Development of a Method for Measuring Carbon Balance in the Chemical Sequestration of CO2

72094-Continued increases in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere may eventually lead to global warming. Of the sequestration approaches that have been proposed, the secure sequestration of CO2 in the natural ecosystem appears to be a very efficient way to offset CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in the coming decades. Three stages of carbon dioxide management and sequestration have been proposed: (1) CO2 capture from the flue gas of power plants ¿ by using ammonium solutions in a wet scrubber to react with CO2 to form ammonium bicarbonate fertilizer, (2) short term carbon storage through enhanced growth of biomass using the ammonium bicarbonate fertilizer, and (3) long term carbon storage by securely sequestering CO2 as carbonates in underground water systems. This project will develop a test protocol for measuring the utilization of ammonium bicarbonate as a fertilizer, using an ecosystem containing soil, groundwater, biomass, and atmosphere with temperature, moisture, pH and composites control. In Phase I, procedures for sample selection, sampling plan development, laboratory-scale experiment unit design, analytical method development, and test matrix selection were developed. In Phase II, a greenhouse will be constructed and a series of experiments to study the carbon balance in a simulated ecosystem will be conducted. Three typical crops, three typical soils, and three groundwaters will be used in the simulated ecosystem. A model for carbon transformation from ammonium bicarbonate to the terrestrial ecosystem will be developed. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee: Ultimately, the technology should encourage the electric power industry to inject aqueous ammonia into their flue gas to sequester CO2 as ammonium bicarbonate for a fertilizer use. This should reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, which produce more than half of the nation's electricity.