Chen Zhu
Indiana University, IN·Earth & Environmental Science
One proposed way to slow climate change is to lock carbon dioxide into solid carbonate minerals, a process called carbon mineralization. This can happen when rock powders are spread on croplands, forests or oceans, or when carbon dioxide is injected into basalt and sedimentary aquifers or mine tailings.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Chemistry
- Topics
carbon mineralization
carbon dioxide removal
CO2 sequestration
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Determine how mineral dissolution and the formation of new minerals are coupled during carbon mineralization, using multiple isotope tracer experiments (Si, K, Sr, Ca, Mg, Fe, C) on crushed basalt.
- Interpret the experimental reaction rates with geochemical simulations run as an ensemble of models, and evaluate the uncertainty in predicted carbon dioxide–water–mineral reactions.
- Build a geochemical modeling web portal that delivers modeling tools, databases and online courses in thermodynamics, geochemical modeling and kinetics.
More about the research
At global scale, these approaches could store billions of tons of carbon dioxide per year. However, the basic chemistry is poorly understood. Nobody yet knows well how fast these reactions run when many minerals react together, so it is unclear how much carbon they can remove or how quickly.
Why it matters
Companies, governments and research groups are testing carbon mineralization as a climate solution, but without reliable reaction rates they cannot judge how much carbon dioxide these methods will capture or how fast. Better rate data and models could help identify cost-effective options such as enhanced rock weathering on farmland or carbon dioxide injection into basalt. Free online modeling tools and courses may also help train workers for a carbon-neutral economy.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Clara Blattler
University of Chicago, IL·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Test hypotheses about the size and meaning of the Great Oxidation Event and the Lomagundi-Jatuli Event, using Paleoproterozoic carbonate rocks drilled in Fennoscandia in 2007.
David Dettman
University of Arizona, AZ·Earth & Environmental Science
Expand a prototype TILDAS system, an infrared laser instrument that identifies molecules by the light they absorb, by adding a new laser unit to measure oxygen-17 in CO2.
Yashar Mehmani
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Engineering·Early-career
Map the regimes that determine whether volume-expanding mineral growth cracks porous rock open, exposing fresh reactive surface, or instead seals the pore space, using bench-scale experiments with microscale models coupling flow, reaction and fracture.
The school
Indiana University: 21 labs on PI Pages, $897M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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