Perturbations and 3R in carbon management

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 24; no. 5; pp. 4413 - 4432
• Main Authors: Pant, Deepak, Sharma, Virbala, Singh, Pooja, Kumar, Manoj, Giri, Anand, Singh, M P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Atom economy; Biological activity; Carbon; Carbon - analysis; Carbon cycle; Earth and Environmental Science; Economics; Ecotoxicology; Emissions control; Energy requirements; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Humans; Management methods; Productivity; Recycling; Review Article; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Hybrid; Chemical; Perturbation; Biological; Carbon management; 3R
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-8143-6

Perturbations in various carbon pools like biological, geological, oceanic, and missing carbon sink affect its global data, which are generally neglected or ignored in routine calculations. These natural and anthropogenic events need to be considered before projecting a sustainable carbon management plan. These plans have both general and experimental aspects. General plans should focus on (a) minimizing emission; (b) maximizing environmentally sound reuse, reduce, and recycling; (c) effective treatment; and (d) converting carbon into valuable products with atom economy. Experimental carbon management plans involving various biological and chemical techniques with limitation in terms of research level and economic feasibility. Chemical options have benefits of higher productivity and wider product range, but it suffers from its higher-energy requirements and environmental unfriendliness. In contrast to this, biological options are more selective and less energy intensive, but their productivity is very low. Hence, there is a requirement of hybrid process where the benefits of both the options, i.e., biological and chemical, can be reaped. In view of above, the proposed review targets to highlight the various perturbations in the global carbon cycle and their effects; study the currently practiced options of carbon management, specifically in light of 3R principle; and propose various new hybrid methods by compatible combinations of chemical and biological processes to develop better and safer carbon management. These methods are hypothetical so they may require further research and validations but may provide a comprehensive base for developing such management methods.