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Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation

How do we accelerate the discovery and development of new engineering solutions for directly capturing carbon dioxide emissions from human sources?

Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation

How do we accelerate the discovery and development of new engineering solutions for directly capturing carbon dioxide emissions from human sources?

Icon of a carbon capture cycle

Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation

How do we accelerate the discovery and development of new engineering solutions for directly capturing carbon dioxide emissions from human sources?

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"For millennia, humans have relied upon a linear approach - something is used and then thrown out. While it seems novel to engineer a circular approach, in fact, that’s how nature works. There’s no such thing as waste in nature. WAFAR provided the funding needed to expand our research to real-world examples that change how carbon is used and recycled."

-Naomi Klinghoffer

Find Answers In Nature

Climate change poses a threat to all living systems on Earth. Despite this reality, human-driven greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at a staggering scale. How can climate technologies help us address this daunting challenge?

Challenge

Direct capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a potential engineering solution, but current technologies are costly and capacity limited. New scalable and cost-effective ways to recycle carbon are needed that mimic nature’s cyclical approach.

Impacts

  • The “sustainable circular carbon economy” created and developed
  • Government stakeholders engaged to connect social, economic, environmental factors required to implement carbon capture technologies
  • New engineering breakthrough advanced how recycled carbon (biochar) can be used to enhance soil quality, remove pollutants from stormwater and for catalysis
  • International Carbon Solutions Consortium established
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Team Members

Chris DeGroot | Lead

Portrait of Chris DeGroot
(Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Western University)
Faculty Biography

Naomi Klinghoffer

Portrait of Naomi Klinghoffer
(Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Western University)
Faculty Biography

Elizabeth Webb

Portrait of Elizabeth Webb
(Earth Sciences, Western University)
Faculty Website

Damien Batstone

(Australian Centre for Water & Environmental Biotechnology, Australia)

Paola Giudicianni

(Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)

Mojtaba Jarrahi

(Université Paris-Saclay, France)
Mathematics of Neural Networks Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Buildings Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation Smart Cities and Communities Exploring Possibilities for Peace Arctic Sovereignty

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