February 24, 2025 — As a data scientist and geochemist, Mojtaba Fakhraee has spent much of his career investigating and strategizing unusual methods of carbon capture. His most recent project, developing a safe model for increasing iron sulphide on fish farms, may be the most
Fakhraee, an assistant professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Connecticut, recently published the results of his research. He and his team argue that iron sulfide enhancement in aquaculture could help sequester hundreds of millions of tons of CO₂.
Adding iron to low-oxygen environments such as fish farms, the study says, reacts with the accumulated hydrogen sulphide in the sediments found in the water, and increases alkalinity. This sets off increasing carbon saturation levels, enhancing the capture of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
The researchers believe this will help the aquaculture industry offset its carbon footprint, which currently amounts to 0.49% of global carbon emissions or 245 million tons of CO₂. Fakhraee says this model could work especially well in places like China and Indonesia, which have an abundance of fish farms.