphere and stocks carbon in a stable pool of soil carbon. The recalcitrant or
resistant nature of biochar for degradation up to chemical and biological level leads to
remain it in the soil for long period of time, which in turn increases carbon stocks and
shows a prospective approach to soil for modifying carbon in the terrestrial ecosys-
tems for the carbon sink. Biochar applications in soil include soil conditioning with
enhancing the cation-exchange capacity (CEC) providing soil nutrients, increasing
crop yield and neutralizing the soil pH (Glaser et al. 2002; Graber et al. 2010; Neill
et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2012). A reduction in emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse
gases (GHGs) such as methane (CH4 ) from soil is also reported (Karhu et al. 2011;
Mašek et al. 2013; Woolf 2010). Biochar also promotes the adsorption of ammonia
(NH3 ) and ammonium ions (NH4 ) on the surface of biochar (Taghizadeh-Toosi et al.
2011) and alters the processes like ammonification, nitrification, denitrification and
volatilization. Technical intervention of biochar has improved potential for adapta-
tion in the sectors like large agricultural and forestry industries that have production
of large extents of biomass as a waste feedstock.
Biochar: Reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions
Biochar has the ability to modify the structure and fertility of soils which increases the
carbon sequestration by photosynthesis from the atmosphere (Renner 2007). Thus,
the biochar can be applied as a sequester tool for excess carbon from atmosphere and
for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Herath et al. 2015; Woolf et al. 2010).
The carbon (C) cycle includes fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) by the
photosynthetic organisms (e.g., plants), its conversion into biomass and mixing with
soil with the decay of organisms. The mineralization and microbial respiration of the
biomass in soil result in the emissions of CO2 toward the atmosphere (Fig. 11.1).
The recalcitrant nature of biochar assures it to stable in soil for the long period of
time, thus reducing emissions of GHG. Products of pyrolysis like bio-oil and syngas
are burned as fuel and emit CO2 into the atmosphere that is utilized by plants and
finally changed into biomass again. The carbon cycle involved in biochar forma-
tion has some indirect GHG emissions sources as well. During the combustion of
pyrolysis gas, gases like CO2 , NOx , N2 O, SO2 , particulate matter and black carbon
are emitted mainly under the conversion processes performed under low-technology
environments and when it is not burned (Cornelissen et al. 2016). The composition of
pyrolysis exhausts is CO, CH4 and non-methane volatile organic carbon (NMVOC).
Potential GHGs like CH4 , N2 O and aerosol precursors like NOx , NH3 , CO and
NMVOC are climate forcers that disturb climate in diverse ways (Collins et al. 2013).
In the applied biochar conditions, the consumed GHG is more than the emitted GHG,
so the net negative GHG emission affects climate change in a positive way. Primary
contributors of GHGs emitted from agriculture fields are methane (CH4 ) and nitrous
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 263

Bioenergy with Biochar

Fossil fuels Bioenergy
to soil

Carbon dioxide (Atmosphere)

Combustion Combustion Pyrolysis

Carbon (Soil)

Carbon (Fossil) Biochar

Fig. 11.1 Net removal of carbon from atmosphere through biochar

oxide (N2 O). Methane is emitted by the process of methanogenesis through the soil
microorganisms under anaerobic condition and is about 20 times more potent than
CO2 for global warming (Noble et al. 2000). The concentration of released methane
is influenced by the physical and chemical characteristics of biochar, soil type, soil
microorganisms, soil water and fertilizer management in soil. The aeration in soil
from biochar involves the reduction in extent of anaerobic conditions that lead an
increase in sink capacity of CH4 (Verheijen et al. 2010). Nitrous oxide is released
through the process of nitrification and denitrification with the help of soil microor-
ganisms and is about 298 times more potent than CO2 in terms of global warming by
absorption of thermal radiation. The applied amount of biochar determines the vari-
ations on the reduction of N2 O concentration, i.e., higher application rate (20–60%)
involves about 74% reduction in N2 O, whereas with low application rates (2–10%),
there is no reduction in N2 O concentration (Spokas et al. 2009). The amount of
emitted N2 O depends greatly on presence of moisture in soil; approximately 8–23
times more N2 O is produced under the presence of high moisture content (Bruun
et al. 2011). Higher moisture percent (>70%) upholds the anaerobic conditions which
supports denitrification and the low moisture content (<50%). The reduction in N2 O
emissions is also associated with an increase in adsorption of nitrate (NO3 − ) on the
surface of biochar (Van Zwieten et al. 2010) and improvement in biochar applied soil
which affects nitrogen cycling processes and nitrogen transfer (Rondon et al. 2007;
DeLuca et al. 2006). Biochar also includes high carbon and nitrogen ratios (C/N)
so it assists to retain nitrogen and decrease ammonia volatilization as biochar acts
as a buffer by absorbing NH3 from soil (Iyobe et al. 2004) through the process of
biological immobilization of inorganic nitrogen (Lehmann et al. 2006). Assessment
264 M. Goswami et al.

of relative stability of different biochar is very helpful for developing strategy for the
practise of biochar as a tool for mitigating GHG emissions.

11.5 Stability of Biochar

Chemically, recalcitrant nature (McBeath and Smernik 2009) of biochar and its inter-
actions with soil minerals (Luo et al. 2011) causes biochar to be more stable than the
biomass and other indigenous organic matters of soil (Lehmann et al. 2006; Yousaf
et al. 2017). The organo-mineral interaction of biochar accelerates the formation
of micro-aggregates and results in accumulation and stabilization of root-derived
carbon in soil (Weng et al. 2017). So, biochar can be stabilized by chemical interac-
tions of organo-mineral fractions and minerals of soil, thus limiting its availability to
microorganisms and enzymes of soil (Lehmann et al. 2011). Generally, the stability
of biochar depends on its nature of resistance for oxidation (Lehmann et al. 2006),
which provides base for assessing its potential for sequestration of carbon. Modifi-
cations in biochar to soils have been considered as one of the approaching strategies
to stock carbon. Though biochar is not entirely inert and can be gradually mineral-
ized (converted to CO2 ) through biotic and abiotic processes (Hilscher et al. 2009).
Generally, biochar holds numerous types of organic compounds, high-molecular-
weight aliphatic and large portion of insoluble aromatic chemicals (Lin et al. 2012)
that mineralize by different rate; soluble, low-molecular-weighted organics, labile
or volatile constituents of biochar mineralize faster than aliphatic and aromatic
chemicals (Hilscher and Knicker 2011; Cross and Sohi 2011). These proportions
of chemicals in biochar vary according to biomass feedstock, production condi-
tions and temperatures during pyrolysis (Nguyen et al. 2010) which are the main
cause of the resultant biochar to mineralize at different rates (Fang et al. 2015;
Nguyen, et al. 2010). Biochar formed in lower-temperature conditions mineral-
ized faster than biochar formed in higher temperature conditions, as it increases
the aromaticity (McBeath et al. 2011; Kaal et al. 2012; Zimmermann et al. 2012)
and intrinsic chemical resistance against biological and chemical decompositions
in biochar (Zimmerman 2010; Singh et al. 2012). The mineralization of biochar
can also be improved by increasing the proportion of stable organic matter in the
soil. Stability of biochar depends on physical and chemical properties of biochar
which affects the biota of soil in direct (by consumption) and indirect way, and this
direct and indirect reactions are influenced by various dynamics like production of
biochar, conditions and application practices and interfaces with soil properties like
vegetation, soil organic matter and agriculture management practices. Biochar is of
recalcitrant nature so cannot be used as a food source for microbes (Lehmann 2007)
while the microbial assimilation, nitrogen uptake by plants or increase in plant respi-
ration have reported after the addition of biochar in soil (Kuzyakov et al. 2009).
Biochar acts like a hotspot for microbial progression (Lehmann et al. 2011) influ-
enced by several chemical and physical habitat effects and occurrence of reactive
surfaces and the induced changes in porosity, water holding capacity, pH, density
11 Biochar: A Carbon Negative Technology for Combating Climate … 265

and textile strength of soil (Lehmann et al. 2011; Zackrisson et al. 1996). Microbial
communities, predominantly fungi, govern the mineralization of fungi. Alterations
in micro-structures and macro-structures of biomass by the process of pyrolysis lead
to homogenized cell walls and loss of middle lamella of woods which causes an
increase in porosity of biochar with increased in internal surface area due to the loss
of water molecules by dihydroxylation. Porous nature (Warnock et al. 2007) and
sorption of organic compounds and ammonium due to the occurrence of functional
groups at the surface of biochar provide favorable habitat sites for microbes, as well
as sites against the predatory soil fauna (Thies and Rillig 2009). Other modifications
in soil which improves the soil habitat for microorganisms by the addition of biochar
includes the improvement in physical and chemical properties; rise in pH, organic
carbon, calcium content, water holding capacity and reduction in exchangeable Al
in soil (Van Zwieten et al. 2010). Degree of biochar mineralization is also influenced
by carbonate dissolution and chemisorption. Carbonate which is formed during the
pyrolysis and dissolved abiotically or by organic acids with the application of biochar
in the soil (Bruun et al. 2008; Jones et al. 2011) results in an increase in biochar respi-
ration rate in soil (Bruun et al. 2008; Zimmerman 2010; Zavalloni et al. 2012). The
abiotic chemisorption processes alter the respiration rates by amending biochar to the
soil. The reduction in respiration rates on the biochar surface is due to chemisorption
of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) (Thies and Rillig 2009), and it can be abiotically released
with the chemisorption of oxygen (O2 ) (Zimmerman 2010) to the biochar surface.
All these spectra of biochar characteristics are influencing the residence time and
mineralization potential of biochar in the soil.

11.6 Conclusion

Climate change is one of the challenging concerns of twenty-first century across the
world. Numerous combating strategies are required for solving this serious problem,
and biochar is one of such strategy which can act as a revolutionary tool in mitigating
the climate change through escaping potent greenhouse gases like CO2 , CH4 and N2 O
into the atmosphere and may be considered it as a geoengineering solution. Biochar
incorporated into soil traps carbon into soil by the process of carbon sequestration
reduces the production of methane gas from marshy soils like paddy fields and also
helps in sorption of N2 O. Besides these, it also modifies the physical, chemical and
biological characteristics of soil. Although its production and application do not need
too much expertise, a deep research has to be done so that it can be proved such a
unique tool for the mitigation of climate change.
266 M. Goswami et al.

11.7 Future Directions for Research and Development

Future research based on feasibility of biochar production, application, quantifica-

tion of impact and economics of using it can assist in evolving science and tech-
nology in agricultural and environmental science. Continued research should also
include determining the predictive relationship characteristics of biochar that can
be optimized for knowing the overall health status and fertility of soil status and to
eliminate the possible adverse impacts on soil and atmosphere. Pilot scale studies to
field scale studies should be planned by various research organizations. The funda-
mental context of biochar-based approaches is the climate change at global level.
Research needs to deliver answer about biochar applicability under diverse climatic
combinations, agriculture and energy production systems, on the basis of funda-
mental, mechanistic understanding of providing functional characteristics, and its
interactions with further living and non-living constituents of soil. As interest in use
of biochar rapidly rises, studies on biochar induced dust emissions, its eco-toxicity
and impact on human health should be addressed. Areas for future research include
the strategies to reduce potential harm during biochar production and incorporation
it into soil.

