The oceans enjoy almost a third of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And now researchers report that simply using electricity on sea water can convert the carbon dioxide into solid minerals.
These minerals could be used “for countless purposes in the construction sector”, says Alessandro Rotta Loria, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, who led the work published in the journal Advanced sustainable systems. “Examples are the production of cement, concrete, plasters and colors – materials that form the backbone or the surfaces of the built environment.”
Production cement, the main component in concrete, produces 8 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, concrete requires large amounts of sand that are broken down by coasts, river beds and the sea floor. All over the world, sand mining erodes the coasts, destroys habitats, pollutes the groundwater and affects fishing.
The researchers are always looking for ways to reduce the environmentally related concrete impression. They made cement alternatives and proposed recycling cement or mixing waste or re -pone on the ingredients in concrete.
The northwestern team has made a cement differentiation that is carbon negative because it catches carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and closes it away. Rotta Loria says that his team was inspired by the mechanism, with which sea organisms to form their skeleton and mussels dissolved in sea water.
The researchers use electrolysis, the technology to divide water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. Basically, two electrodes appear in a sea water tank and apply a low electrical current to divide the water. Then bubble through the water that generates bicarbonations.
The hydrogen, oxygen and bicarbonate ions react with calcium and magnesium ions, which are of course present in sea water and create calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide minerals.
By optimizing the experimental conditions such as electricity levels, flow rate as well as time and duration of the carbon dioxidinjection, the researchers were able to change the composition, size, shape and porosity of the minerals produced.
“At the same time, we focused on the opportunity to synthesize carbon and to synthesize useful materials with electricity that can come from renewable energy sources,” says Rotta Loria.
He adds that the process is promising for a large -scale use. It can be fully checked and transmitted into modular reactors, which would be particularly practical if they are near ocean and sea water. “We are currently working on optimizing all the components of the systems in order to demonstrate the scalability potential of this process,” he says.
Source: Nishu Devi et al. Electrode position of carbon trapping minerals in sea water for variable electrochemical potentials and carbon dioxide injections. Advanced sustainable systems2025.
Photo by Jono Hirst on Unsplash
Image: © Northwestern University
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