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Lab-Made Magnesite could be Used for CO2 Capture

posted by martyb on Monday August 20 2018, @10:07AM   
from the sequestration++ dept.

takyon writes:

This Lab-Made Mineral Just Became a Key Candidate For Reducing CO₂ in The Atmosphere

Scientists just worked out a way of rapidly producing a mineral capable of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) - giving us a potentially exciting option for dealing with our increasingly overcooked planet. Magnesite, which is a type of magnesium carbonate, forms when magnesium combines with carbonic acid - CO₂ dissolved in water. If we can produce this mineral at a massive scale, it could safely store large amounts of carbon dioxide we simply don't need in our planet's atmosphere.

[...] Being able to make the mineral in the lab could be a major step forward in terms of how effective carbon sequestration might eventually be. "Using microspheres means that we were able to speed up magnesite formation by orders of magnitude," says [Ian] Power. "This process takes place at room temperature, meaning that magnesite production is extremely energy efficient."

[...] With a tonne of naturally-occurring magnesite able to capture around half a tonne of CO₂, we're going to need a lot of magnesite, and somewhere to put it all as well. As with other carbon capture processes, it's not yet clear whether this will successfully scale up as much as it needs to. That said, these new discoveries mean lab-made magnesite could one day be helpful – it puts the mineral on the table as an option for further investigation.

Abstract.

Related: Negative Emission Strategy: Active Carbon Capture
Carbon Capture From Air Closer to Commercial Viability

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Original Submission

• Re:Make Concrete? (Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Monday August 20 2018, @11:59AM

  by zocalo (302) on Monday August 20 2018, @11:59AM (#723728)

  It's a rock, so there are always uses (the main two currently being screed and kiln linings, which don't really seem likely to be major consumers). Whether it has suitable compressive or tensile strength to be used for construction isn't clear from Wikipedia or TFA, but at the very least it could be broken up into smaller pieces and used for decorative gravel, road/rail bedding, and possibly more creative usage (it's already used for cheap jewellery when polished and dyed). Whether that's enough of a usage case to make productive use of the gigatons that would need to be produced to make a meaningful dent on CO2 production is another matter, but it would still be a start, and could still make a meaningful contribution in conjuction with other sequestration techniques like planting trees. At a pinch, even filling in played out mines to help prevent future subsidence would still serve a slightly functional purpose.

  --
  UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!

  Parent

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