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Chapter 12
Carbon Sequestration Potential
of Different Land Use Sectors of Western
Himalaya

Deepa Rawat, S. P. Sati, Vinod Prasad Khanduri, Manoj Riyal,

and Gaurav Mishra

12.1 Introduction

Increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and its potential to change the global climate
is one of the major issues of global concern today. Unrestrained anthropogenic activ-
ities such as land use change and forest fires have been momentous for increasing
the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration leading to enhanced emission and
resulting in climate change (Upadhyay et al. 2005). According to the Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon emissions need to be limited by at
least 49% of 2017 levels by 2030 with the help of major reductions in greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, to limit the global warming to 1.5 °C over pre-industrial
levels (Tollefso 2018). The main purpose of any carbon sequestration approach is to
augment the carbon stocks in the vegetation in case of tree systems, to preserve it for
longer time, to increase the soil organic carbon (SOC), to ensure depth-wise distribu-
tion of SOC and to stabilize the SOC within stable micro-aggregates so that carbon is
protected from microbial processes for loss through decomposition of organic matter.
Implementation of suitable land use coupled with best management practices is key
factors for such a strategy. Different pools have been identified for carbon sequestra-
tion, viz. above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, soil carbon, dead organic
matter and litter. Carbon sequestration is related to the biological productivity which
in turn is dependent on the interaction between species, climate, topography and
management practices. The carbon sequestration potential varies from place to place,

D. Rawat · S. P. Sati · Vinod Prasad Khanduri · M. Riyal

College of Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal 249199, Uttarakhand, India
VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, India
G. Mishra (B)
Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat 785010, Assam, India
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 273
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_12
274 D. Rawat et al.

Map 12.1 Location map of western Himalaya (Kripalani et al. 2003)

which need to be worked out on the basis of region and ecological zones. In general,
the archetype excepted by scientific community over decades is that the photosyn-
thetic uptake can be stimulated both by increasing CO2 levels and in temperate
regions, by increasing the temperature. However, the effect of both these factors is
likely to saturate at their high levels (Kirschbaum 2006). Moreover, the biological
processes associated with respiration are expected to respond exponentially to the
temperature but are not influenced by the CO2 concentration (Friedlingstein et al.
2006). Thus, the biosphere may provide negative feedback in response to increasing
CO2 and temperature until the temperature is increased to the levels when stimulating
impact on respiration exceeds the CO2 fertilization effect (Davidson and Janssens
2006). The Himalayan region contributes substantially to the country-level carbon
budget (Singh 2007). In view of the aforementioned relationship between carbon
sequestration and these climatic factors, viz. CO2 concentration and temperature,
there appears to be a high potential for enhancing the carbon sequestration in the
vegetation and soils of the Himalayan region through improved management of land
uses as compared to the warm regions of the country.

12.2 Carbon Sequestration and Land Uses in Western

Himalaya

Himalayan region is characterized by incredible ecological diversity. This diversity

is the consequence of varying altitude, slope, aspect of the mountains and intri-
cate glaciology and hydrology as well as the micro-climates. In western Himalayas
(Map 12.1) of India, vivid variation in altitude produces various patterns of vegetation
types that include alluvial grasslands, subtropical forests, conifer mountain forests
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 275

and alpine meadows which support its substantial prospects of carbon sequestra-
tion as compared to other widespread regions of the country which are generally
known for specific type of vegetation patterns. Moreover, low soil temperature in
western Himalaya allows greater storage of organic carbon in soil by reducing the
rate of decomposition. As per Davidson and Janssens (2006), soils with perma-
nently frozen layers having poor drainage and may bury organic matter in deep
soil layers through cryoturbation. Therefore, permafrost soils normally have higher
carbon densities together with wetlands and peat lands and can contribute toward
enormous stocks of carbon globally. They have great importance in the global carbon
cycle and potential feedbacks to climate change. Globally, the soil carbon stocks
which is associated with boreal forest is recorded ~70% of the ecosystem C stock,
~60% for temperate forests and equates to ~30% in tropical forests, respectively (Pan
et al. 2011). Therefore, the carbon stock estimation in different land use systems of
temperate western Himalayan zone seems to be essential for limiting global climatic
crisis. The biodiversity-rich western Himalayas include the Indian states of Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand where elevations vary from 300 m to
more than 6000 m (Table 12.1). Ecological studies have been conducted to evaluate C
stocks on the basis of C density of vegetation and soils (Olson et al. 1983; Saugier and
Roy 2001). The results of these studies are not uniform and have wide dissimilarities
and uncertainties owing to the spatial and temporal heterogeneity and adaptation of
different methodologies for assessment (Kishwan et al. 2009). Vegetation in terres-
trial ecosystem has been recognized as an effectual and non-expensive method of
offsetting carbon emission. However, in the undulated topography of Himalayan
region, the carbon sequestration potential also varies with the kind of land use which
is the socioeconomic response of human kind in order to exploit the natural resources
to meet their needs. As depicted in Table 12.1, besides forest cover, the major land
use system of western Himalaya includes agriculture, horticulture, agrisilviculture,
silvopastoral, agrihorticulture, agrihortisilviculture and grassland (Singh et al. 2018).
A considerable interest has been raised to increase the carbon sequestration capacity
of terrestrial vegetation through land use practices such as afforestation, reforestation
and natural regeneration of forests, grasslands, silvicultural and agroforestry systems
(Ghosh and Mahanta 2014; Chaturvedi et al. 2016).
The state-wise carbon stock in different carbon pools was reported by forest survey
of India in “India state of forest report 2017” (Fig. 12.1) which showed that among
the three states of western Himalaya, Uttarakhand had the highest total carbon stock
with 117.17 tonnes C stock per ha area followed by Jammu and Kashmir (118.72
tonnes/ha) and Himachal Pradesh (116.41 tonnes/ha). Among the carbon pools, soil
organic carbon is recorded as the major sink for carbon followed by above-ground
biomass (AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB) and litter and dead wood. According
to the IPCC (2000) report, C stocks in soil exceed C stocks in vegetation by a factor
of about 5, globally. The ratio in general ranges from 1:1 in tropical forests to 5:1
in boreal forests and by much superior factors in grasslands and wetlands. Most
of the land use activities in western Himalayan region and their effect on carbon
stock changes within the significant carbon pools are predominantly responsive to
specific climate and site conditions. The higher soil organic carbon pool in temperate
276 D. Rawat et al.

Table 12.1 Agro-ecological regions and major land uses in western Himalaya
Region Climate and Major land use Parts of the state covered
altitude (m, systems Jammu and Ladakh Himachal Uttarakhand
amsl) Kashmir Pradesh
Submontane Subtropical Horticulture, Jammu and – Una, Parts of Pauri
and low hills 200–800 agriculture, plains of Bilaspur, Garhwal,
agrihorticulture, Udhampur Hamirpur, Dehradun,
agroforestry, district parts of Almora and
silviculture Sirmaur, Pithoragarh
Kangra, districts
Solan and
Chamba
districts
Mid-hills Subhumid Horticulture, Doda, – Kangra Almora,
801–1800 agriculture, Udhampur, tehsil of Tehri
agrihorticulture, Rajauri Palampur Garhwal,
agroforestry, and Punch and Champawat,
silviculture district Shimla Bageshwar,
district, Chamoli,
Areas of Uttarkashi,
Mandi, Rudraprayag,
Kullu, Dehradun,
Solan, Pithoragarh,
Chamba Parts of
and Nainital,
Sirmaur Pauri
Garhwal,
Dehradun
High hills Temperate Agriculture, Srinagar, Parts of Shimla Pithoragarh,
1801–2200 horticulture, Budgam, Kargil district, Uttarkashi
agroforestry, Anantnag, parts of and some
silviculture, Pulwama, Kullu, parts of Tehri
pasture, Baramula Solan, and Chamoli
silvipasture and Chamba, Garhwal
Kupwara Mandi,
district Kangra
and
Sirmaur
district
Very high Temperate Silvipasture, Pahalgam Parts of Kinnaur, Parts of
hills dry > 2200 pasture, in Kargil Lahaul Uttarkashi,
agriculture Anantnag and Leh and Spiti, Pithoragarh
district Pangi and and Almora
Bharmour districts
tehsil of
Chamba
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 277

Fig. 12.1 State-wise carbon stock in different carbon pools as tonnes per ha (Forest Survey of India
2017)

zone as compared to the tropical and subtropical areas supports the aforementioned
fact. Thus, the sink selection for carbon emission mitigation in the western zone of
Himalaya is generally based on the assumption that this can be significantly increased
if various biomes are thoughtfully managed.

12.3 Carbon Sequestration in Forests

In terrestrial ecosystems, forests are the most productive entities owing to the biotic
components and sequester carbon in their tissues, which increase with growth and age
and so help in mitigation of different GHGs and climate change (Nabuurs et al. 2000).
The carbon cycle bonds forests to climate change as the carbon stored in forests plays
significant role in influencing the climate stabilization pathway. About 43–50% of
the dry biomass of trees consists of carbon (Malhi et al. 2002; Negi et al. 2003).
To cope up with the increased concentration of atmospheric CO2 , there is need to
increase the forest productivity (Mishra et al. 2017). Many components of the forest
ecosystems have been degraded owing to the urbanization and anthropogenic activ-
ities in Himalayas. Reduction of forest zones as a consequence of anthropogenic
and developmental activities is the major contributing factor attributing drastic alter-
ations in climate. Thus, better management of forest resources, in order to store
more carbon, is an appropriate approach to lessen greenhouse gases, which has been
accepted as an impending measure for climate change mitigation. The measurement
of tree biomass of a region to determine its carbon stock is very important. There are
two types of methods to assess tree biomass, viz. (i) destructive sampling (felling of
trees) considered as direct method (Brown et al. 1989) and (ii) applying allometric
278 D. Rawat et al.

Fig. 12.2 Different forest carbon pools (As per IPCC GPG)

equation by using tree mensuration data which is indirect method. Understanding

the capacity of carbon sink of a particular forest is important for forest manage-
ment (Malhi et al. 1999). The Himalayan zones, with dense forest vegetation, cover
nearly 19% of India and contain 33% of SOC reserves of the country (Bhattacharyya
et al. 2008). In western zone of the Himalaya, the vegetation ranges from tropical dry
deciduous forests of Sal (Shorea robusta) in the foothills to timberline. Oak (Quercus
leucotichophora) and pine (Pinus roxburghii) constitute the dominant forest ecosys-
tems in these areas (Ram et al. 2004) along with Pinus roxburgii, Cedrus deodara,
Lyonica ovalifolia, Pinus wallichiana, Pyrus pashia and Rhododendron arboretum
in mid-altitudes and Alnus nepalensis, Lyonia ovalifolia, Myrica esculenta, Quercus
glauca and Prunus cerasoides in the lower region (Semwal et al. 2008). Forests play
a critical role in reducing ambient CO2 levels, by sequestering atmospheric carbon
into the green and woody biomass through the process of photosynthesis and also
by increasing the soil organic carbon (SOC) content (Brown and Pearce 1994). The
carbon pool of a forest ecosystem changes with the age structure (Clark et al. 2004)
and forest type (Wei et al. 2013; Zhang et al. 2013). Carbon distribution pattern in
various ecosystem components fluctuates significantly among forest types due to
differences in canopy, vegetation cover, management history, micro-environment of
forest types, age of vegetation, slope and elevation. Chen et al. (2011) suggested
that tree species composition is important for carbon torage in regions of the same
climate range. Wei et al. (2013) observed that biomass accumulation increases with
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 279

stand age and forest type. The rates of biomass accumulation were found superior on
slopes of northern aspect as compared to the southern aspect (Pant and Tewari 2020).
Biomass and carbon studies in Himalayan ecosystem are demand exhaustive efforts
on account of different topographies and difficulties inaccessibilities. The major
carbon pools in forest ecosystem as described in Fig. 12.2 are plant biomass (above
and below grounds), coarse woody debris, and litter and soil (Sharma et al. 2016).
The maximum carbon storage in tree types can be arranged in the order of conifers ≥
deciduous ≥ evergreen ≥ bamboos (Negi et al. 2003). In most forest ecosystems, the
preponderance of stored carbon is below the ground as roots and decaying biomass
or as dead organic matter in soil. Various researchers from different areas of western
Himalaya have attempted to predict carbon sequestration potential of different forests
types depending upon the above-ground biomass and carbon stock density (Table
12.2). Sharma et al. (2010) conducted a study with the aim to access carbon stocks
and make recommendations for forest management based on priorities for biodiver-
sity protection and carbon sequestration in 20 major forest types in subtropical to
temperate zones (350 m asl–3100 m asl) with four forest stands in each forest type of
Garhwal Himalaya. The outcomes of this study suggested that most of the conifer-
dominated forest types had higher carbon storage capacity than broadleaf-dominated
forest types. Factors like species richness, density and altitude affect the total carbon
stock in a forest besides temperature, rainfall, topography, edaphic characters and
management practices implemented. Hence, it is most important to understand the
dynamics of carbon stocks in relation to the key factors for sustainable management
of forest carbon sinks. Many studies conducted in western Himalayan region (Table
12.2) have focused on how species richness, density and altitude are influencing on
forest carbon stocks and protecting the conifer-dominated stands, may have major
impact, per unit area, on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation (Plate 12.1).

