Burial of crop residues in the deep ocean
The burial of waste collection can be more efficient in carbon sequestration than other methods. One of the main ideas to combat global warming is to permanently remove the carbon dioxide being formed in the atmosphere. Here is one way to do this: sink much of the agricultural waste from around the world. Plants take CO2 from the air through photosynthesis, incorporating carbon into their tissue. So getting rid of corn stalks, wheat straw and other crop residues in the ocean depths, where the cold and lack of oxygen would prevent decomposition, could effectively isolate the atmospheric CO2 on a time scale of centuries.
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Strand and Benford. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, 1000–1007.
Advantages/disadvantages:
• Use the same equipment of the main production for collection and transport;
• Terrestrially derived organic matter (lignocellulose) is more stable compared to marine derived;
• Less impact of ocean water pH compared to liquid injection;
• Modification of deep ocean sediment communities;
• Methanogenesis;
• Can be concentrated in compacted areas near the mouths of major rivers.