Mineral carbonation for carbon dioxide capture and storage using mining waste as feedstock material

Abstract

Abstract Mineral carbonation can be a useful method for sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide. This study attempts to evaluate the utilization of mining waste as a feedstock for mineral carbonation. Samples of mining waste have been analyzed for their mineralogical and chemical composition, and the amount of potential carbon sequestration was estimated. Mineralogical analysis suggests that the mine waste is composed of Ca-Mg-silicates (anorthite, wollastonite, diopside) and Fe-oxide (hematite and magnetite) minerals, which can be useful for mineral carbonation. Fe2O3 constituted a large portion of oxide compound (39.52-62.94%), with 7.19-15.24% CaO, and 0.10-9.58% MgO. Fe and Ca carbonation efficiency was estimated to be in the range of 4.04-6.45% and 2.38-6.31%, respectively. This corresponds to 60.94-155.44 g FeCO3/kg sample and 63.99-156.04 g CaCO3/kg sample, which can be sequestered from the mine waste. The total amount of CO2 sequestration is between 12.27-44.92 g of CO2 per kg of sample. Therefore, it has been shown that the method has successfully sequestered carbon dioxide into a stable carbonate form that can be stored for the long term. Application of this technology would be useful for reducing the amount of waste generated in the mining industry while mitigating the issue of carbon emissions.