CO2 sequestration by carbonation of olivine: a new process for optimal separation of the solids produced

CO2 sequestration by reaction with abundant, reactive minerals such as olivine has often been considered. The most straightforward, direct process consists in performing the reaction at high temperature and CO2 pressure, in view to producing silica, magnesium and iron carbonates and recovering the traces of nickel and chromite contained in the feedstock mineral. Most of direct processes were found to have an overall cost far larger than the CO2 removal tax, because of incomplete carbonation and insufficient properties of the reaction products. Similar conclusions could be drawn in a previous investigation with a tubular autoclave. An indirect process has been designed for high conversion of olivine and the production of separate, profitable products e.g. silica, carbonates, nickel salts, so that the overall process could be economically viable: the various steps of the process are described in the paper. Olivine particles (120 μm) can be converted at 81% with a low excess of acid within 3 h at 95°C. The silica quantitatively recovered exhibits a BET area over 400 m2 g-1, allowing valuable applications to be considered. Besides, the low contents of nickel cations could be separated from the magnesium-rich solution by ion exchange with a very high selectivity.