Geochemical carbon dioxide removal potential of Spain.

Many countries have made pledges to reduce CO emissions over the upcoming decades to meet the Paris Agreement targets of limiting warming to no >1.5 °C, aiming for net zero by mid-century. To achieve national reduction targets, there is a further need for CO removal (CDR) approaches on a scale of millions of tonnes, necessitating a better understanding of feasible methods.

Kinetics-informed global assessment of mine tailings for CO removal.

Chemically reactive mine tailings are a potential resource for drawing down carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in mineral weathering schemes. Such carbon dioxide removal (CDR) systems, applied on a large scale, could help to meet internationally agreed targets for minimising climate change, but crucially we need to identify what materials could react fast enough to provide CDR at relevant climate change mitigation timescales. This study focuses on a range of silicate-dominated tailings, calculating their CDR potential from their chemical composition (specific capacity), estimated global production rates, and the speed of weathering under different reaction conditions.

Fungal transformation of selenium and tellurium located in a volcanogenic sulfide deposit.

Microbial reduction of soluble selenium (Se) or tellurium (Te) species results in immobilization as elemental forms and this process has been employed in soil bioremediation. However, little is known of direct and indirect fungal interactions with Se-/Te-bearing ores. In this research, the ability of Phoma glomerata to effect transformation of selenite and tellurite was investigated including interaction with Se and Te present in sulfide ores from the Kisgruva Proterozoic volcanogenic deposit.