As progress is made to reduce emissions from cars and trucks, the focus of scientists and regulators is turning to off-road vehicles. Now there may be a new method to capture and sequester greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural equipment – by injecting it straight into the soil.
A report from the Australian newspaper The Age on a novel home-grown carbon capture technology with unexpected benefits.
A emission-capturing, crop-boosting technology is developed and promoted by the Canadian firm N/C Quest Inc. under the label “Bio-Agtive Emissions Technology.” In short, the process works like this: exhaust from agricultural off-road equipment is captured and cooled to ambient temperature, then injected into the soil through on-board pneumatic tubes. The exhaust emissions are reported benefit the soil by increasing the uptake of phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur, while providing fixed nitrogen to the crops.
The BAET method diverges from traditional carbon sequestration techniques, in which CO2 is stored in an underground cavity such as an oil well, or bubbled through and absorbed into the ocean. In contrast, the only way that agriculture stores carbon dioxide is through the growth of biomass.