12.4 Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture

and Agroforestry Land Use Systems

Himalayan hills have some specific attributes quite different from the plains such
as no approachability or difficult accessibility in certain areas of the region due to
complicated terrain and high altitudes. Agricultural activities contribute to a great
extent to the global net flux of CH4 , N2 O and CO2 from the terrestrial biosphere
into the atmosphere. The higher flux has resulted from the change and intensifica-
tion of land use for fulfilling the needs of the rapidly growing human population.
Increased biomass burning and soil cultivation, and increased number of livestock
have been considered as most important factor for the increased flux (Rawat et al.
2016). Apart from soil carbon sequestration in cultivated lands, the vegetation in
terrestrial ecosystem has been recognized as an effective and low-cost method of
offsetting carbon emission. Following the agreement of Kyoto Protocol in 1997,
policy-makers of many countries have been in conversation about policy measures
Table 12.2 Recent studies conducted in western Himalaya to understand the carbon sequestration potential of different land uses
280

S. No. References Study location Land uses Main results

1 Rajput et al. District—Kullu Agriculture, Biomass accumulation followed the trend: Forest > silvipasture >
(2016) Himachal Pradesh agrohorticulture, agrohorticulture > horticulture > agriculture and the rate of
horticulture, silvipasture C-sequestration was maximum in the agrohorticulture
2 Devi et al. District—Solan Plantation forests Total carbon sequestration was found in the decreasing order: Ulmus
(2013) Himachal Pradesh Villosa > Albizia procera > Quercus, > Pinus roxburghii > Alnus
nitida > Acacia catechu > Acacia mollissina > Eucalyptus
tereticornis
3 Goswami et al. Kwalkhad watershed Agroforestry systems: Different land use systems in terms of their C mitigation value
(2014) District—Solan Agrisilvihorticulture followed the order Agrihortisilvi > Silvipasture > Agrisilviculture >
Himachal Pradesh agrihortisilviculture, Agrihorticulture
Agrisilviculture,
agrihorticulture,
silvipasture, pure
agriculture, pure grassland
4 Yadav et al. Experimental farm, Agroforestry system: The carbon storage in pecan nut with crop was more than in pure
(2017) Almora, Vivekananda Tree—Carya illinoinensis cropping system alone
Institute of Hill (Pecan)
Agriculture, Crop: wheat and lentil
Uttarakhand
5 Adhikari et al. District-Nainital Mango-based Mango + wheat cropping pattern contains maximum biomass,
(2019) Uttarakhand agrihorticulture system carbon stock and mitigated more carbon di oxide as compared to
mango + black Soybean and sole cropping system
(continued)
D. Rawat et al.
Table 12.2 (continued)
S. No. References Study location Land uses Main results
6 Singh et al. Districts-Kangra, Agriculture, horticulture, Forest land use system had higher carbon stock (vegetation + litter
(2019) Hamirpur, Una, agrisilvicultural, + soil) among all land use systems, but agrihortisilviculture system
Bilaspur, Solan and silvopastoral, had higher carbon stock than agriculture and all other agroforestry
Sirmaur agrihorticulture, systems
Himachal Pradesh agrihortisilviculture, forest,
grassland
7 Krishan et al. Garhwal region, Six forest types: Pinus Belowground carbon stocks in Abies pindrow forests had maximum
(2017) Uttarakhand wallichiana, Quercus carbon assimilatory capacity, whereas Cedrus deodara forest has
leucotrichophora, Quercus minimum BGC stocks
floribunda, Quercus
semecarpifolia, Cedrus
deodara, Abies spectabilis
8 Verma and Kumaun region, Quercus leucotrichophora Carbon stock of banj oak was found maximum in 10–20 cm dbh size
Garkoti (2019) Uttarakhand Forest class followed by 20–30 cm dbh
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different …

9 Ajit et al. District—Kupwara, Agroforestry Existing agroforestry systems at farmers’ field in Kupwara district
(2017) Jammu and Kashmir were estimated to offset completely the GHG emissions from
agriculture/irrigation sector on account of electricity consumption
throughout the state of J&K
281
282 D. Rawat et al.

to decrease greenhouse gas emission from agriculture. The average soil carbon stock
in the soils of agricultural lands was 2.03 kg m–2 which was less as compared to
closed canopy forests, open forests and disturbed forests with average soil carbon
stock 3.39, 2.06 and 2.86 kg m–2 , respectively (Shaheen et al. 2017). The plowing,
overgrazing and soil degradation in agricultural soil may be attributed to the least
carbon content values representing negative impacts of these practices on soil carbon

Plate 12.1 Traditional land use systems in western Himalaya. a Dense coniferous forest in the
temperate zone. b A silvipasture system. c Traditional agroforestry land use. d Terrence farming
in the hills. e Cultivation of kiwi in horticulture farms. f Apple orchard at flowering stage in mid
Himalaya
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 283

Plate 12.1 (continued)

284 D. Rawat et al.

Plate 12.1 (continued)

sequestration under cultivated areas in comparison to the forests. These issues indi-
cate toward a need to develop sustainable and economically profitable agriculture
setup including forest trees, i.e., agroforestry system according to climate and alti-
tudinal gradient in order to fulfill the food demand of the growing population along
with improved carbon sequestration in the land use.
The existing agroforestry land use systems in western Himalayan region assist
to convene the diverse needs of food, fodder, fuel wood and timber along with
producing significant biomass. These agroforestry systems also contribute for a
significant contribution toward C stock by atmospheric CO2 sequestration. Due to
the government imposed ban on felling green/live trees in the entire Himalayan
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 285

region of India, agroforestry systems may prove to be a good source of earning

significant C credit to the farmers. Thus, sequestering C through agroforestry is now
thought out as a striking economic opportunity for mitigating global climate change
and C trading along with providing multiple products in the mountainous region
of western Himalayan states. Nair et al. (2009) suggested that the Kyoto Protocol
allowed developed countries with a GHG reduction commitment to invest in mitiga-
tion projects in the developing countries under the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM), and there is an attractive opportunity for main practitioners of agroforestry,
especially the resource poor farmers in the Himalayan region where small land hold-
ings are merely sufficient for subsistence farming. IPCC (2007) also pointed out in
its special report that the conversion of wasteland and grassland to agroforestry has
the best potential to store atmospheric CO2 other than direct benefits. Kumar et al.
(2012) studied six traditional agroforestry systems in the villages of Pauri Garhwal
district of Uttarakhand to estimate structure and carbon sequestration potential of
traditional agroforestry systems. They inferred that the average total carbon stock of
trees in traditional agroforestry system was 32.56 t /ha and soil organic carbon was
56.74 t/ha. In hill’s agroforestry systems, farmers usually fulfill their fodder and fuel
wood needs by lopping the trees. The requirements of small timber are also met by
harvesting occasionally a few trees at rotation of 30–40 years, and commercial felling
is generally not practiced. Therefore, criteria of no leakage under CDM projects are
met intrinsically in these agroforestry practices. Apart from using organic manures
and conservation agriculture practices in crop-based agriculture farming systems to
improve soil carbon stock, the carbon sequestration in traditional agroforestry system
can be improved by reducing the overexploitation of the resources from the trees by
lopping of branches frequently and its proper management. The overexploitation of
resources from traditional agroforestry trees lessens the input of biomass and litter
in the agroforestry system.

12.5 Carbon Sequestration

in Horticulture/Agrihorticulture System

Horticulture is comparatively a much recent land use change which has succeeded in
the western Himalayan states. A transformation from conventional food crop cultiva-
tion to agrihorticultural land uses did well largely because of economic inducements
and monetary benefits to the farmers which were ensured with the help of subsidy
provided by government and increasing demands in the market. The perennial fruit
crops are different from seasonal crops in their nutritional requirement due to their
plant size, density, root spread, growth pattern, phenomenon of bud differentiation
and their relationship with the yield during the bearing and offseason (Savita et al.
2016a, b; 2015). Agrihorticulture systems are the common land use systems, which
are persistent in Himalaya (Yadav et al. 2016). These systems are the amalgamation
of agriculture crops grown in the interspaces of fruit trees. The fruit-based system
286 D. Rawat et al.

consists of three main components, viz. main crop, filler crop and inter-crops which
occupy three different tiers in space of the production system (Patil and Kumar 2017).
In the present scenario, these systems are the backbone of food, nutritional and liveli-
hood security in hilly terrain of western Himalayan states. Although local farmers
do not follow standard spacing and orientation patterns for planting fruit trees but
randomly grown fruit trees in between the agricultural land serve the purpose to obtain
diversified outputs, these systems improved farm income and reduced risk. Along
with these benefits, studies in agrihorticulture systems in the western Himalayan
ecosystem revealed that combination of fruit trees with conventional crop has also
a substantial potential of C-sequestration as compared to the agricultural land use
(Table 12.2). Rajput and Bhardwaj (2016), observed the influence of five different
altitudes and existing agro-ecosystems on biomass and carbon sequestration poten-
tial in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. Five prevailing land uses, viz. agriculture,
agrohorticulture, horticulture, silvipasture and forest at four elevations representing
about 1 ° C temperature change, were taken for this study. It revealed that maximum
C-sequestration potential was displayed by agrohorticulture land use system situ-
ated at the altitudinal range of 2000–2300 m asl and minimum by agriculture land
use system at the altitudinal range of 1100–1400 m asl. The rate of C-sequestration
potential in fruit-based agrohorticulture land use was superior to all combinations of
forests, silvipasture systems. Agriculture crops are generally subjected to intensive
management practices which results into higher biomass production in the agriculture
land use, but the produce is harvested and removed from the fields annually leading
to the lower C-sequestration potential. On the other hand in fruit-based agrihorti-
culture/agroforestry systems, which are similarly subjected to rigorous management
practices, the biomass keeps on accumulating year after year in fruit trees for a longer
time, and only small amount of biomass, i.e., pruned wood and fruits, is removed
annually which results into their higher C-sequestration potential. The fruit-based
systems that are a common land use in many parts of the temperate ecosystem of
western Himalaya generally include the Malus domestica, Prunus armeniaca, Citrus
sinensis, Prunus domestica, Pyrus communis, Prunus persica, Juglans regia, etc. The
fruiting and flowering tendency of trees increases extraction of carbon from atmo-
sphere and stores significant amount of carbon as cellulose inside the plants (Patil
and Kumar 2017). Thus, considering the expansion of agriculture for sustainability
of growing population and shrinking forest area, the orchards may affirmatively
contribute to holistic development under climate change scenario in the temperate
environment of western Himalaya. Unlike forest tree species, the potential of horti-
culture tree species for carbon sequestration has not been explored, and the research
studies quantifying carbon sequestration potential of various fruit trees in western
region are still meager. Keeping in view the extensive contribution of horticulture in
the economy of western Himalayan region of India, viz. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Leh and Uttarakhand, there is need to identify and extend appropriate
propagation methods, management systems and suitable species to make the most
of carbon storage with better fruit productivity. More research investigations are
required to quantify CO2 sequestration capacity in different fruit trees of this area
including indigenous and less exploited beneficial wild fruit tree species.
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 287

