NEW YORK: Cornell University researchers engineered a bacterium to accelerate rock weathering, potentially supporting carbon capture while releasing cobalt and nickel, which are used in battery production.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal “Scientific Reports”, modified Gluconobacter oxydans to speed the breakdown of ultramafic minerals rich in magnesium and iron.
According to Phys.org, the process released cobalt and nickel as the minerals dissolved. Meanwhile, soluble magnesium was converted into magnesium oxalate.
Natural rock weathering removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through chemical reactions. However, that process typically proceeds too slowly to achieve substantial carbon removal on short timescales.
The Cornell team explored whether engineered microbes could accelerate that chemistry and make mineral-based carbon management more practical.
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The recovered metals could provide an additional benefit. Cobalt and nickel remain important materials in many electric-vehicle batteries.
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Combining critical-mineral recovery with carbon removal could improve the process economics compared with approaches that produce no valuable byproducts.
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However, the research remains at the laboratory stage. Researchers must still address scaling and operational challenges before the method can be deployed commercially.
The findings therefore demonstrate a potential pathway rather than a proven large-scale carbon-removal technology.
