SURFACING: Black Hills microbe discovery reshaping carbon capture research
South Dakota's Sanford Underground Research Facility finding viable emission reuse
What began as a deep-underground discovery of carbon-eating microbes in the Black Hills is now being adapted for use above ground to capture emissions from factories and power plants.
Scientists at Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead who discovered that microbes living 4,100 feet underground naturally consume carbon dioxide and convert it into a solid mineral are now taking what they’ve learned outside the mine-turned-laboratory to capture carbon emissions directly from coal-fired power plants and factories before they reach the atmosphere.
