Biocement from the ocean: Hybrid microbial-electrochemical mineralization of CO2

Atsu Kludze; Devan Solanki; Marcelo Lejeune; Rito Yanagi; Momoko Ishii; Neera Raychaudhuri; Paul Anastas; Nanette Boyle; Shu Hu

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105156

Biocement from the ocean: Hybrid microbial-electrochemical mineralization of CO₂

iScience. 2022 Sep 17;25(10):105156. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105156. eCollection 2022 Oct 21.

Authors

Atsu Kludze^{1

2}, Devan Solanki^{1

2}, Marcelo Lejeune^{1

2}, Rito Yanagi^{1

2}, Momoko Ishii^{1

3}, Neera Raychaudhuri¹, Paul Anastas³, Nanette Boyle^{4

5}, Shu Hu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
² Energy Sciences Institute, Yale University, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.
³ Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
⁴ Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.
⁵ Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA.

Abstract

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ are leading to rising global temperatures and extreme weather events. However, the most prominent method of removing CO₂ via direct air capture remains cost-prohibitive. Oceans sequester carbon through several naturally occurring carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes, one of which includes microorganisms that utilize dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in their metabolic processes. Atmospheric CO₂ is in dynamic equilibrium with DIC at the ocean's surface. Thus, ocean-based CDR can function to capture carbon from the air indirectly. This work discusses a hybrid method that combines primary CO₂ capture via the growth of autotrophic microorganisms (i.e., photosynthetic cyanobacteria) and microbially induced carbonate precipitation. Carbon fixation and carbonate precipitation can be co-optimized using bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BPMED) devices , which generate seawater with an adjustable pH. We examine the scale-up potential for naturally produced bio-carbonate composite material and compare its production with published ocean CDR strategies for reducing anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: Materials chemistry; Materials in biotechnology; Materials science; Materials structure; Microbiology.

Publication types

Review