12.6 Soil Carbon Sequestration Under Different Land Uses

The IPCC recognized the creation and strengthening of carbon sinks in the soil as
an apparent option for increasing removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and has
established the soil organic carbon pool as one of the five major ones for the land
use, land use change in forestry sector. Soil has long been considered as the major
organic carbon sink of terrestrial systems of the earth (Post et al. 1982), and soil
organic carbon is considered as an important characteristic of soil fertility as well as
the environment because of great carbon sequestration potential of soils. Lal (2004)
reported that the total soil carbon pool of 2300 Pg is three times the atmospheric
pool (770 Pg) and 3.8 times to that of vegetation pool (610 Pg). A reduction in
soil organic carbon pool by 1 Pg is equal to an atmospheric improvement of CO2
by 0.47 ppm. Soil can also be a source (CO2 , CH4 and N2 O) or sink (CO2 and
CH4 ) of greenhouse gases depending on land use and the adapted managements (Lal
1999). Growing anthropogenic disturbances of the Himalayan areas have proved
to be a major cause of soil degradation and depletion of carbon stocks. However,
the assessment of soil organic carbon is not the only criteria for evaluating C stock
in soil. Different soil organic carbon pools are important in influencing the CO2
loading into the atmosphere. Labile carbon is the fraction of soil organic carbon
with most speedy turnover times, and its oxidation makes the flux of CO2 between
soils and atmosphere. The labile organic matter fractions (active pool) generally
include microbial biomass C, particulate organic matter, readily mineralizable C,
easily extractable C and carbohydrates (Haynes 2005), whereas the non-labile pool
(passive pool) is more stable and recalcitrant fraction of soil organic carbon forming
organic-mineral complexes with soil mineral and gets decomposed gradually by
microbial activity (Wiesenberger et al. 2010). Thus, the labile soil organic carbon
pools are better indicators of soil quality (Vieira et al. 2007), while the non-labile soil
organic carbon pools add to the indication of total organic carbon stocks which will
remain in the soil for a longer time (Chan et al. 2001). The variation in soil organic
matter fractions as a function of land use alterations has been used for approximation
organic matter dynamics and to quantify carbon stocks (Galdos et al. 2009). The
impact of land use change in soil C dynamics is interpreted by carbon management
index (CMI) which integrates carbon pool index (CPI) and the lability index (LI)
(Assis et al. 2010). The lability index is further the ratio of the labile carbon to
the non-labile carbon. This quantification of soil organic carbon stocks helps for
finding suitable soil management so as to improve the productivity of all the land use
systems. Verma and Sharma (2007) conducted a study in the field experiments, 6–
32 years long which were located in the wet-temperate zone of northwest Himalayas
under different cropping systems, viz. maize–wheat, rice–wheat, soybean–wheat,
Guinea grass and Setaria grass. Based on CMI ≥ 100 as the criterion of system
sustainability (Blair et al. 1995), only the grass system was found to be sustainable.
The modification of soil properties due to land use changes more often depends on
vegetation types, microclimate, litter and root biomass and substrate availability; and
consequently contribute to soil organic carbon storage apart from other factors such
288 D. Rawat et al.

as soil pH and other nutrients which also influence CO2 production and emission
from soil (Rawat et al. 2016). Similarly the altitude, aspect and vegetation cover and
land use have noteworthy impact on soil organic carbon dynamics through organic
carbon inputs, decomposition and stabilization in the hilly terrains. The plant or
tree type has a significant effect on the vertical distribution of soil organic carbon
(Jobbagy and Jackson 2000).
Various studies conducted in the western Himalayan region (Table 12.3) for
assessing the carbon storage potential of soil under different land uses revealed
that the vegetation cover in these areas not only determines the amount and type of
organic carbon inputs but also their location of accumulation, as either aboveground
litter set down on the soil surface or in the subsoil layer. The high-altitude ecosys-
tems are reported to have in general higher root: shoot ratios than other ecosystems
(Yang et al. 2009). Because of these intricate environmental interrelationships, soil
organic carbon is extremely heterogeneous in mountainous areas owing to the local-
scale variability in soil environment and microclimate (Sidari et al. 2009). Rajput
et al. (2016) reported that forest land use system displayed the maximum value of
soil organic carbon stock followed by agrihorticulture, horticulture, agrisilviculture,
grassland and silvipasture land use system in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh.
However, the slope aspect controls the microclimatic factors such as soil temperature,
moisture, vegetation and microorganisms by affecting the solar radiation and evap-
otranspiration, and this also suggests a strong association of slope aspect with soil
organic carbon. While many studies have reported higher soil organic carbon content
(Sharma et al. 2010) on the north-facing slopes of the western Himalayas, Sidari et al.
(2008) reported lower soil organic carbon content on the northern aspect direction.
On the other hand, Han et al. (2010) did not find any significant difference in soil
organic carbon content between the north-facing and south-facing slopes. Along with
the available studies in relation to the influence of land uses on soil organic carbon
buildup under different climatic state of affairs on western Himalaya to abet public
policy decisions about land uses and their management for optimization of organic
carbon stock build up, the effect of plant/tree phenological stages, rainfall patterns or
seasonal variations on the short-term fluctuations in soil labile and recalcitrant carbon
fractions should also be given considerable attention to understand the short-range
gains and losses in significant components of soil organic carbon stock, i.e., labile
and non-labile pools of soil organic carbon to understand the detailed dynamics of
carbon flux in different land use systems.

12.7 Conclusion and Discussion

It can be concluded that the carbon studies in western region of Himalayan ecosystem
are fairly challenging owing to varying topography and difficulties in accessibilities.
Precise assessment of CO2 emissions or C storage capacity as a result of land use
changes and other anthropogenic activities are a few challenging issues for making
policies for better carbon sequestration. However, the widespread varying forest
Table 12.3 Recent studies conducted in western Himalaya to understand the carbon sequestration potential of soil in different land uses
S. No. References Study location Land uses Main results
1 Wani et al. (2014) South region of Kashmir Six forest strata: Cedrus deodara Soil organic carbon CO2 mitigation
(closed), Cedrus deodara density as t ha−1 was highest in
(open), Abies pindrow-Picea Abies pindrow-Picea smithiana
smithiana (closed), Abies (closed) and lowest in Cedrus
pindrow-Picea smithiana deodara (open)
(open), Pinus wallichiana (closed)
and Pinus wallichiana (open)
2 Chisanga et al. (2018) District—Kullu, Himachal Agriculture, horticulture, Maximum carbon density in
Pradesh agrihorticulture, 0–100 cm soil layer was recorded in
agrihortisilviculture, silvipasture and agrihorticulture system and
barren land minimum in the barren land
3 Dar and Sundarapandian (2015) District Pahalgam & Anantnag, Two forest types—Pinus wallichiana Greater SOC stock was recorded in
Jammu & Kashmir and Abies pindrow the Pinus wallichiana forest type
compared to Abies pindrow forest
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different …

type
4 Singh et al. (2011) Uttarakhand Forest, grassland, horticulture, SOC stocks were greater in natural
agriculture land use systems in four ecosystems like forests and pastures
climatic conditions (subtropical, than agriculture. Pattern of SOC
altitude: 500–1200 m; temperate stock build up across the altitude
1200–2000 m; lower alpine was: temperate > loweralpine >
2000–3000 m; upper alpine, upper alpine > subtropical
3000–3500 m)
(continued)
289
Table 12.3 (continued)
290

S. No. References Study location Land uses Main results

5 Sharma et al. (2014) Foothill Himalaya of Jammu & Agriculture, forest, horticulture and Agricultural and degraded lands had
Kashmir degraded lands up to 25% lower SOC stocks than
forest soils, indicating that
deforestation or conversion of forest
land to agricultural uses are
contributing to losses of up to
12.4 Mg ha− 1 SOC over time from
the top half a meter layer of soil
6 Kalambukattu et al. (2013) Kumaun region, Uttarakhand Four agriculture land uses: Organic Carbon management index CMI
farming, soybean, wheat, fodder followed the trend: Forest > Organic
crops, barren land and undisturbed farming > Soya bean > Wheat ≈
oak (Quercus incana) forest Fodder > Barren land
Labile carbon values under different
systems Followed the trend: forest >
organic farming > fodder ≈ soybean
> wheat > barren land
7 Gosain et al. (2015) District—Almora, Uttarakhand Forest: Oak (Quercus Oak forests resulted in significantly
leucotrichophora (Banj Oak), Pinus greater C stock (vegetation + litter
roxburghii (Chir Pine) + soil pool) than the pine forests. In
the oak forests, the soil holds almost
double C stock as compared to that
contained in above-ground
vegetation
D. Rawat et al.
12 Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different … 291

types play a vital role in carbon flux and act as carbon sink by storing large quantities
of carbon for a long period of time in the Himalayan zone. This storage of organic
matter in biomass offers a lag for complete carbon emission on account of respiration.
While increased sequestration of atmospheric carbon in the soil, as stable soil organic
matter pool, provides a long-term way out than standing biomass. In case of other
land uses, the combination of fruit trees or other multipurpose tree species has shown
the potential to store carbon and came out as feasible choice for mitigating carbon
dioxide along with sustaining the livelihood of marginal farmers of the area. Overall,
it can be said that tree-based systems should be promoted on agricultural lands for
mitigating climate change and earning income through various products and obtained
carbon credits.

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Dr. J.P Mehta, Assistant Professor—Botany, HNB
Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand (India), for providing the photographs of different land
uses in western Himalaya with consent for using in this chapter.

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 Part V
Value Addition Techniques
Chapter 13
Progresses in Bioenergy Generation
from CO2 : Mitigating the Climate
Change

Tanvi Sharma, Reva Bhardwaj, Rupali Bhardwaj, Anand Giri, Deepak Pant,
and Ashok Kumar Nadda

13.1 Introduction

These days, the interest in the clean energy generation has been quickly expanded as
a direct result of the monetary development around the world. To fulfill this devel-
oping need, a bounteous measure of non-renewable energy sources is required (Giri
et al. 2020; Leung et al. 2014). The depletion of non-renewable energy sources
is frequently considered as one of the dangers to nature in context of the carbon
dioxide (CO2 ) discharge. CO2 is primary green house gas (GHG), present on the land
surface, sea, and environment where animals, plants, and microorganisms, assimi-
lates and produces it every day (Kapoor et al. 2020; Spigarelli and Kawatra 2013).
Notwithstanding, the pattern of discharging and expending CO2 must be adjusted
essentially. To diminish the GHGs, CO2 sequestration and conversion capacity has
increased to a great extent. In any case, we must develop the techniques and measures
for capturing the CO2 as a feedstock. In this way, using CO2 and converting it
into synthetic substances, will be useful to mitigate the CO2 emission (Peters et al.
2009). During the recent years, the transformation of CO2 into value-added synthetic
compounds utilizing various methods are getting an incredible consideration from the
researchers as it results in reducing the harmful GHGs (Kumar et al. 2019; Sharma

Tanvi Sharma, Reva Bhardwaj and Rupali Bhardwaj have equal contribution to this manuscript.

T. Sharma · R. Bhardwaj · R. Bhardwaj · A. K. Nadda (B)

Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology,
Waknaghat, Solan 173234, India
A. Giri
Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Kangra 176206,
Himachal Pradesh, India
D. Pant
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh,
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh 176215 , India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 297
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_13
298 T. Sharma et al.

et al. 2020a, b). So, we need to find alternatives that uses the CO2 present in the atmo-
sphere and converts it into valuable products (Sharma and Kumar 2021). Methanol
is one of the important product that can be made from CO2 . Methanol does not emit
extra CO2 into the atmosphere, and it has high volumetric and gravimetric energy
density and is a very important fuel that is replacing the use of fossil fuels (Patterson
et al. 2019). Its prime benefit is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
It has the highest hydrogen to carbon ratio in comparison with any liquid fuel and
can be readily degraded in both aerobic and anaerobic environments. Methanol has
the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 65–95%. It is highly versatile in making
everyday products, and it is efficiently combustible, easily distributed, and widely
available, making it affordable to use. Out of the total energy consumption of the
world, 49% of it is met by fuels like gasoline, diesel, jetoils, etc. (Lewis and Nocera
2006). As compared to conventional fuels, its benefits are high as compared to gaso-
line and diesel. Recently, indeed, the various industries across the globe are using
methanol as a crude material for making various items. Methanol is utilized in the
production of solvents such as the acids. It can also be utilized in direct methanol
powered devices which are utilized for the transformation reactions in the industries
(Fig. 13.1). Methanol is viewed as the significant natural feedstocks that are utilized
in businesses with a yearly production of 65 million tons around the world (Dalena
et al. 2018). Various aspects of conversion of carbon dioxide to bioenergy based

Fig. 13.1 Description of the anthropogenic carbon cycle for the production of methanol
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 299

products such as methanol and fixation of CO2 using microbes and other biological
entities have been discussed in this chapter.

