Australian science agency aims to develop new ways to remove carbon from atmosphere

CANBERRA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Australia's national science agency has announced the launch of a new research program to develop new ways to remove carbon from the Earth's atmosphere.

Announced on Wednesday, CarbonLock is a 20 million Australian dollar (13.1 million U.S. dollar) venture that will focus on new and innovative ways to permanently store carbon dioxide (CO2), preventing it from entering the atmosphere.

It is the latest Future Science Platform (FSP) from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), and one of a series of long-term projects aiming to make major breakthroughs.

Andrew Lenton, director of CarbonLock, said creating negative emissions technologies (NETs) would be crucial to helping Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050 and keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

"NETs are critical to Australia's goal of reaching net-zero emissions because they offer a promising pathway to limiting global warming to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels," he said in a media release.

"CarbonLock is focused on developing the next generation of permanent carbon storage to complement research already undertaken in nature-based carbon storage solutions and geological Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)."

In addition to CCS, the team will explore the possibilities of direct air capture (DAC) - an emerging technology whereby CO2 is captured from the air and stored for later use or disposal.

"Our research will investigate new materials that can speed up and scale up DAC, including training artificial intelligence to develop novel composite materials," Lenton said.

"We are also examining the immense potential of in-situ mineral carbonation which involves turning carbon dioxide into stone by reacting atmospheric carbon with rock to form new rock - an area where Australia has a huge advantage."