Plant-based CO₂ drawdown and storage as SiC

Since the 1950's the Earth's natural carbon cycle has not sufficiently sequestrated excess atmospheric CO₂ contributed by human activities. CO₂ levels rose above 400 ppm in 2013 and are forecasted to exceed 500 ppm by 2070, a level last experienced during the Paleogene period 25-65 MYA. While humanity benefits from the extraction and combustion of carbon from Earth's crust, we have overlooked the impact on global climate change. Here, we present a strategy to mine atmospheric carbon to mitigate CO₂ emissions and create economically lucrative green products. We employ an artificial carbon cycle where agricultural plants capture CO₂ and the carbon is transformed into silicon carbide (SiC), a valuable commercial material. By carefully quantifying the process we show that 14% of plant-sequestered carbon is stored as SiC and estimate the scale needed for this process to have a global impact.