Carbon-capturing chemistry could be used to produce 'carbon negative concrete'
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2024-05-01 09:01
Harnessing chemical processes that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could allow for carbon-negative production of concrete, according to international researchers. The team experimented with olivine - a mineral commonly found in the Earth's upper mantle - breaking the mineral down into amorphous silica and nesquehonite. Nesquehonite, the researchers say, is able to capture and store carbon, while the amorphous silica has the potential to be used as a supplementary material in cement-making. The researchers say using this silica for cement would give the cement a low, potentially negative carbon footprint as a carbon-capturing mineral had been created during its production.
Journal/conference: Royal Society Open Science
Link to research (DOI): 10.1098/rsos.231645
Organisation/s: Imperial College London, UK
Funder: B.S. and S.D. were funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
through the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Sustainable Civil Engineering at Imperial College London under
grant no. EP/L016826/1. The research leading to this publication benefitted from Higher Education Innovation
Fund (HEIF) DT prime funding, EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account funding under grant no. EP/R511547/1,
UKCRIC Advanced Infrastructure Materials Laboratory funding under grant no. EP/R010161/1 and support from
the UKCRIC Coordination Node, EPSRC grant no. EP/R017727/1, which funds UKCRIC’s ongoing coordination.
Media release
From: The Royal Society
Carbon capture and storage in low-carbon concrete using products derived from olivine
Royal Society Open Science
A novel process is reported that produces amorphous silica and nesquehonite (MgCO3.3H2O) from the magnesium silicate mineral olivine ((Mg,Fe)2.SiO4). The amorphous silica forms a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) for use in concrete. The formation of nesquehonite sequesters carbon making the overall process carbon negative. Nesquehonite can also be used to form low-carbon construction products such as bricks, blocks, and boards. The potential for amorphous precipitated silica derived from olivine to produce carbon negative concrete is highlighted.
- Low-carbon concrete – A new carbon-capturing chemical process that creates useful materials from a globally abundant mineral could help produce “carbon negative concrete”. The study builds on ‘enhanced weathering’ approaches, which use chemistry to accelerate geological processes that capture and lock away atmospheric CO2. It breaks down the mineral olivine into amorphous silica and nesquehonite (which sequesters carbon), these byproducts could be used to produce concrete and other low-carbon construction products. Royal Society Open Science.
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