UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 2784-1798 FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT DE-FOA-0002784: EXPLORATORY TOPICS G TITLED ''''SUSTAINABLE H2 PRODUCTION FROM ABIOTIC CATALYST-ENHANCED STIMULATION OF IRON-RICH ROCKS” TO INVESTIGATE UNDERSTUDIED, BUT POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIONAL, AQUEOUS INJECTION AND MINERAL CATALYST-ENHANCED REACTION MECHANISMS TO OVERCOME RATE-LIMITING STEPS AND REACTION BARRIERS FOR ECONOMICAL (<$1/KG), LOW-T (<100°C), H2 PRODUCTION IN FE-RICH ROCKS. THREE FE-RICH ROCKS WILL BE STUDIED: 1) ULTRAMAFIC PERIDOTITES AND PYROXENITES, INCLUDING ULTRAMAFIC ROCK-HOSTED, NI-CO-PGE DEPOSITS IN NORTH AMERICA, 2) MAFIC BASALTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MIDCONTINENT RIFT IN IOWA, AND 3) ARCHAEAN BANDED IRON FORMATIONS IN WYOMING. BENCHTOP EXPERIMENTS ON SAMPLES FROM THREE WELL-CHARACTERIZED FIELD SITES WILL QUANTIFY REACTION RATES UNDER DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES, FLUID CHEMISTRIES, MINERALOGIC COMPOSITIONS, AND CATALYST-ENHANCED STRATEGIES. REACTION RATES FROM EXPERIMENTS WILL INFORM REACTIVE TRANSPORT SIMULATIONS TO QUANTIFY FIELD-SCALE H2 GENERATION CAPACITY FOR EACH ROCK TYPE UNDER DIFFERENT SCENARIOS. COLLECTIVELY, THIS RESEARCH WILL: 1) QUANTIFY THE AMOUNT OF H2 THAT CAN BE PRODUCED FROM SHALLOW SUBSURFACE ULTRAMAFIC, MAFIC, AND BANDED IRON FORMATION BODIES IN NORTH AMERICA, 2) VALIDATE THE INCREASED EFFICIENCY IN H2 PRODUCTION USING DIFFERENT CATALYST STRATEGIES, AND 3) PROVIDE A SUBSURFACE REACTIVE TRANSPORT MODELING TOOL TO ASSESS THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF H2 GENERATION FROM FE-RICH BODIES.