CO₂ removal with enhanced wollastonite weathering in acidic and calcareous soils

Highlights

	● Wollastonite powder removed CO2 in soils with pH values of 4.4, and 7.7, at 1.0 and 1.1 g C kg−1 soil, respectively.
	● Wollastonite powder increases CO2 emissions in acidic soils, but these emissions are less than 20% of the total carbon removal by wollastonite weathering.
	● CO2 emissions in acidic soils result from the acidolysis of CaCO3 within the wollastonite powder and the decomposition of soil organic carbon.

Abstract

The application of silicate rock powder to agricultural soils is a promising strategy for atmospheric CO₂ removal. However, most research focuses on inorganic carbon sequestration via enhanced rock weathering, overlooking its impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition, which is essential for quantifying net CO₂ removal. To address this gap, we conducted a 233-day incubation experiment to investigate the impact of wollastonite powder on soil CO₂ emissions, SOC decomposition, pH, and cation concentrations across three agricultural soils with pH levels of 4.4, 5.6, and 7.7. Results showed 89.0% and 74.4% rock powder weathering in the most acidic and alkaline soils, respectively. In acidic soils, wollastonite powder addition increased CO₂ emissions due to the release of intrinsic CaCO₃ containing in wollastonite or/and SOC. However, these CO₂ emissions accounted for less than 20% of the total CO₂ removal by wollastonite weathering. In contrast, alkaline soils experienced a reduction in CO₂ emissions with wollastonite powder amendment. Net CO₂ removal for soils with pH 4.4 and 7.7 were 1.0 and 1.1 g C kg⁻¹ soil, respectively. This study confirms that wollastonite weathering is effective for CO₂ mitigation regardless of soil pH.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

enhanced rock weathering / wollastonite powder / soil organic carbon / soil CO₂ emissions / weathering rate

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFD1500800), the Liaoning Province “Doctoral Scientific research Foundation” Project (Grant No. 2022-BS-021), the Northeast Geological S&T Innovation Center of China Geological Survey (Grant Nos. QCJJ2023-45 and QCJJ2022-21), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42277231).

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-024-0273-z and is accessible for authorized users.

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