Harnessing naturally occurring sodium carbonate and bicarbonate for gigatonne-scale carbon dioxide removal

James Campbell, Spyros Foteinis, Reinaldo Juan Lee Pereira, Mohamad Katish, Phil Renforth

Ocean alkalinity enhancement is a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approach, but scaling up to gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 per year will require safe, sustainable, and abundant alkaline feedstocks. Here, we propose the use of a relatively unexplored resource for OAE, namely naturally occurring sodium (bi)carbonates. We identified and mapped 109 such deposits globally, although quantitative resource information is available for only 16. Quantified deposits collectively contain >200 Gt of sodium (bi)carbonate-rich minerals and brines, dominated by trona (Na2CO3·NaHCO3·2H2O) and nahcolite (NaHCO3) mainly concentrated in the USA, China, Turkey, and Kenya. We then assessed three OAE pathways using trona as a feedstock, i.e., 1) Mining, crushing, and ocean dispersal of trona (gross CDR capacity 0.16 tCO2 t⁻¹); 2) Calcine trona with carbon capture and storage to produce soda ash (Na2CO3) (0.31 tCO2 t⁻¹) prior to dispersal; and 3) Purification of soda ash via dissolution, crystallisation, and drying prior to dispersal. Using Green River, Wyoming, USA (~116 Gt of bedded trona) as a case study, life cycle assessment informed on the net-negativity of each pathway. Provided that mining and transportation have largely decarbonised, all pathways are net-negative (carbon penalties in the range 29–41%), with pathway 2 achieving the highest net CDR capacity (0.21 tCO2 t⁻¹). Solution mining and reserves nearer the coastline can optimise net-negativity. Overall, naturally occurring sodium (bi)carbonate resources emerge as a promising future feedstock for soluble, safe, and scalable OAE.