13.2 Conversion of CO2 into Methanol by Chemical

Methods

The methanol production from direct hydrogenation of CO2 is an attractive strategy,

as this process has several advantages such as it requires less energy for product
purification and fewer by-products formation. CO2 can be valorized through hydro-
genation, focusing on reverse water–gas shift reaction (RWGS), methanation, and
methanol production (Gutterød et al. 2020). In literature, various metal organic frame-
works have been reported for the CO2 capture, and they have great potential to convert
the atmospheric CO2 in heterogeneous catalytic system. The methanol synthesis from
CO2 hydrogenation and RWGS is a thermodynamically limited reaction, and equi-
librium conversion of CO2 decreases with increasing reaction temperature; therefore,
it needs a catalytic system (Kaisar and Sreedevi 2018). Methanol is also prepared by
the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide by reverse water–gas shift reaction. The catalyst
used is Ni/Al12 O19, and this process is largely used in an industrial scale (Samimi and
Rahimpour 2019). Lately, it has been observed that indium oxide is a highly selec-
tive catalyst in the thermal hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol, and hydrogenation
of CO2 to methanol is being carried out commercially using heterogeneous CuZnO
supported on Al2 O3 (Chun 2020). Methanol formed by carbon dioxide via catalytic
CO2 hydrogenation is efficient for storing energy and CO2 capture. Methanol thus
formed has a neutral carbon footprint and is a clean source of energy.
In the European Union, a pilot plant was built by the MefCO2 project that produces
500 tons of methanol per year (Bowker 2019). In Iceland, CRI has a commercial plant
that has 4000 metric tons per year of methanol production capacity. They utilize
this renewable methanol for bio-diesel production, automobiles, and the produc-
tion of synthetic material (Olah 2013). Nonetheless, the heterogeneous catalyst has
numerous focal points regarding partition, strength, taking care of, cost, and reusing
of the catalyst.

13.2.1 Heterogeneous Catalytic Method

Heterogeneous catalysts for conversion of CO2 to methanol are widely used for
the industrial purposes. It generally involves the rapid separation of fluid from the
solid catalyst, and the catalyst that is used can be again produced (Table 13.1). Among
heterogeneous catalysts, Cu/ZnO/ZrO2 have been mostly studied due to their high
selectivity and conversion rate. In this catalyst, ZnO increases the Cu dispersion and
300 T. Sharma et al.

Table 13.1 Various methods for conversion of CO2 into methanol

S. No. Methods Catalysts/Photocatalysts/Electrode Comments References
1 Heterogenous Cu High Zhong et al.
ZnO selectivity (2020)
ZrO2 and
conversion
rate
2 Homogenous Ru3 (CO) 12 Involves Kothandaraman
MO(CO)6 rapid et al. (2016)
Rh(CO)12 separation
CO2 (CO)8 of methanol
and
recycling of
catalyst.
3 Electrochemical Cu Cu is Albo et al.
Fe considered (2015)
Mo as a more
Pt promising
Hg electrode,
utilized in
conversion
of CO2 into
methanol
and other
value-added
products
4 Photochemical CdS/TiO2 Reduction Gondal et al.
Bi2 S3 /TiO2 of CO2 into (2013)
methanol
using visible
light

both ZnO and ZrO2 improve the stability and CO2 absorption capacity. The incorpo-
ration of metal oxides such as Ga2 O3 , Al2 O3 , MgO, SiO2 , and La2 O3 enhances the
activity and modifies the redox properties (Zhong et al. 2020). Various companies
such as Sinetix, HaldorTopsoe, and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical are producing a highly
stable catalyst for the production of methanol (Al-Saydeh and Zaidi 2018).

13.2.2 Homogenous Catalytic Method

Different types of homogeneous catalysts are also being used for the conversion
of CO2 into valuable compounds (Table 13.1). The catalysts for CO2 conversion
are available in the form of metal complexes, organic solvents, and ionic solvents
(Zarandi et al. 2019). Referring to different studies, it has been observed that some
basic heterocyclic organic compounds like pyrimidine elevate the CO2 reduction
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 301

reaction and its conversion as compared to other heterogeneous catalysts. Recently,

it is observed that basic heterocyclic organic compounds like pyrimidine increase the
reduction reaction of CO2 conversion as compared to other homogeneous catalysts
(Albo et al. 2015). A distinctive heterogeneous catalyst was tried for immediate CO2
conversion into methanol. In a previous study, Ru3 (CO)12 catalyst in the presence
of potassium iodide was studied for the hydrogenation of CO2 to CH3 , CH4 , and
methanol (Tominaga et al. 1993). Furthermore, it was reported that Ru3 (CO)12 KI
was better for CO2 conversion than another metal carbonyl including Fe2 (CO)9 ,
Mo(Co)6 , Rh4 (CO)12 , W(CO)6 and Co2 (CO)8 (Huff and Sanford 2011; Tominaga
et al. 1993). Kothandaraman et al. (2016) firstly captured CO2 directly from the air
and converted it into methanol. In this process, Ru-based catalyst and polyamine
were used for methanol production. After CO2 conversion, methanol was separated
and the catalyst was recycled to produce more methanol.

13.2.3 Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Methanol

The electrochemical reduction method attracted the interest of the researcher which is
eco-friendly and has economic benefits. This process is simple and can be used under
ambient conditions (Zarandi et al. 2019). The electrochemical strategy is utilized
for CO2 conversion to important synthetic compounds, for example, methanol
by utilizing electricity as the energy source. In this method, electric energy is applied
to create a potential between two electrodes to transform CO2 into reduced form
(Yaashikaa et al. 2019). Reduced chemical species are obtained after the electrocat-
alytic CO2 reduction reaction (Fig. 13.2). The electrolytes used in these reactions
affect the reduction of CO2 . Solvents used also play a key role in maintaining pH,
conductivity, and toxicity. Various experiments have been reported for CO2 conver-
sion on the terminals of metal (Kuhl et al. 2014). Various metal electrodes such as
copper, ruthenium, molybdenum, titanium, iron, mercury, and platinum have been
studied for electrochemical reduction of CO2 , but among them, copper (Cu) is one
of the most promising electrodes (Albo et al. 2015).
The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significant in the CO2 electrocatalyst
reduction in which water presents as an electrolyte. Consequently, the reported metals
that have been utilized as electrocatalyst in CO2 reduction should have moderately
greater HER (Goeppert et al. 2014). In a previous study, it was found that methanol
production rate was 1.2 × 10−4 molm−2 s−1 on electrodeposited cuprous thin-
film electrodes in potassium carbonate solution (Le et al. 2011). Moreover, MoS2 -
rods/TiO2 nanotubes electrodes were reported for electrochemical CO2 reduction and
found that CH3 OH yield reached 202.2 mgL−1 at 6 h (Li et al. 2014). Qu et al. (2005)
reported the RuO2 /TiO2 nanotubes and nanoparticles for the methanol production
and showed 60.5% CO2 conversion efficiency. Wu et al. (2019) revealed that when
a cobalt phthalocyanine was dispersed on carbon nanotubes, it has high selectivity
and catalytic activity for the electrochemical CO2 reduction to methanol. Modifi-
cation is done in electrocatalysts to increase the reduction efficiency and increase
302 T. Sharma et al.

Fig. 13.2 Schematic

representation of
electrochemical system for
the conversion of CO2 into
methanol

the faradaic efficiency. Recently, the catalysts are being modified and designed to
control the dimensions of nanoparticles showing a mono-dispersive configuration
(Zarandi et al. 2019). In most recent years, electrochemical CO2 transformation is
broadly utilized in a research field; however, it has not been effectively utilized in
mechanical procedures.

13.2.4 Photochemical Reduction of CO2 to Methanol

Normally, this CO2 transformation technique is utilized to convert captured CO2

to methanol and other value-added products by utilizing sunlight, (Fan et al. 2013)
(Table 13.1). Nowadays, this technique has attracted the interest of people and is
being considered as one of the most appealing strategies for the utilization of CO2 .
The photocatalytic CO2 transformation process is a blend of photochemical and
photophysical procedures together (Gondal et al. 2013). Although this strategy has a
few resemblances with electrolytic CO2 reduction in both these methods, molecular
catalyst is used. Various experiments have shown the ability of metal oxides and
semiconductors such as titanium dioxide, silicon carbide, zinc oxide, and tungsten
trioxide, for the conversion of CO2 to methanol (Zhang et al. 2019). Li et al. (2012)
proved that CdS/TiO2 and Bi2 S3 /TiO2 are promising photocatalysts to reduce CO2
into methanol using visible light. The methanol production efficiency of TNTs-Bi2 S3
and TNTs-Bi2 S3 was 224.6 μmol/L and 159.5 μmol/L, respectively. In another study,
the ability of Nd/TiO2 synthesized by the sol–gel method was studied, and they found
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 303

that the maximum methanol production yield was 184.8 μmol/g for 8 h (Luo et al.
2009). The main drawback of CO2 reduction to methanol using the photochemical
method is that the reaction is reversible. Thus, to alleviate the methanol oxidation, it
is important to find new methods so it can be applied to the industrial level too.

13.2.5 MOF for CO2 Reduction

Various classes of a porous material including zeolites, porous organic polymers,

porous carbons, covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and metal–organic frame-
works (MOFs) have been reported for CO2 capture (Ding et al. 2019). Recently,
MOFs are emerging out as a new class of crystalline materials due to their unique
features such as large surface area, crystalline nature, handy pore structure, and
chemical tunability (Fig. 13.3) (Maina et al. 2017). Debatin et al. (2010) synthesized
zinc-imidazolate-4-amide-5-imidate framework, and CO2 uptake capacity of these
MOF was found to be 2.1 mmol g1 at 1 bar and 298 K. Furthermore, MOFs incor-
porated with nanoparticles, metal oxides, and other catalytically active species have
also been studied for CO2 conversion. As an example, Ag NPs were impregnated
into the cavities of MIL-101 by a liquid impregnation–reduction method. The resul-
tant Ag@MIL-101 materials had excellent catalytic activity (96.5%) and stability

Fig. 13.3 Metal organic framework (MOF) for the CO2 capture and conversion
304 T. Sharma et al.

at 50 °C (Liu et al. 2015 Sharma et al. 2018). Gutterød et al. (2020) studied the
role of the platinum nanoparticles impregnated in ZR-based UiO-67 MOF in the
hydrogenation of CO2 into methanol using a kinetic analysis. In the resultant MOF,
methanol was formed at the interface of platinum nanoparticles and linker-deficient
Zr6 O8 nodes.

13.3 Use of Biological Systems for CO2 Capture

and Utilization

Various photosynthetic microbes such as algae and bacteria can assimilate CO2
(Table 13.2). Moreover, some of the autotrophic bacteria were also studied for
utilizing CO2 . The most important advantage of microbial CO2 conversion is the
natural ability of microbes to take up CO2 through their metabolic pathways. The CO2
fixing routes have been developed through enzymatic processing of CO2 by formu-
lating C–H, C–O, and C–C bonds cleavage (Ramsey et al. 2009). The most commonly
used pathways for CO2 reduction are pentose phosphate, citric acid cycle (Peters et al.
2011). Furthermore, various microbial enzymes have been utilized for the conversion
of CO2 . The direct use of microbes is affected by environmental factors, low product
yield, and growth. In this context, protein engineering and synthetic biology are ideal
methods for engineering the microbes, and thus making the process economically
viable.

