Understanding the neutralization of CO2 Emissions

The global warming process is directly related to the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This concentration happens due to issuance of CO2 (carbon dioxide) coming mainly from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation and burning of forests.

Due to the increasing growth of the global warming, it is imperative to urgently reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in our planet’s atmosphere. But besides reducing emissions of this gas, it’s also possible to implement its neutralization, compensating for CO2 emissions produced in industrial processes, corporate activities, events and the population’s activities in general. One way to neutralize those emissions is planting trees – which will fix the carbon during its growth through photosynthesis.

The removal of CO2 from the atmosphere occurs naturally through the process of photosynthesis, in which the chlorophyllous plants absorb CO2 to synthesize molecules of carbohydrates. Part of the carbohydrates produced is used as energy in the metabolism of the plant and part is for production of biomass: roots, trunk, branches and leaves. The process of photosynthesis is chemically represented as follows

6H2O + 6 CO2 + solar energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2

The capacity of a plant to absorb CO2 depends on a number of biotic and abiotic factors such as temperature, light, rain precipitation and distribution; fertility, texture and porosity of the soil, and potential growth of the species. There are species that can reach large-size and thus fixing a considerable volume of CO2, while others are small-sized, whose stock of CO2 is relatively small.