CO2 to tree conversion rate

Paul has said elsewhere that he did a bunch of research and figures that trees convert about one ton of atmospheric CO2 into one ton of tree. And when the tree burns or is decomposed, one ton of tree is converted into about one ton of CO2.

To me, this seems like a good rough estimate. I want to look into it further but don't have the time right now. Can someone post some resources?

"In general, the amount of carbon
stored in an individual tree is about half of the
tree’s dry weight."

http://sfrc.ufl.edu/extension/ee/climate/wp-content/uploads/Activity_8.pdf

"Calculating CO2
stored in trees based on mass of tree
We’re going to use some assumptions for this formula. Firstly, the formula we’ll use will
obtain an average estimate over the life span of a sample tree, and secondly, will exclude
stores in soil carbon.
Some generalisations:
• 35% of the green mass of a tree is water so 65% is solid dry mass;
• 50% of the dry mass of a tree is carbon;
• 20% of tree biomass is below ground level in roots so a multiplication factor of 120%
is used; and
• To determine the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, the carbon figure is multiplied
by a factor of 3.67.
CO2
sequestered per tree (kg) =
Tree mass (kg of fresh biomass) x 65% (dry mass) x 50% (carbon %) x  x 3.67 x 120%"

http://forestlearning.edu.au/images/resources/How%20carbon%20is%20stored%20in%20trees%20and%20wood%20products.pdf


https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/carbon/tools/

It feels also worth mentioning that a lot of the carbon sequestration of any healthy plant is in the carbohydrates that they pump into the soil as exudates from their roots to feed their biological allies. I have heard it estimated to be significantly more elemental carbon than you will find in the physical plant itself, although that was in relation to grasses not trees.

Thanks to the formula provided above and summarized like this

KgTree  = KgCO2 x 0.7

you can convert the KgCO2 of carbon sequestration by tree/bush and zone provided in this table

https://permies.com/t/205509/permaculture-projects/biomass-trees-shrubs-produced

into living Kg of fresh tree mass without having to cut them.

For example, the white willow in each zone produces different Kg of tree in one square meter of leaves during one year

Zone	KgTree/m2y
7	3.13
8	3.15
9	3.88
10	2.63

What about the carbon stored in leaves? Is that released once the leaf decomposes or is some stored in the ground?

Jay Mullaky wrote:What about the carbon stored in leaves? Is that released once the leaf decomposes or is some stored in the ground?

Hi Mullaky

according to this source about leave mulches for some trees

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031942203004230

“ The estimated lignin contents ranged from 3.9 to 10.0% “

therefore,  leave mulches have 96 to 90%  simpler carbon sources that can be processed much faster than wood by the soil web.

If you find the soil web capture ratio for simple carbon souces you get most of the answer.