Table 13.2 Biological agents involved in conversion of CO2

Class Species Comments References
Algae Nannachlorissp High photosynthesis rate Pavlik et al. (2017);
Chlorella vulgaris Rapid reproduction rate Sharma et al. (2020a, b)
Chlamydomonas
reinhardtti
Scendesmusquadricauda
Bacteria Clostridumaceticum Clostridiumis considered Jajesniak et al. 2014
Clostridium kluyveri best for CO2 fixation and
Clostridium ljungdahli having numerous
Acetobacteriumkloodii biotechnological
applications
Assorted pathway for
creation of metabolites
Resistance to poisonous
metabolites and substrates
Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Involved in CO2 fixation Zelle et al. 2008
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 305

13.3.1 Algae for CO2 Fixation

Algae are present throughout the world and one of the most commonly researched
organisms for CO2 fixation. Algae can be found in freshwater–water or marine
ecosystems individually or in a form of chains. They lack stems, leaves, or roots and
have a vast range of sizes. CO2 is utilized as a carbon source by them for photoau-
totrophic growth and produces over half of the atmospheric oxygen (Shi and Theg
2013). As algae use the CO2 by the Calvin–Benson pathway and convert the inorganic
carbon to organic compounds. One molecule of phosphoglycerate is diverted to focal
on pathways of metabolic activity, while the other is used in the continuation of the
cycle. The key enzyme for carboxylation of CO2 is RuBisCO, and it has a high affinity
for CO2 and O2 . So, it creates a problem in an environment because of the high O2
affinity and low fixations present in the atmosphere. Algae possess three significant
constituents of CCM including dynamic bicarbonate take-up transporters, a set of
carbonic anhydrases (CAs), and a subcellular small-scale compartment inside which
most of RuBisCO is found. Furthermore, micro and macroalgae can fix inorganic
carbon effectively. Various algal species, such as Nannochlorissp., Scenedesmus
quadricauda, Chlorella vulgaris, Nannochloropsis sp., and Chlamydomonas rein-
hardtii, have been studied to CO2 fixation (Pavlik et al. 2017). Microalgae have
a high photosynthesis rate due to their small size, rapid reproduction rate, and
synthesis of oil, pigment, etc., because of its complex metabolic reactions. Hence,
making microalgae is highly efficient for converting carbon dioxide (Yen et al. 2013).
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Volvox carteri have been genetically engineered for
increasing the CO2 fixation efficiency (Beer et al. 2009; Walker et al. 2005). To
improve the CO2 fixation efficiency of algae species, screening and domestication
would be major promising strategies.

13.3.2 Bacteria for CO2 Fixation

Various carbon-capturing bacteria are Acetobacterium woodii, Clostridium

aceticum, Clostridium kluyveri, Clostridium ljungdahlii, Rhodopseudomonas palus-
tris, Rhodococcus erythropolis, Ralstonia eutropha, Synecococcus elongatus,
Rhodobacter sphaeroides, etc. (Jajesniak et al. 2014). Among various bacteria
reported for CO2 fixation, Clostridium fixes CO2 using the Wood–Ljungdahl
pathway. They are anaerobic and gram-positive microbes, but their cultivation is diffi-
cult and expensive because of its obligate nature (Tracy et al. 2012). Numerous strains
in the Clostridium class can fix CO2 , as a carbon source. Clostridia shows numerous
attractive attributes for biotechnological applications such as the capacity to use a
wide range of carbon substrates, assorted pathways for the creation of helpful metabo-
lites, and resistance to poisonous metabolites and substrates (Durre and Eikmanns
2015). Typical environmental condition is normally deadly to most of its species.
306 T. Sharma et al.

Early work with Clostridium concentrated mostly on the creation of acidic corro-
sive and related items. In any case, the collection of hereditary material relevant to
Clostridia has altogether extended after the improvement of plasmid DNA innova-
tions and chromosomal control advances. The utilization of the portable gathering
II introns for focused quality disturbance (Targetron or ClosTron) is well known
for the hereditary building of Clostridium. The utilization of ClosTron was shown
by designing Clostridium acetobutylicum for butanol–ethanol formation (Cooksley
et al. 2012). Moreover, in the cyanobacterium Synochococcus elongates the carbon
assimilation mechanism was studied, and it produces 2,3-butanediol from CO2 and
glucose in dark (Kanno et al. 2017). Furthermore, the various microbial enzymes
has been used for the conversion of CO2 . Formate dehydrogenase enzyme is a good
biological catalyst known for its reversible reduction of CO2 (Ruiz-Valencia et al.
2020). Another enzyme used for the conversion of CO2 is carbonic anhydrase. It
is present in various organisms like eubacteria, vertebrates, algae, archaea, plants,
and animals (Moroney and Ynalvez 2007; Sharma and Kumar 2020). This enzyme
is efficient in capturing CO2 in a cost-effective and eco-friendly manner as raw
materials such as metal oxide ores, industrial waste, and marble mines are easily
available (Bhagat et al. 2018). In recent study, carbonic anhydrase immobilized onto
electrospun nanofiber is used for the conversion of CO2 into bicarbonates, and the
bicarbonate solution formed was utilized for microalgae growth (Jun et al. 2020).
Moreover, an organic procedure for CH4 formation from CO2 is named as biogenic
methane. Nitrogenase is an ATP-dependent enzyme that carries out the multi-electron
reduction of an inert molecule. Fixen et al. (2016) expressed nitrogenase enzyme in an
anoxygenic phototroph of Rhodopseudomonas palustris and found that it is capable
of CO2 reduction to methane in the presence of light under in vivo condition.
In another study, Zhang et al. (2013) expressed phosphoribulokinase (PRK)
with ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) in E. coli and
converted CO2 into a fermentation product. Microbes can be used as biocatalysts for
converting CO2 into useful products. They can be used in microbial electrochem-
ical technologies using these biocatalysts in electrochemical cells to supply or gain
electrons from various biochemical reactions that utilize CO2 as a carbon source for
the production of fuels and other products. Worldwide attempts are being made to
convert methane into methanol using CO2 as a source; due to the increase in produc-
tion of methanol, its price is also decreasing and has got equal to the price of glucose
(Antoniewicz 2019).

13.3.3 Yeast for CO2 Fixation

As compared to E. coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has pulled in less consideration

as a potential answer for anthropogenic CO2 emanation (Guadalupe-Medina et al.
2013). To acquire a critical number of useful RuBisCO units, co-articulation of E.
coli protein collapsing chaperones GroEL and GroES was essential. The created
framework was described by a 90% decrease in the side effect glycerol development
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 307

and a 10% expansion in ethanol production, for a sugar-constrained culture (Natesh

et al. 2018). Another pertinent model is the improved creation of malic corrosive in S.
cerevisiae by building a CO2 focusing pathway that returns through the carboxylation
of pyruvate (Zelle et al. 2008).

13.4 Bio-based Products from CO2

13.4.1 Bioplastics

Many bacteria are capable of converting CO2 into eco-friendly plastic, i.e, polyhy-
droxybutyrate (PHB) using sunlight. PHB is a biodegradable as well as biocom-
patible, thermoplastic as comparable to petrochemically inferred polypropylene
(Markl et al. 2018). Cupriavidusnecator is a gram-negative facultative hydrogen
oxidizing bacterium; it produces single cell proteins and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)
depending on the supply of nutrients. It can be converted into valuable products like
crotonic acid and other fuels (Yu 2018). This bacterium was cultured on a mixture
of gases like hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. C. necator fixes CO2 under
aerobic conditions using the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle and has more CO2 fixing
capacity as compared to green algae. It grows on glucose and glycerol under aerobic
conditions (Shimizu et al. 2015). There are certain pathways for converting inor-
ganic CO2 into its organic form. This has instigated an impressive enthusiasm for
the business creation of this polymer. PHB is appropriate for use as nourishment
bundling material taking into account its protection from water and UV radiation
and its impermeability to O2 . Additionally, it is being applied in careful stitches.
Significantly, PHB can be prepared to utilize previous advances and in blend with
other manufactured polymers (Mozumder et al. 2015).

13.4.2 Bio-alcohol

The use of CO2 to synthesize bio-alcohols have concentrated on ethanol using micro-
bial genera such as Rhodobacter spp. The utilization of ethanol as a substitution for
ordinary gas is tested by the fact that ethanol has short half life, low vitality, and
is destructive to current motor and fuel foundation (Costa et al. 2015). Further, it
promptly assimilates the water and weakening in the capacity tank. The natural
synthesis of isopropanol is possible using microbial systems. Similarly, it can be
used to esterify fat and oil for bio-diesel production, which diminishes its propensity
to take the shape at decreasing temperatures.
308 T. Sharma et al.

13.4.3 Bio-diesel

Because of their high lipid contents and simplicity of development, the bio-diesel
is used as non-inexhaustible oil-based fuel. Lipids, as triacylglycerides (TAGs),
commonly provide the energy to the living cells. Once removed, the lipid can be
changed into unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) or bio-diesel through
transesterification (Sharma et al. 2012; Sharma et al. 2019). The physical attributes of
FAME are like those of fossil fuels. Critically, it is non-poisonous and also biodegrad-
able. The utilization of bio-diesel as a low-mix part in the vehicle fuel does not require
any progressions in the framework.

13.5 Conclusion

Carbon dioxide transformation is introducing both a chance and a test widely for the
supportability of conditions. The fundamental systems of CO2 mitigation should
concentrate on the use of CO2 , reusing CO2 with the sustainable methods. In
this way, the change of CO2 into synthetic products for example, methanol will
expend an enormous conversion of captured CO2 where the market size of methanol
is possibly broad. Moreover, the synthesized methanol can be utilized rather than
the non-renewable energy source, accordingly lessening the reliance on petroleum
based derivative and contributing to the market development of CO2 use. Thus, the
various strategies for CO2 transformation into methanol have been accounted in this
chapter. This incorporates homogeneous/heterogeneous catalysts, electrochemical,
and photochemical based methods. In any case, the superior in the CO2 transforma-
tion procedure can be accomplished by utilizing a successful impetus. The poor item
selectivity and the low/high response temperatures are viewed as the primary bound-
aries in the heterogeneous CO2 conversion process. The above findings showed that
among different strategies proposed for CO2 transformation to methanol or to other
value added products, the electrochemical cells are ideal over various other tech-
niques. Also, photochemical procedures offer an appealing way to convert CO2 to
methanol utilizing sun-based energy. In future, more techniques should be discovered
which use the principles of green chemistry and convert more CO2 into methanol
rather than emitting other hazardous by-products. The techniques should be cost
effective and should be implanted on large scale in an environment friendly manner.

