Heriot-Watt researchers investigate a new carbon capture method

Professor Raffaella Ocone from Heriot-Watt University is leading an international team which has been awarded funding to investigate a potential new method of carbon capture. The award of £105,056 from the Leverhume Trust will investigate the carbon capture potential of biochar, a by-product of photosynthesis. Biochar, a solid compound rich in carbon and inorganic elements, is produced when organic materials are thermally decomposed in the absence of oxygen. Plants synthesise organic carbon via photosynthesis and a portion of that carbon is the locked in the biochar and returned to the soil.