Seawater Electrolysis Enables Multipathway Climate Change Mitigation through Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal, Renewable Hydrogen Production, and Cement and Concrete Decarbonization.
15 affiliations
- 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 2Institute for Carbon Management, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 3Equatic Inc., Torrance, California90501, United States.
- 4CarbonBuilt Inc. , Danielson, Connecticut06239, United States.
- 5Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 6Department of Chemistry, TU-Munich, Garching85748, Germany.
- 7Concrete.AI Inc., Los Angeles, California90025, United States.
- 8Missouri University of Science and Technology , Rolla, Missouri65409, United States.
- 9School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Tempe, Arizona85281, United States.
- 10Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan48109, United States.
- 11Chement Inc., Chicago, Illinois60647, United States.
- 12Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 13Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 14California Nanosystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California90095, United States.
- 15Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Davis, California95616, United States.
Abstract
Thermodynamically favorable ("downhill") reactions that convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into stable solid and dissolved carbonates via reaction with alkaline materials offer a promising route to immobilize gigatonnes of CO2 drawn from dilute sources such as the atmosphere, oceans, and low-concentration flue gases. While subsurface geological CO2 mineralization is technically viable, it depends on specific geological conditions, water availability, and, critically, the availability of unbuilt infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, monitoring stations) and access to concentrated CO2, whose separation from dilute sources is both energy- and cost-intensive. Considering the dual need to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and to decarbonize emission-intensive industries, this perspective highlights electrolysis-driven pH-swing approaches that (a) accelerate CO2 removal from air or flue gases, with overall economics strengthened by the coproduction of hydrogen (H2), and (b) enable low-carbon cement (and hence, concrete) production. First, we present a seawater electrolysis strategy that enables atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and produces (Ca,Mg) carbonates/hydroxides and H2 for a gross energy intensity (gEI) of ∼2 MWh per tonne of CO2 (MWh/tCO2). Here, key considerations include acid management and the mitigation of chlorine evolution at scale. Second, we highlight electrochemical methods to synthesize portlandite (Ca(OH)2) and H2 at ambient temperature and pressure from calcium-rich minerals and industrial residues, at ∼2 MWh per tonne Ca(OH)2. We discuss efficient means for calcium extraction and electrolytic Ca(OH)2 precipitation as critical aspects of this pathway. Collectively, these electrolysis-based methods offer scalable, energy-efficient solutions for gigatonne-scale CDR and "hard-to-abate" industrial sectors, particularly when powered by renewable energy.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{chen2026seawater,
title = {{Seawater Electrolysis Enables Multipathway Climate Change Mitigation through Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal, Renewable Hydrogen Production, and Cement and Concrete Decarbonization.}},
author = {Xin Chen and Dale Prentice and Ross Arnold and Aaron Sabin and Camly Tran and Steven Bustillos and Adriano Leão and Marie Collin and Nicolas Alfonso Vargas and Mathieu Bauchy and Aditya Kumar and Narayanan Neithalath and Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan and Thomas Traynor and Lorenzo Corsini and Dante Simonetti and Torben Gadt and David Jassby and Fabian Rosner and Gaurav Sant and Erika La Plante},
journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1021/jacs.6c13870},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42937846},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Seawater Electrolysis Enables Multipathway Climate Change Mitigation through Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal, Renewable Hydrogen Production, and Cement and Concrete Decarbonization.
AU - Xin Chen
AU - Dale Prentice
AU - Ross Arnold
AU - Aaron Sabin
AU - Camly Tran
AU - Steven Bustillos
AU - Adriano Leão
AU - Marie Collin
AU - Nicolas Alfonso Vargas
AU - Mathieu Bauchy
AU - Aditya Kumar
AU - Narayanan Neithalath
AU - Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan
AU - Thomas Traynor
AU - Lorenzo Corsini
AU - Dante Simonetti
AU - Torben Gadt
AU - David Jassby
AU - Fabian Rosner
AU - Gaurav Sant
AU - Erika La Plante
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
DO - 10.1021/jacs.6c13870
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42937846
AB - Thermodynamically favorable ("downhill") reactions that convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into stable solid and dissolved carbonates via reaction with alkaline materials offer a promising route to immobilize gigatonnes of CO2 drawn from dilute sources such as the atmosphere, oceans, and low-concentration flue gases. While subsurface geological CO2 mineralization is technically viable, it depends on specific geological conditions, water availability, and, critically, the availability of unbuilt infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, monitoring stations) and access to concentrated CO2, whose separation from dilute sources is both energy- and cost-intensive. Considering the dual need to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and to decarbonize emission-intensive industries, this perspective highlights electrolysis-driven pH-swing approaches that (a) accelerate CO2 removal from air or flue gases, with overall economics strengthened by the coproduction of hydrogen (H2), and (b) enable low-carbon cement (and hence, concrete) production. First, we present a seawater electrolysis strategy that enables atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and produces (Ca,Mg) carbonates/hydroxides and H2 for a gross energy intensity (gEI) of ∼2 MWh per tonne of CO2 (MWh/tCO2). Here, key considerations include acid management and the mitigation of chlorine evolution at scale. Second, we highlight electrochemical methods to synthesize portlandite (Ca(OH)2) and H2 at ambient temperature and pressure from calcium-rich minerals and industrial residues, at ∼2 MWh per tonne Ca(OH)2. We discuss efficient means for calcium extraction and electrolytic Ca(OH)2 precipitation as critical aspects of this pathway. Collectively, these electrolysis-based methods offer scalable, energy-efficient solutions for gigatonne-scale CDR and "hard-to-abate" industrial sectors, particularly when powered by renewable energy.
SN - 0002-7863
SN - 1520-5126
ER -