Mineral Carbonation of Red Gypsum for CO2 Sequestration

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2014-09, Vol.28 (9), p.5953-5958
• Main Authors: Rahmani, Omeid, Junin, Radzuan, Tyrer, Mark, Mohsin, Rahmat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/ef501265z

Reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere is a key challenge to mitigate the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. CO2 emissions cause lots of problems for the health of humans and increase global warming, in which CO2 uptake decreases these environmental issues. The mineral carbonation process is an alternative method during which industrial wastes rich in calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg) react with CO2 to form a stable carbonate mineral. In this research, the feasibility of CO2 mineral carbonation by the use of red gypsum, as a Ca-rich source, was evaluated using an autoclave mini reactor. Wide-range conditions of procedure variables, such as reaction temperature, reaction time, CO2 pressure, and liquid/solid ratio, on the rate of mineral carbonation were studied. The results showed that the maximum conversion of Ca (98.8%) is obtained at the condition that has an optimum amount of these variables. Moreover, the results confirmed that red gypsum has high potential to form calcium carbonate (CaCO3) during the process of CO2 mineral carbonation. It was concluded that the mineral carbonation process using red gypsum can be considered to be an interesting, applicable, and low-cost method in industry to mitigate a considerable amount of CO2 from the atmosphere, which is the main issue in the current and coming years.