Scientists Engineer Wood to Become Stronger, Capture CO2

(Image: Facundo Sosa/Unsplash) When it comes to battling climate change, carbon dioxide is the biggest enemy of all. A widespread desire to mitigate carbon emissions has pushed scientists, students, and startups alike to build technologies that capture this greenhouse gas, like a carbon-trapping car and an ocean-assisted carbon removal plant. But what if one such technology could capture carbon and improve new infrastructure by strengthening buildings and making them more sustainable to produce?

Scientists at Rice University have developed a method of engineering wood that makes the material stronger and enables it to absorb carbon dioxide. The engineered wood rivals conventionally tougher building materials in strength but emits far less carbon during production. It also traps carbon from its environment, making it an attractive and affordable material for new buildings.

Materials scientist and nanoengineer Muhammad Rahman and his team describe their process in a study published last week in Cell Reports. They start by boiling a piece of basswood—a type of wood commonly used for lumber—in a water-based chemical solution. This delignifies the wood, or removes the polymers that make up the wood’s color and rigidity. The result is a white, flexible material with wide cellulose channels.

From left to right: untreated wood, delignified wood, dried delignified wood, and delignified wood treated with CALF-20. (Image: Rahman et al/Cell Reports 10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101269)

Once the wood has been delignified, the team soaks it in a solution that contains microscopic pieces of a metal-organic framework (MOF) called Calgary framework 20 (CALF-20). While all MOFs can absorb carbon dioxide, many aren’t suitable for wood due to their susceptibility to moisture. CALF-20 is hydrophobic, making it the perfect pair for wood. CALF-20 quickly settles into the delignified basswood’s cellulose channels, lending more mechanical strength than the wood originally possessed while trapping carbon from the wood’s surroundings.

Rahman and his colleagues argue that this engineered wood presents a viable alternative to materials that emit many greenhouse gasses during production, like steel and cement. Not only does the team’s process emit far less carbon, but wood is biodegradable, making it a more sustainable material throughout a building’s lifetime. Passively capturing carbon throughout the construction process is another bonus. Before the engineered wood can be used in the real world, however, the team will need to test the material for long-term performance and study its commercial viability.

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