Definition and Exploration of the Integrated CO2 Mineralization Technological Cycle

Florent Bourgeois,Priscillia Laniesse,Carine Julcour,Martin Cyr

doi:10.3389/fenrg.2020.00113

Abstract

This paper is part of a multi-disciplinary research program on development and application of an integrated CO2 mineralization (ICM) framework for development of carbon mineralization as a CO2 mitigation solution. ICM is viewed as a three concentric layer system: technological, industrial integration, and decision-making. The search for viable ICM solutions in a given societal and economic context, which could be posed as an inverse design problem, begins with the identification and characterization of every system component. As an early writing on the development and applicability of the proposed ICM framework, this contribution focuses on ICM's inner technological layer. Several technological pathways, each one defined as a set of processing and transformation steps that connect a feedstock to a specific marketable product, can coexist within this layer. The paper addresses the characterization of one such technological pathway, whose cycle is divided into three successive blocks: feedstock, carbonation and valorization. The proposed concepts are illustrated through the valorization of ferronickel slag from New Caledonia as supplementary cementitious material or cement constituent, a case study that targets the production of “greener” construction materials. The data presented in the paper confirm the feasibility of characterizing the chosen ICM technological pathway, giving credit to the proposition that ICM can be approached as an inverse design problem. While exemplifying the significance of the characterization work necessary for one particular ICM technological pathway, the paper argues that development of ICM requires working on a scale considerably larger than that of standard mineral carbonation process research. Indeed, where grams of carbonated products are sufficient to investigate mineral carbonation processes, kilograms are mandatory to test and validate the use performance of final marketable products. Without precluding the merits of seeking innovative solutions, the authors argue that unit operations and transformation processes whose validity is proven at an industrial scale should be favored for timely development of viable ICM solutions.

Highlights

Around the turn of the century, the international CCS community focused on developing and testing CO2 geological storage solutions on a large scale, by diverting proven oil industry technologies and expertise from their usual uses
The proposed integrated CO2 mineralization (ICM) concept provides a conceptual framework for the development of viable carbon mineralization solutions in a given economic and societal context
ICM, whose boundaries extend from a material and CO2 feedstock to value-added products is pictured as a three concentric layer system: technological, industrial integration, and decision-making

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Around the turn of the century, the international CCS community focused on developing and testing CO2 geological storage solutions on a large scale, by diverting proven oil industry technologies and expertise from their usual uses. This invariance in composition of carbonated products under a wide range of operating conditions adds to the robustness of the attrition-leaching process for ICM of nickel slags. Once the carbonated products have been characterized (mineralogy, particle size, moisture content), it is necessary to test them using SCM characterization methods, which will permit prediction of their behavior when used as SCM in mortars Depending on their mineralogical composition, mineral additions will not exhibit the same properties (e.g., reactivity, water absorption) in a given cement medium, which will define their possible application scope. This decrease in portlandite content cannot be explained by the dilution alone (20% of cement was replaced by carbonated slag), so it is considered as evidence of the pozzolanic reaction between the silica from the carbonated slag addition and the portlandite that results from the hydration of the cement paste

Findings

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSIONS