UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The latest episode of the "Growing Impact" podcast features Juliana Vasco-Correa, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Penn State. She discusses her seed grant project that investigates how biofiltration could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, specifically methane and carbon dioxide.
According to Vasco-Correa, methane emissions are often found in low concentrations, which makes them difficult to mitigate. However, it is a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 30 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Therefore, capturing it even in low concentrations is important.
“Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide,” she said. “It comes mainly from enteric emissions — emissions from ruminants, mostly cows and other animals like that. Even though it is the main source, it is only about 17% of the total methane emissions.”
Vasco-Correa’s interdisciplinary team is designing and building biofilters that will convert methane to carbon dioxide through bacteria called methanotrophs. Then the material in the filter will capture the carbon dioxide.
“We have to target all emissions to solve this problem of climate change,” she said. “Solutions that are a little simpler have more potential to be implemented fast, and we need solutions fast for these problems.”
"Growing Impact" is a podcast by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). It features Penn State researchers who have been awarded IEE seed grants and discusses their foundational work as they further their projects. The podcast is available on multiple platforms, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Spotify.