Annual Report for the Academic Year 2025–2026
Carbon Management
Through technology and policy solutions, the Andlinger Center is lowering the barriers for widespread adoption of carbon capture, utilization, and storage, recognizing its important role in supporting a net-zero energy future.
RESEARCH IN ACTION
Controlling chemistry in sustainable cements aids durability
Cement production generates five to eight percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, but alternatives to common cement show promise to reduce this environmental burden. Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) are one such cement alternative and are manufactured more sustainably from industrial by-products.
The downside is that AAMs react with atmospheric carbon dioxide, which can degrade and weaken concrete in a process called carbonation.
Now, research from Claire White reveals tactics that may increase the longevity of alternatives to common cement by manipulating the internal structure of AAMs. White and colleagues used state-of-the-art analysis techniques to study the structural details of alkali-activated slag, a promising type of AAM. The team subjected several samples to intense carbonation conditions such as would be found in carbon dioxide rich environments such as geological carbon dioxide sequestration wells.
During carbonation, the acidic carbon dioxide molecules dissolve in the cement altering the internal conditions. Acidification transforms some of the slag’s calcium-rich gel into regions of calcium carbonate, which weakens the cement.
Using synchrotron X-ray analysis showed that if high levels of magnesium are incorporated into the calcium carbonate regions as they form, the regions stabilize as amorphous calcium carbonate because magnesium hinders their crystallization. This stabilization reduces further removal of calcium from the calcium-rich gel, meaning that greater magnesium concentrations limit the amount of carbonation and increase the durability of the cement.
Future studies will help better understand the intricacies of alkali-activated slag chemistry and the impact of external factors. “For instance, humidity and temperature are known to have a big effect on the carbonation of cement-based materials, so looking at these behaviors across a range of humidity and temperature levels will be important for alkali-activated slag,” says White.
Captions: Banner: Capillary samples of cementitious materials in Claire White’s lab. Researchers subjected cement samples to intense carbonation to see how different magnesium content affected the carbonation process.
Inset: Identification of phases in low and high Mg carbonated alkali-activated slag via analysis of pair distribution function computed tomography data, respectively. (Courtesy of the researchers)
AWARDS AND HONORS
Catherine Peters named American Geophysical Union Fellow
Catherine Peters, the George J. Magee Professor of Geological Engineering and professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The honor recognizes her work in environmental geochemistry with a focus on sustainable energy technologies.
Peters joins 52 individuals in the 2025 Class of Fellows. AGU, the largest Earth and space science association, bestows this honor to researchers who have made exceptional scientific contributions, a group that has included less than 0.1% of AGU members each year since the program’s inception in 1962.
Peters has made breakthrough contributions that have revealed new and unexpected ways that mineral reactions alter hydrodynamic processes. By observing complex cascades of geochemical reactions in porous and fractured media at scales down to the nanometer, her insights have changed researchers’ understanding of reactive transport — the interplay of chemical reactions and fluid flows. Her work has shed light on previously unexplained fluid flow phenomena and has inspired new strategies for altering fluid flows using materials with different permeabilities. This technology is enabling advancements in sustainable energy technologies such as geological carbon sequestration, geothermal energy extraction and underground hydrogen storage.
Princeton team receives Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund Award
Emily A. Carter has received an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund to work with Satish Myneni and Catherine Peters on speeding up natural hydrogen generation for clean energy.
Natural hydrogen gas is a promising alternative to fossil fuels. While conventional methods for producing hydrogen gas require expensive electricity to split water into molecules of hydrogen and oxygen, natural hydrogen gas can be harvested without an electric power source. The researchers will use the award to study and test strategies to accelerate the process of mineral-driven hydrogen gas generation. Discovering how to control the processes of natural hydrogen gas generation could make production carbon-negative rather than simply carbon-neutral. The project shows promise toward helping scale the production of sustainable hydrogen gas.
GRANT FOR INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Enhanced rock weathering can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and assist farming
The Andlinger Center awarded a Grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment to Satish Myneni, professor of geosciences, to examine enhanced rock weathering (ERW). Rock weathering is a natural process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The goal of the research project is to better quantify the ability of ERW to provide long-term carbon dioxide removal and evaluate possible drawbacks.
Myneni’s team aims to investigate both carbon dioxide capture efficiency and its relation to organic carbon retention within the soil, as well as exploring chemical modifications that could improve ERW performance. With a better understanding of the overall process, the potential impact of ERW on atmospheric carbon dioxide and agriculture could be more accurately quantified.
The Grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment is funded by a generous gift from John E. Cross ‘72 and Mary Tiffany Cross.
