decarbonize

verb4

1. •
   To remove carbon from something.
2. •
   To reduce or replace fossil fuels by renewable energy in energy production and distribution systems.

   • Efforts to decarbonize the automotive fleet are challenging, but no one wants nightmare-grade climate change, either.
   • Efforts to decarbonize have been facing some challenges lately.
3. •
   To clean hard sooty deposits from inside an internal combustion engine.

   • During the overhaul, the cylinder heads were found to be reusable, as long as they got a good cleaning to decarbonize the valve seat areas.
4. •
   To remove carbon content from iron or steel, either intentionally or accidentally, as by (for example) overheating steel in the presence of air, destroying its former temper and hardness.

   • A blast furnace decarbonizes iron enough that it can be used as input to a steelmaking furnace.
   • Repeatedly scorching a case-hardened tool will ruin the case by decarbonizing it.