Acknowledgements The financial support from the Jaypee University of Information Technology,
Waknaghat, to undertake this study is thankfully acknowledged. Further, the authors have no conflict
of interest either among themselves or with the parent institution.
13 Progresses in Bioenergy Generation from CO2 : Mitigating … 309

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Chapter 14
Recent Advances in Enzymatic
Conversion of Carbon Dioxide
into Value-Added Product

Anand Giri, Suman Chauhan, Tanvi Sharma, Ashok Nadda,

and Deepak Pant

14.1 Introduction

Nowadays, climate change and global warming are major environmental issue due
to continuous increase to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and vast growth
in industrialization (Yaashikaa et al. 2019). Due to extensive deforestation, agricul-
ture, population growth, rapid industrialization, the current overall concentration of
atmospheric CO2 is 400 ppm as compared to preindustrial level 280 ppm (Giri and
Pant 2018) so requires to minimizing of atmospheric CO2 . Carbon dioxide (CO2 )
capture, sequestration, and utilization process has been widely recognized effective
techniques for reducing CO2 concentration from the atmosphere. IPCC estimated
in 2001 the global average annual mean surface air temperature which is increased
between 1.4 and 5.8 °C till 2100. This rise in temperature has been causing global
warming, and other climatic changes like in 2006 Australia faced extreme drought of
in 1000 years (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/nov/08/australia.drought),
deadly dust storms in India in May, 2018 (Sarkar et al. 2019), deadliest hurricanes in
U.S. (Great Galveston hurricane in 1900, Okeechobee hurricane in 1928, hurricane
Katrina in 2005) , forest fire, sea level rise, tsunami, etc., are the main consequences
of global climate change (Pant et al. 2017). Currently, different technologies have
been used for CO2 capture and storage (CCS) by carbon capture, transportation, and
storage which are main three steps (Huntley and Redalje 2007). The rise in CO2

A. Giri (B) · S. Chauhan

Department of Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, India
T. Sharma · A. Nadda
Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology,
Waknaghat, Solan 173234, India
D. Pant
School of Earth and Environmental Science, Central University of Himachal Pradesh,
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh 176215, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 313
D. Pant et al. (eds.), Advances in Carbon Capture and Utilization,
Energy, Environment, and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0638-0_14
314 A. Giri et al.

levels in the atmosphere could also minimize by transformation of carbon dioxide

into value-added products by different physical, chemical, electrochemical, photo-
chemical, and biological or enzymatic methods. The biological or enzymatic method
provides an environmentally friendly and promising way for effective CO2 conver-
sion or fixation due to high stereo-specificity and chemo-selectivity of enzyme (Shi
et al. 2015; Giri et al. 2020; Sharma et al. 2020), while all methods mentioned above
have some major drawbacks of these include: large investment and high energy input,
high transportation cost, reusability, and environmental toxicity (Irfan et al. 2019).
Strategies for CO2 conversion or fixation by enzymatic method to value-added prod-
ucts not only offer promising new technologies for carbon dioxide reduction but also
for an efficient production of value-added products. Enzymes catalyze the biotrans-
formation CO2 at moderate reaction conditions (temperature, pressure, less require
energy) and provide high yield than other transformation methods. This enzymatic
transformation of CO2 has attracted increasing international interest for its industrial
applications and its capability to turning this greenhouse gas into added value prod-
ucts (Long et al. 2017). The molecule of carbon dioxide shows chemically inert and
thermodynamically stable, and some external energy requires an energy input for
CO2 transformation; thus, it would be reasonable to think about suitable enzymatic
catalyst as energy sources for CO2 conversion. The biotransformation of carbon
dioxide by enzymatic method is currently under investigation worldwide in various
aspects like fuel production of biofuels along with different value-added products and
chemicals (methane, organic acids, bicarbonate, glucose, alcohols, etc.) (Yaashikaa
et al. 2019).In short, today, it is an urgent need to reduce the rising atmospheric
carbon dioxide from the environment and emphasis on green and renewable energy
to decrease dependency on conventional fossil fuels. In regards to industrial appli-
cation, an enzyme system for CO2 biotransformation simply chooses a potential
for carbon dioxide conversion into useful chemicals and fuels for sustainable and
clean environment. Finally, the present book chapter mainly focused on enzymatic
transformation of CO2 , as well as the future perspectives.

14.2 Enzymatic Transformation of CO2

Enzymatic CO2 transformation can be categorized into two types: direct and indirect
transformation of carbon dioxide. They are addressed further in the following in
more detail.
14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide … 315

14.2.1 Indirect Transformation of CO2

Indirect transformations of CO2 involve indirectly utilization of carbon dioxide

to produce useful chemicals are discussed below. Photosynthesis is one of indi-
rect transformation of CO2 through microbial transformation or through plant
bio-fixation.

14.2.1.1 Natural Transformation of CO2 in Cells

In natural, CO2 fixation/ transformation into organic materials are important for
biological evolution and essential factor for regulating atmospheric CO2 concen-
trations (Fuchs 2011; Shi et al. 2015). The carbon dioxide (CO2 ) assimilation into
organic matter is facilitated by major six CO2 -fixing pathways including the reductive
pentose phosphate cycle (Benson–Calvin cycle), the reductive citric acid and acetyl-
CoA pathway, 3-hydroxypropinate cycle, 3-hydroxypropinate/4-hydroxypropinate
pathway, and the dicarboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle and converts atmospheric
CO2 to organic compounds (Wolosiuk et al. 1993; Shi et al. 2015). The reductive
pentose phosphate cycle or Calvin cycle is one of the most important pathways for
photosynthetic organism to incorporate CO2 into the cell carbon cycle with 7 × 106
g carbon consumption rate on the annual basis (Berg 2011). The key enzymes in
Calvin cycle are ribulose-1,5-bisphosphatecarboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) and
phosphoribulokinase (PRK) which are potential to photosynthetic carbon reduction
cycle. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphatecarboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) catalyze the
electrophilic addition of carbon dioxide to ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (5C) compound
(Fast and Papoutsakis 2012) and transform to several intermediate products like 3-
phosphoglycerate, 1,3-diphosphoglycerate, and 3-phosphate glyceraldehyde, and in
the final stage, 3-phosphate glyceraldehyde transform into 5-phosphate ribulose.
Furthermore, 3-phosphate glyceraldehyde can be converted into amino acids, sugar,
and fatty acids (Shi et al. 2015).
The reductive citric acid cycle or tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) converts
carbon dioxide and water into carbon compounds. The main following enzymes
2-oxoglutarate ferredoxinoxido reductase, ATP citrate lyase, isocitrate dehydroge-
nase, pyruvate ferredoxinoxido reductase are involved in the reductive tricarboxylic
acid cycle or CO2 fixation pathways (Hügler et al. 2005). The reductive citric acid
cycle involves four steps of carboxylation reactions, in which, succinyl-CoA is reduc-
tively carboxylated with carbon dioxide into α-ketoglutarate/2-oxoglutarate in pres-
ence of a-ketoglutarate synthase/2-oxoglutarate synthase. Further, α-ketoglutarate/2-
oxoglutarate and CO2 are transformed into verity of compounds like isocitrate,
citrate, pyruvate, etc. The pyruvate is then converted into phospho-enolpyruvate
(PEP) in presence of pyruvate kinase, and then, oxaloacetate is formed. Finally,
oxaloacetate is converted into succinyl-CoA in presence of series of key enzyme
(Thauer 2007; Fuchs 2011).
316 A. Giri et al.

The reductive acetyl-CoA pathway is a major CO2 fixation mechanism in anaer-

obic environments to turn CO or CO2 into carbon cells (Roberts et al. 1994) and
mainly found in acetogenic, methanogenic bacteria and Eubacteria. In the reduc-
tive acetyl-CoA pathway, CO2 is converted into formate and carbon monoxide
by formate dehydrogenase and CO dehydrogenase (CODH), respectively (Roberts
et al. 1994; Berg 2011). Similarly, 3-hydroxypropionate, 3-hydroxypropionate/4-
hydroxybutyrate, and dicarboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate all above six major pathways
catalyze the conversion CO2 or bicarbonate in cells.

14.2.2 Direct Transformation of CO2

In the direct transformation process, carbon dioxide is converted directly using biocat-
alysts into useful chemicals. In this method, carbon dioxide is used as substrate and
source of hydrogen, and biocatalysts are the additional requirements for conver-
sion. The role of enzyme and products in direct transformation of carbon dioxide is
discussed in this section briefly.

14.2.2.1 Transformation of CO2 to Formate

Demand of future and sustainable energy needs alternatives to current energy tech-
nologies mainly based on fossil fuels. Hydrogen has been considered a promising
alternative energy feedstock, but hydrogen storage and transportation is a major
complexity for its optimum utilization (Schlapbach and Züttel 2011). Schuchmann
and Müller (2013) discovered hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase from Acetobac-
teriumwoodii bacteria which directly uses dihydrogen and catalyze the hydrogenation
of carbon dioxide to formate or formic acid (FA) which is a promising and interme-
diate reservoir for hydrogen storage and distribution. Formate/formic acid (FA) also
used for various chemical intermediates, silage preservation, animal feed additives,
and most promising candidate for low-temperature fuel cell (Rees and Compton
2011). NAD-dependent formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from Candida boidinii is
also used for various CO2 reductions into formate (Kim et al. 2014) and showed very
less CO2 reducing activity. The formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from Thiobacillus sp.
(TsFDH) exhibits the high CO2 -reducing activity and showed 5.8 time higher formate
production rate as compared to formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from Candida boidinii
(CbFDH) (Choe et al. 2014).

14.2.2.2 Transformation of CO2 to Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) is a type of dehydrogenese enzyme that

can convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide in the presence of the required
electron donor like NADH, NADPH, MV+2 , etc. by following equation (Sultana
14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide … 317

et al. 2016). The reduction of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide possesses fuel
value that offers a feasible new alternative energy sources (Olah 2005).

CO2 + 2H+ + 2e− ←→ CO + H2 O

The reduction of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide is primarily catalyzed by

Ni and Fe containing CO dehydrogenases ([NiFe] CODH) through reversible redox
reaction and the synthesis of acetyl-COA (Jeoung and Dobbek 2007). The active
site of ([NiFe] CODH) contains Ni and Fe centers bridged bound to three sulfur
ligands (3Fe-4S) which is coordinated with His, Cys amino acid residue, sulfido,
and a H2O/OH-ligand. In the catalyzing reaction of CO2 reduction, two-electron
process occurs during the reduction process and form reduce Ni center followed
by carbon dioxide is bound to the Ni center with Ni-C bound and stabilized by Fe
center. Simultaneously, the hydrogen bond is formed between carboxylate oxygen
atoms (O2 ) and protonated histidine residue (His93). The Fe1 loss water molecule
and formed a CO2 complex, and another oxygen molecule (O1 ) of CO2 complex
is bound to Fe1 and formed hydrogen bound with a protonated lysine residue (Shi
et al. 2015). First time in 2003 (Shin et al. 2003) implement the reduction of CO2
to CO in vitro by utilizing ([NiFe] CODH) from Moorella thermoacetica which
showed efficient combination of enzyme conversion of CO2 to CO. The expression
of Fe proteins (vnfH- and nifH)-encoded of Mo- and V-nitrogenases in Azotobacter
vinelandii strains commonly the reduction of nitrogen (N2 ) to ammonia (NH3 ) also
capable to catalyze CO2 to CO in vitro and vivo (Seefeldt et al. 1995; Rebelein et al.
2016).

14.2.2.3 Transformation of CO2 to Methanol

The enzymatic conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol is a promising new recy-
cling technique not only for green house management but also for efficient fuel
production (Obert and Dave 1999). The use of enzyme for transformation of CO2
to methanol provides a facile low-temperature route and higher energy capacity for
direct fuel generation from carbon dioxide. In 1994, Kuwabata et al. used two-enzyme
system for conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol using FateDH and methanol
dehydrogenase (MDH) as catalyst and pyrroloquinolinequinone (PQQ) as an electron
mediator. The enzyme FateDH reduces CO2 to formate, and the enzyme, methanol
dehydrogenase (MDH), reduces formate into formaldehyde and then methanol.
The conversion of CO2 to methanol is catalyzed by three oxido-reductases:
formate dehydrogenase (FateDH), formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FaldDH), and
alcohol (ADH) dehydrogenases like methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) which are
dependent on the reduced form of cofactor β-Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
(NADH) (Amado 2013). The following enzymes are able to catalyze the sequential
reduction of CO2 to value added products like formate, formaldehyde, and methanol,
presented in Fig. 14.1.
318 A. Giri et al.

Fig. 14.1 Enzymatic CO 2

transformation of CO2 to NADH
methanol promoted by

FateDH
FateDH, FaldDH, and ADH

NAD+
Formate
NADH

FaldDH
NAD+

Formaldehyde
NADH

ADH
NAD+
Methanol

However, this method still has several problems like deleterious of enzyme by
cosolvents and catalyst in sol–gel process needs some modification in process to
improve the stability the biological activity (Xu et al. 2006). The immobilization of
enzyme and hybrid enzymetic/photocatalytic approach for high enzymatic activity
improved stability for efficient CO2 transformation into methanol which was recently
proposed in many studies (Aresta et al. 2014; Luo et al. 2015). The photocat-
alytic/enzymatic integrated approach combining by heterogeneous photocatalysts in
the process of NADH regeneration from NAD+ represents an important step toward
the potential application in hybrid CO2 reduction technology to methanol.

