Poplos, Nathan, Biology, Saint Francis University, 132 Franciscan Way, Loretto , Pennsylvania, 15940, ncp400@francis.edu; DeBass, Caleb, Biology, Saint Francis University, 132 Franciscan Way, Loretto, Pennsylvania, 15940, cxd407@francis.edu.
The rising levels of CO2are a significant contributing factor to the ongoing climate crisis; methods of carbon capture and sequestration are one of the tools to combat the crisis. The data taken so far would suggest that diatoms can be used to sequester and hold carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The reasoning behind this is that diatoms, with the silica-based frustule, would be able to hold the carbon dioxide they took in while alive even when they are dead. We used a highly concentrated sample of diatoms to then dry them out and get the mass of this now dry sample. The mass of the sample was then tracked for changes over the course of 6 months, if the mass fell that would suggest the carbon dioxide had left, if the mass was unchanged then it would suggest that the carbon dioxide was kept within the diatom. The findings so far would suggest that the diatoms did keep the carbon dioxide within themselves and did successfully sequester the carbon dioxide. The implications of this would be to find a method to pull the maximal amount of carbon from the atmosphere, and for further study isolating the diatoms to measure the exact amount of carbon dioxide they pull out of the atmosphere.
Carbon Sequestration , Diatoms , Frustule