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Title: Carbonate Minerals and Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Organisms Trigger Synergistic Abiotic and Biotic Chain Reactions under Elevated CO2 Concentration

Abstract

Increasing CO2 emission has resulted in pressing climate and environmental issues. While abiotic and biotic processes mediating the fate of CO2 have been studied separately, their interactions and combined effects have been poorly understood. To explore this knowledge gap, an iron-reducing organism, Orenia metallireducens, was cultured under 18 conditions that systematically varied in headspace CO2 concentrations, ferric oxide loading, and dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) availability. The results showed that abiotic and biotic processes interactively mediate CO2 acidification and sequestration through "chain reactions", with pH being the dominant variable. Specifically, dolomite alleviated CO2 stress on microbial activity, possibly via pH control that transforms the inhibitory CO2 to the more benign bicarbonate species. The microbial iron reduction further impacted pH via the competition between proton (H+) consumption during iron reduction and H+ generation from oxidization of the organic substrate. Under Fe(III)-rich conditions, microbial iron reduction increased pH, driving dissolved CO2 to form bicarbonate. Spectroscopic and microscopic analyses showed enhanced formation of siderite (FeCO3) under elevated CO2, supporting its incorporation into solids. In conclusion, the results of these CO2-microbe-mineral experiments provide insights into the synergistic abiotic and biotic processes that alleviate CO2 acidification and favor its sequestration, which can be instructive for practical applications (e.g.,more » acidification remediation, CO2 sequestration, and modeling of carbon flux).« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [9];  [9]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (CUG), (China)
  2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  3. China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (CUG), (China); Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Wuhan (China)
  4. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria)
  5. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  6. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
  7. Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL (United States)
  8. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of High Energy Physics (IHEP); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  9. Wuhan Univ. of Technology (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
OSTI Identifier:
2203843
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; 41877321; 92051111; 91851211
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Environmental Science and Technology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 56; Journal Issue: 22; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-936X
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; carbon dioxide; green rust; microbial iron reduction; sequestration; siderite; CO2 acidification; buffering impact; natural carbonate material; abiotic and biotic processes; CO2 sequestration

Citation Formats

Li, Shuyi, Feng, Qi, Liu, Juan, He, Yu, Shi, Liang, Boyanov, Maxim I., O’Loughlin, Edward J., Kemner, Kenneth M., Sanford, Robert A., Shao, Hongbo, He, Xiao, Sheng, Anxu, Cheng, Hang, Shen, Chunhua, Tu, Wenmao, and Dong, Yiran. Carbonate Minerals and Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Organisms Trigger Synergistic Abiotic and Biotic Chain Reactions under Elevated CO2 Concentration. United States: N. p., 2022. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c03843.
Li, Shuyi, Feng, Qi, Liu, Juan, He, Yu, Shi, Liang, Boyanov, Maxim I., O’Loughlin, Edward J., Kemner, Kenneth M., Sanford, Robert A., Shao, Hongbo, He, Xiao, Sheng, Anxu, Cheng, Hang, Shen, Chunhua, Tu, Wenmao, & Dong, Yiran. Carbonate Minerals and Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Organisms Trigger Synergistic Abiotic and Biotic Chain Reactions under Elevated CO2 Concentration. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c03843
Li, Shuyi, Feng, Qi, Liu, Juan, He, Yu, Shi, Liang, Boyanov, Maxim I., O’Loughlin, Edward J., Kemner, Kenneth M., Sanford, Robert A., Shao, Hongbo, He, Xiao, Sheng, Anxu, Cheng, Hang, Shen, Chunhua, Tu, Wenmao, and Dong, Yiran. Thu . "Carbonate Minerals and Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Organisms Trigger Synergistic Abiotic and Biotic Chain Reactions under Elevated CO2 Concentration". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c03843. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2203843.
@article{osti_2203843,
title = {Carbonate Minerals and Dissimilatory Iron-Reducing Organisms Trigger Synergistic Abiotic and Biotic Chain Reactions under Elevated CO2 Concentration},
author = {Li, Shuyi and Feng, Qi and Liu, Juan and He, Yu and Shi, Liang and Boyanov, Maxim I. and O’Loughlin, Edward J. and Kemner, Kenneth M. and Sanford, Robert A. and Shao, Hongbo and He, Xiao and Sheng, Anxu and Cheng, Hang and Shen, Chunhua and Tu, Wenmao and Dong, Yiran},
abstractNote = {Increasing CO2 emission has resulted in pressing climate and environmental issues. While abiotic and biotic processes mediating the fate of CO2 have been studied separately, their interactions and combined effects have been poorly understood. To explore this knowledge gap, an iron-reducing organism, Orenia metallireducens, was cultured under 18 conditions that systematically varied in headspace CO2 concentrations, ferric oxide loading, and dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) availability. The results showed that abiotic and biotic processes interactively mediate CO2 acidification and sequestration through "chain reactions", with pH being the dominant variable. Specifically, dolomite alleviated CO2 stress on microbial activity, possibly via pH control that transforms the inhibitory CO2 to the more benign bicarbonate species. The microbial iron reduction further impacted pH via the competition between proton (H+) consumption during iron reduction and H+ generation from oxidization of the organic substrate. Under Fe(III)-rich conditions, microbial iron reduction increased pH, driving dissolved CO2 to form bicarbonate. Spectroscopic and microscopic analyses showed enhanced formation of siderite (FeCO3) under elevated CO2, supporting its incorporation into solids. In conclusion, the results of these CO2-microbe-mineral experiments provide insights into the synergistic abiotic and biotic processes that alleviate CO2 acidification and favor its sequestration, which can be instructive for practical applications (e.g., acidification remediation, CO2 sequestration, and modeling of carbon flux).},
doi = {10.1021/acs.est.2c03843},
journal = {Environmental Science and Technology},
number = 22,
volume = 56,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Thu Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}

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