14.2.2.4 Transformation CO2 to Methane

Recently, researchers found remodeled nitrogenase of Rhodopseudomonas palus-

tris is able to take CO2 from the air and turn it into methane. Purified remodeled
nitrogenases of Rhodopseudomonas palustris containing two amino acids substitu-
tions (α-195 by Gln and α-70 by Ala) near the site of its FeMo cofactor are able to
CO2 transformation into methane (Shi et al. 2015; Fixen et al. 2016). The bacterial
Mo-dependent nitrogenase enzyme catalyzes the dinitrogen (N2 ) to two ammonia
molecule and evolution of H2 by following equation.
N2 + 8H+ + 16ATP + 8e− −→ 2NH3 + H2 + 16ADP + 16Pi
Remodeled nitrogenases reduce CO2 to methane by eight electrons and make it
unique among all known catalyzed enzyme reactions. Furthermore, the reduced CO2
14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide … 319

is also able to react with acetylene to form propylene by following reactions (Omae
2012; Yang et al. 2012).

CO2 + 8H+ + 8e− −→ CH4 + 2H2 O

CO2 + HC = CH + 8H+ + 8e− −→ H2 C = CH − CH3 + 2H2 O

14.2.3 Transformation of CO2 to Bicarbonate

Another strategy of enzymatic CO2 conversion into value product is CO2 miner-
alization in bicarbonate by enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) with high turnover
rate. Recently, CA mediated conversion of CO2 has attracted much attention toward
green house management. Carbonic anhydrase is zinc containing metalloenzyme
comprises three histidine residues, and a hydroxide ion or water molecule catalyzes
the carbon dioxide by following equation (Giri and Pant 2019a).

CO2 + H2 O −→ HCO−
3 + H
+

The CO2 sequestrating by carbonic anhydrase for precipitating carbonate minerals

are being actively investigated (Prabhu et al. 2011; Giri et al. 2018; Giri and Pant
2019a). CA can categorized into five distinct classes of α, β, γ, δ, ζ with few structural
similarities, but all CAs similar active site of a divalent zinc ion or associated metal
ion. The proposed mechanism of CO2 hydration and CO2 mineralization by CA
could be summaries as follows: Nucleophilic attack on C atoms of CO2 by zinc
(Zn2+ ) bound –OH to yield bicarbonate then displaced by molecule of water (Giri
and Pant 2019a) (Fig. 14.2).

Fig. 14.2 Schematic

representation of CA
reaction mechanism to
accelerate CO2 uptake to
facilitate carbonate
precipitation
320 A. Giri et al.

The first CA was discovered in 1933 by Meldrum and Roughton from erythrocytes
in the role of transition of the bicarbonate anions (Meldrum and Roughton 1933) and
in 1940 Neish identified the first plant originated CA and its different character-
istics from previously known erythrocytes CA (Neish 1940). The prokaryotic CA
was discovered by Veitch and Blankenship in 1963 and extracted from Neisseria
Sicca in 1972. The active center of α CA contained by Zn atom and tetrahedral
coordinated with three histidine residues and single water molecule, predominate
in mammals (Domsic and McKenna 2010; Giri and Pant 2019a). However, the β
CA shows oligomeric quaternary structure and Zn atom tetrahedral coordinated with
two molecule of cysteines, and single molecules of histidine and aspartate. In the
γ class of CA, the Zn atom is coordinated in a penta mode to three molecules of
histidines and two water molecules (Alber and Ferry 1994). The β CA predominate
in eukaryotes and γ CA were mostly present in Archaea. The δ class of CA found
in Thalassiosira weissflogii showed a different amino acid sequence, compared to
other α, β, and γ CAs (Tripp et al. 2001). Several research group purified carbonic
anhydrase from organisms that thrive in extreme environments utilize to formation
of calcium carbonate (Capasso et al. 2012). The converting CO2 into bicarbonate
by using enzyme CA in biomimetic approaches is thermodynamically favorable
compared to other CO2 mitigation techniques and carbonate minerals further used
for building and industrial applications (Giri et al. 2018; Sharma and Kumar 2020).
The urease is also a metalloenzyme containing nickel belonging to the group of
hydrolases that play an important role in nitrogen requirement in plants and microor-
ganism. The function of urease is to catalyze hydrolysis of urea into ammonia and
carbamate. The carbamate further hydrolyzed into the additional mole of ammonium
and carbonic acid. The shifting of bicarbonate toward carbonate ion increases the
influx of calcium ions and obligates the bacterial export of calcium ion outside
the bacterial cell. The availability of calcium and dissolve inorganic carbon in
the microenvironment precipitated calcium carbonate outside the cell by following
equation (Castro et al. 2016) (Fig. 14.3; Table 14.1).

CO(NH2 ) + H2 −→ NH2 COOH + NH3

NH2 COOH + H2 O −→ NH3 + H2 CO3

H2 CO3 −→ HCO−
3 +H
+

2NH3 + 2H2 O −→ 2NH+

4 + 2OH
−

HCO− + + − +
3 + H + 2NH4 + 2OH −→ CO3 + 2NH4 + 2H2 O
2−

Ca2+ + Cell −→ Cell − Ca2+

14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide … 321

Fig. 14.3 Schematic

diagram of carbonate
formation by urease activity

NH2CONH2 (Urea)

- - -
- -
- --
Urease - - -
- - -
- -
- -
- -
Ca2+ CO3 + NH3

CaCO3 CO32- + NH4+ + OH-

Table 14.1 Bacterial carbonic anhydrase and role in bicarbonate precipitation

CA source Isolation site Calcite precipitation References
Bacillus sp.CR2 Mine tailing soil 2.32 mg/cell mass (mg) Achal and Pan
(2011)
Lysinibacillus sp. strain Karst cave 980 mg/100 ml Lü et al. (2019)
LHXY2
B. pasteurii NCIM 2477 Culture – Sarada et al. (2009)
Bacillus and Virgibacillus Desalination plant – Silva-Castro et al.
(2015)
B.megateriumSS3 Calcareous soil 187 mg/100 ml Dhami et al. (2013)
B.turiniensis Calcareous soil 167 mg/100 ml Dhami et al. (2013)
Bacillus sp. strain (5C-1) Karst cave – Wang et al. (2010)
Citrobacter freundii Himalayan rocks 230 mg CaCO3/mg of Giri et al. (2018)
purified CA
Pseudomonas spp. Himalayan rocks – Giri and Pant
(2019b)

Cell − Ca2+ + CO2−

3 −→ Cell CaCO3

In general, enzyme carbonic anhydrase and urease play an important role in

production in carbonate by biomineralization. Biocementation and biodeposition are
also new emerging technologies which offer a cost effective, environmentally sound,
and appropriate alternative on the conventional construction industry. Furthermore,
the use of these technologies promises to reduce CO2 emissions and mitigate the
effects of climate change.
322 A. Giri et al.

14.2.3.1 Conversion of CO2 to Other Chemicals

Beside CA, there are several other types of carboxylases in cells and have also been
explored to catalyze the carboxylation of raw materials and have potential to other
biocatalytic applications including: carboxylation of epoxide, aromatic compounds,
hetro-arometic compounds, and aliphatic substrate (Glueck et al. 2010). The enzy-
matic carboxylation reactions derived mainly from catabolic pathways with potential
for biocatalytic applications given. The reactions are categorized into four classes,
by according to substrate type:

Biocarboxylation of Epoxides

A novel enzymatic reaction has been investigated involving the metabolism of

aliphatic epoxides by Xanthobacter strain Py2 (Allen and Ensign 1996). The path-
ways of epoxy degradation seem to be regulated by the presence or absence of CO2 . In
the absence of CO2 , propene-grown Xanthobacter Py2 catalyze the isomerization of
aliphatic epoxides. On the other hand in the presence of CO2 , the carboxylation reac-
tion of epoxide formed acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate (Glueck et al. 2010;
Shi et al. 2015). Both CO2 dependent and no-dependent pathways were reported
to be dependent on NAD+ . A novel type NADPH-dependent pyridine nucleotide-
disulfide oxidoreductase is very essential protein for epoxide degradation (Swaving
et al. 1996).

Biocarboxylation of Aromatic (Phenolic) Compounds

The second route of carboxylation reaction is also called aromatic carboxyla-

tion. Initially, partially purified phenylphosphate enzymes from Thauera aromatic
were used in the carboxylation of phenol in presence of CO2 to synthesize p-
hydroxybenzoic acid under ambient conditions (Aresta Dibenedetto 2002). The
metabolism of aromatic (phenolic) compounds in aerobic bacteria is commonly
proceeding via oxidation using molecular oxygen as a co-substrate. The anaer-
obic carboxylation in Thauera aromatic proceeds via involving two enzyme system
(i) phenylphosphate synthase (ATP-dependent activation of phenol to phenylphos-
phate) and (ii) regioselective (para-)carboxylation of the activated intermediate to
p-hydroxybenzoic acid by metal (Mg2+ , Mn2+ and K+ )-dependent phenylphosphate
carboxylase. The divalent metal ion in enzyme acts as a Lewis acid by increasing the
electrophilic nature of CO2 . Acetyl-CoA is the final product of aromatic (phenolic)
degradation by oxygen-sensitive phenylphosphate synthase (Glueck et al. 2010).
The first example of biotechnological application of a carboxylase was phenol to
p-hydroxybenzoic acid at ambient temperature and pressure (Aresta et al. 1998).
4-hydroxybenzoate decarboxylases purified from Enterobacte spp., Clostridium
hydroxybenzoicum, and Chlamydophila pneumonia can also catalyze phenol in
the presence of CO2 to yield 4-hydroxybenzoate. Similarly, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate
14 Recent Advances in Enzymatic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide … 323

decarboxylase from Clostridium hydroxybenzoicum can catalyze phenol and catechol

in the presence of bicarbonate into 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (Miyazaki et al. 2001).

Biocarboxylation of Hetero-aromatic Compounds

Pyrrole-2-carboxylate decarboxylase is an important enzyme for hetero-aromatic

compounds synthesis. The Pyrrole-2-carboxylate decarboxylase from Bacillus mega-
terium PYR2910 can be used for formation of Pyrrole-2-carboxylate, which is a
potential herbicide used in agricultural purposes (Omura et al.1998).

14.2.3.2 Biocarboxylation of Aliphatic Substrates

Pyruvate decarboxylase can be used for enzymatic synthesis of pyruvic acid from
acetaldehyde and CO2, which again converted into lactic acids by using multi-enzyme
systems. Lactic acids can also be formed from ethanol and CO2 which can be used in
food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and chemical industry (Miyazaki et al. 2001; Tong
et al. 2011).

14.3 Future Perspectives and Conclusion

Biocatalysts are generally expensive, stability issue, activity, and reusability, which
restrict their optimum use in industrial purposes. Several enzymatic engineering
such as chemical modification, genetic engineering, and immobilization need further
optimum use of enzyme with economic viable, improving enzymatic activity and
stability and reusability (Giri and Pant 2019b). Biocatalysts are needed faster
CO2 transformation for industrial and environmental purposes. Thus, considerable
research is required toward the CO2 management into valuable products by discovery
of novel enzyme system as well as enzyme engineering system.
Although, a considerable research should also been focus in novel enzymatic and
multi enzymatic technologies for CO2 conversion into different products. Scientific
and technical advances are still needed for link between fundamental and industrial
research in CO2 transformation and mitigation.

Acknowledgements The financial support from the CSIR, Govt. of India, to undertake this study
is thankfully acknowledged.
324 A. Giri et al.

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