LAX Leader

USC scientists are at the forefront of carbon capture research, drawing inspiration from nature’s most effective carbon-capturing systems to combat climate change.

From innovative technologies that remove emissions directly from ships to utilizing the natural ability of coastal wetlands to store vast amounts of carbon, USC researchers are exploring new methods to protect the planet for future generations.

Researchers at USC and Caltech, in collaboration with startup company Calcarea, have developed a device to capture carbon emissions directly from cargo ships and other diesel-powered vessels. “Our technology mimics the ocean’s natural carbon capture process but at an exponentially faster rate. What takes nature years, our reactors achieve in mere minutes,” said William Berelson, the Paxson H. Offield Professor in Coastal and Marine Systems at USC Dornsife and one of the project’s lead researchers. “The beauty of this technology lies in its scalability. By implementing it on a commercial scale across the shipping sector, we hope to make a massive dent in global CO2 emissions.”

Coastal wetlands are essential for capturing and storing carbon, but rising sea levels threaten their survival. USC researchers are studying how to protect these "blue carbon" ecosystems in the marshes of Upper Newport Bay in Orange County. “Salt marshes, like those at Upper Newport Bay, can actually store as much carbon as the Amazon rainforest or any other forest in the world,” said David Bañuelas, a USC Presidential Sustainability Solutions Fellow and the project’s lead researcher. “Our goal is to develop methods to predict and mitigate carbon loss, quantify the amount of carbon at risk, and identify restoration techniques to ensure continued carbon capture and storage well into the next century.”

“Microorganisms control all the carbon cycling on planet Earth,” said Cameron Thrash, associate professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and co-investigator on the research project exploring carbon capture and storage in Upper Newport Bay. “As much as humans are putting CO2 into the atmosphere, microbes control what the ultimate fate of that CO2 is — whether it’s getting turned into fixed organic carbon, sequestering that carbon in our oceans or soils, or converting it back into CO2.”

USC researchers are also developing advanced computer models to predict how microbial communities and their carbon processing potential will respond to climate-induced changes in salt marshes. “With predictive models, we can quantify the carbon balance between the ocean and coastal wetlands,” said Felipe de Barros, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. “These models also allow us to predict how different hydrological conditions can affect the carbon balance.”

Contact: Nina Raffio (raffio@usc.edu), William Berelson (berelson@usc.edu), David Bañuelas (dbanuela@usc.edu), Cameron Thrash (thrash@usc.edu), Felipe de Barros (fbarros@usc.edu).