Academics bring AI-driven monitoring to new carbon capture agroforestry scheme
[B Alicastrum trees being planted in Mexico (Image: Tierra Foods)]
Academics at the University of Huddersfield are collaborating on a project that will bring AI-driven monitoring to a scheme to help generate carbon removal credits through sustainable agroforestry food systems.
AI experts at the University have teamed up with UK climate tech startup Tierra Foods, which is pioneering the development of a system centred on plants that perform biomineralisation – capturing carbon from the atmosphere and effectively turning it into stone.
Through a nine-month £690,000 research project, the University team will leverage a range of AI technologies to design and develop a new methodology to monitor and measure the effects of such biomineralisation-centric systems.
While most forestry projects focus on organic, photosynthetic carbon sequestration, Tierra Foods’ approach includes the use of particular plants that have an increased ability to mineralise atmospheric carbon. These plants naturally convert carbon to calcium carbonate then store it in the soil.
This can have significant benefits for the environment through a direct reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – while aiding asset management companies, food and agriculture multinationals and related industries seeking to achieve net zero or incorporate nature-based solutions into their value chains via biomineralisation.
However, there is currently no robust mechanism of monitoring and measuring these effects – which is essential to mobilise investment while allowing the sale of carbon insets and offsets.
Dr George Bargiannis of the University’s School of Computing and Engineering is leading the project, alongside his academic colleagues Dr Emmanuel Papadakis and Professor Simon Parkinson.
Dr Bargiannis, who is Deputy Director of the University’s Centre for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (CAIS), commented: “We will be creating a digital representation of the carbon capture process, including all relevant biogeochemical factors and metrics. Then, we will feed this representation combined with the data collected by Tierra Foods into machine learning algorithms to create models that can forecast the amount of carbon captured over a time period.
“These models will then be optimised through integration of a wider range of data, from soil measurements all the way to satellite imagery to maximise accuracy and robustness of the produced predictions.”
For the development of the methodology, Tierra Foods is focusing on the use of English Oak at field sites across the UK, and at sites in Mexico the Brosimum Alicastrum (also known as ramón or uje) tree, a species grown throughout the American continent.
Marcela Flores, CEO of Tierra Foods commented: “We have been working with global leading academics at Universities from Zurich and Neuchâtel in Switzerland, Merida in Mexico, and Bournemouth in the UK in the field of biomineralisation and our in-house global experts in the field.
“The next step is to integrate our findings through software-based technology, and put the technology at the service of industry to widen the adoption of nature-based solutions. We are delighted to have had the backing from Innovate UK, to support the partnership with the University of Huddersfield to provide a science-based, rigorous approach to maximise accuracy to identify optimum location for sites for our projects, and then to measure, monitor and forecast the amount of highly durable, biomineralised carbon captured over time.”
Backed by £496,000 of Innovate UK funding, the University has recruited a team of researchers to carry out research and development for the project under the supervision of the academic leadership team.
Innovate UK is the country’s national innovation agency, which supports business-led innovation in all sectors and technologies, helping businesses grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services.