Stimulated geological CO ₂ reduction
- 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Converting captured CO 2 into products typically requires externally supplied electricity or H 2 . Although abiotic carbon reduction has been observed in water–rock systems, productive and verifiable conversion of newly supplied inorganic carbon has not been established. Here we establish stimulated geological CO 2 reduction (Geo-CO 2 R), in which reducing equivalents released during oxidation of Fe(II)-bearing minerals drive productive conversion of supplied inorganic carbon. Natural olivine-rich rock converts supplied 13 C-bicarbonate to isotope-verified 13 C-formate within six hours, reaching a mass- and time-normalized productivity more than five orders of magnitude above the strongest prior olivine system. Experiments and calculations identify two mechanistic design rules: bicarbonate minimizes stoichiometric acid–base drift and sustains a productive interfacial pH window, while K + supports greater water dissociation and a more labile interfacial hydration environment than Na + , consistent with enhanced proton-coupled bicarbonate reduction. Mineral transformation links Fe(II) oxidation to reducing-power supply, and mechanism-guided control further enhances formate production. Translating the measured natural-rock productivity using a stimulated-rock framework indicates that laboratory-scale rates could support significant, potentially commercially relevant in-situ production even when only a small fraction of the accessible formation sustains the measured activity. Upper-bound estimates further indicate a lattice-electron inventory capable of reducing millions of gigatons of CO 2 , equivalent to tens of thousands of years of current annual global CO 2 emissions. Together, these results establish Geo-CO 2 R as a productive, verifiable and controllable pathway for coupling carbon conversion to geological reducing power and subsurface reaction environments.
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BibTeX
@misc{gao2026stimulated,
title = {{Stimulated geological CO ₂ reduction}},
author = {Yifan Gao and Ming Lei and Hanglong Wu and Jakob Nielsen and Haihui Lan and Yaoshen Niu and Shipeng Jia and Hugh Smith and Bachu Sravan Kumar and Willem Vanmoerkerke and Zhen Zhang and Tao Dai and Ju Li and Iwnetim Abate},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-7xwt2/v2},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-7xwt2/v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Stimulated geological CO ₂ reduction
AU - Yifan Gao
AU - Ming Lei
AU - Hanglong Wu
AU - Jakob Nielsen
AU - Haihui Lan
AU - Yaoshen Niu
AU - Shipeng Jia
AU - Hugh Smith
AU - Bachu Sravan Kumar
AU - Willem Vanmoerkerke
AU - Zhen Zhang
AU - Tao Dai
AU - Ju Li
AU - Iwnetim Abate
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-7xwt2/v2
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-7xwt2/v2
AB - Converting captured CO 2 into products typically requires externally supplied electricity or H 2 . Although abiotic carbon reduction has been observed in water–rock systems, productive and verifiable conversion of newly supplied inorganic carbon has not been established. Here we establish stimulated geological CO 2 reduction (Geo-CO 2 R), in which reducing equivalents released during oxidation of Fe(II)-bearing minerals drive productive conversion of supplied inorganic carbon. Natural olivine-rich rock converts supplied 13 C-bicarbonate to isotope-verified 13 C-formate within six hours, reaching a mass- and time-normalized productivity more than five orders of magnitude above the strongest prior olivine system. Experiments and calculations identify two mechanistic design rules: bicarbonate minimizes stoichiometric acid–base drift and sustains a productive interfacial pH window, while K + supports greater water dissociation and a more labile interfacial hydration environment than Na + , consistent with enhanced proton-coupled bicarbonate reduction. Mineral transformation links Fe(II) oxidation to reducing-power supply, and mechanism-guided control further enhances formate production. Translating the measured natural-rock productivity using a stimulated-rock framework indicates that laboratory-scale rates could support significant, potentially commercially relevant in-situ production even when only a small fraction of the accessible formation sustains the measured activity. Upper-bound estimates further indicate a lattice-electron inventory capable of reducing millions of gigatons of CO 2 , equivalent to tens of thousands of years of current annual global CO 2 emissions. Together, these results establish Geo-CO 2 R as a productive, verifiable and controllable pathway for coupling carbon conversion to geological reducing power and subsurface reaction environments.
ER -